After a bit of a delay, I’ve finally gotten around to posting some images from my trip to Germany earlier this year.
In September, just as I accepted an offer for a new job, I took off to Germany for two weeks. The trip started in Munich where I met up with Erica, a former coworker from my Intuit days. Erica, Kathleen (Erica’s sister) and I then spent a few days hut-to-hut hiking in the Alps.
After an overnight train to Berlin, I met up with my father and the two of us visited some old friends throughout Germany: Eta in Berlin; Dieter in Bavaria; and Bill in Ludwigshafen. We had a great time.
This is pretty wild. When this originally aired I was still at work so I didn’t have the appreciation of seeing it live but if this YouTube clip survives the piracy police then enjoy.
It’s a clip from CNN where the anchor in the studio (in Atlanta, one would assume, though perhaps New York) is talking to a reporter in the field (in Chicago). The reporter is being projected into the studio as a 3D representation (basically like a holographic image) rather than onto a video monitor. It allows the anchor to interact more realistically with the reporter.
I guarantee this will take off. Yes, it’s currently expensive and requires a large setup, so it’s not viable for any significant in-the-field reporting (I mean, why does the reporter need to be ‘in the field’ for this kind of report? She could just as well be standing in the studio). But as the technology improves it will be interesting to see how this will be implemented in other forms.
There are many examples of this kind of new technology being adapted for different uses - one of the better ones is the ‘Matrix’ effect (multiple still cameras around the subject all linked and timed to take photos for that cool avoiding bullets in slow-mo look) being used for professional sports - seeing the quarterback’s viewpoint from around the stadium is pretty cool.
I could easily see this hologram effect being used throughout the news media but think about international meetings or protected witnesses in a courtroom. What about the medical field (think micro-cameras). The uses of this are pretty interesting to contemplate.
One of the topics I’ve been meaning to post about is my fairly recent infatuation with podcasts.
I’ve written before about how I was late to the iPod world as I am not always a fan of the way Apple chooses to maintain such strict control over their products. When I finally broke down and switched to an iPod, I was thrilled with the ease with which I could download podcasts onto my iPod. Prior to that, I had only played around a little with the podcast section of iTunes (yes, even though I was late to the iPod party I was an early adopter of iTunes as an excellent media manager).
LensWork is a magazine that I’ve enjoyed for years, though I sheepishly have to admit I’ve never had a subscription. As much as I’ve loved the magazine, I’ve never been able to justify the cost. The images in LensWork is exceptionally presented - the publisher does an excellent job of reproducing the images and they’re presented in a meaningful portfolio fashion so that you don’t only get one or two poorly displayed images surrounded by loud advertisements but you get several pieces of work thoughtfully reproduced - in fact I think they’re among the best photographic reproductions available in a periodical.
In the series, the publisher of LensWork (Brooks Jensen), conveys thoughts and impressions on the creative process - usually around photography - but applicable to many creative endeavors. I find that I often agree with much of what he’s saying, I just haven’t taken the time to formulate thoughts on the subject and so I appreciate that he has. It’s nice to sit and listen to his rather zen-like voice and take the time to appreciate the message that he is conveying. It’s a good break from the day-to-day.
The Photography and the Creative Process podcast is published - um - well, just kind of whenever. It tends to go in spurts, depending on what else the publisher has going on I suppose. But I started listening from the beginning so I tend to be pretty far behind - which I kind of enjoy, because they’re rather short and I can often listen to a few of them at a time.
If you’re interested in the creative creation process then you should give the podcast a try - and since most ring in at around 3-4 minutes, it’s a small investment to make.
Well, it’s taken me a month or so (then again, I’ve had a busy month…) to get through the Africa photos but I’m finally starting to post them online. I’ll trickle them onto the site over the next couple of days. Check here for the latest..
There have been a few reasons that it’s taken me a while to get these photos online.
First of all, I really have been busy, Hiking in the Sierra for a couple of days, moving Meghan into her new apartment, heading to the East Coast for a couple of weeks, and finally settling into San Francisco again.
Second, I’ve been exploring other ways to display my photos, including playing around with iMovie on the Mac (a product I’m pretty impressed with - it definitely has its limitations but it exceeds expectations for a free application) and other online sites. In this case, Flickr really has the stronghold on photo sharing.
Third, I am supposed to be looking for a job…
Anyway, if you want to check out the Africa Photos, check out the site over the coming days. And if you want to see the iMovie I put together, just ask. It’s a little long for an upload to Youtube, besides, the High-Res file is the way to see it.
On my other site, PicsFromTrips, I just created a new feature called Weekly Photo. I was able to do this by incorporating the WordPress blogging software onto the site. I’m really having fun with the capabilities of these blog software suites.
Initially I just thought of them as a way to post random diatribes like this one, but through actually researching and using them I’m starting to recognize their content management capabilities. They really make for an incredibly easy way to manage your own website.
So the idea behind the weekly photo is to have a way for me to showcase photographs from my catalog over the years.. I find that I don’t really poke through any of the old albums, so this is an exercise to force me to spend some time with my photos and also allows an opportunity to pick out specific photographs and provide some additional color.
We’ll see how well I keep up with this, but for now I really like the idea.
