Blue Planet Photography

Back in March, 2009, I gave a presentation at Ignite Boise 01 titled “The Electronic Afterlife: Digital Immortality” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v88G2PiFZ-A) in which I compared the longevity of the relatively hardy analog leave behinds of the past with the fragile digital leave behinds of the future. Essentially, the likelihood of someone finding a box of old hard drives in a dusty attic 50 years from now, and being able to plug them into a device to read them, is slim. What we do today with our digital files may not last long enough for prosperity to happily “rediscover” them down the road. While some things, like Twitter and Facebook posts appear to be destined to last forever out there in the digital aether, that’s not even certain. Plus, how would you find it or track its source? Technology may “improve” enough to make these bits and bytes immortal, but there will probably be an historical “blackout period” during the transition when a lot of digital information has gone missing due to lack of reliable storage medium or legacy equipment to read it.

I mention in the presentation an effort by Microsoft to develop equipment to document a person’s daily activities; an ongoing diary of your life (MyLifeBits) based on the ideas of Vannevar Bush. There are others working on similar projects. One I recently came across is by graphic designer Nicholas Felton who, since 2005, has produced a personal “Annual Report” of his life during the previous year. He developed a program to record entries of his daily activities, compiling them into various graphs and maps and statistics (www.feltron.com). An interview with Felton can be found (here). He’s also created a place where the average person can record their own activities (www.daytum.com). There are two levels of recording; free (public and limited data sets) and $4/month (which allows for privacy settings as well as unlimited data sets). You can track any number of things, from the number of phone calls made, daily miles run/biked/walked, how much money you spend on what, food eaten, people met, books read, relationships, etc. Access is via computer and smartphone or mobile device (m.daytum.com).

Whether you decide to have a go, the annual reports at feltron.com are well designed and interesting to look at.

I’m certain there are other sites and applications (other than Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and the like) that allow for the collection of personal datum and it begs the question regarding the debate about personal privacy. We seem to like to share everything about our lives with complete strangers, but don’t like it when “others” want to look at that same information. We can’t have it both ways.

Artist Vik Muniz describes his creative progression using various “found” materials.

A great opportunity fell in my lap last week and I’ve been scrambling to get ready for it. I’m heading to Chumbe Island Coral Park this month through most of September to be a volunteer reef guide. This opportunity came about as the result of a friend calling me up and telling me a friend of his was going and the other guy he’d had signed up to go had to cancel, would I want to go? Initially, I said no because this kind of trip wasn’t in my budget. Then, after some thought, I decided it was an opportunity not to be passed up lightly. I did some research and thought I’d bring all my skills to bear on the project.

Part of that is a participatory project I’ve called Get a Piece of Zanzibar!



I like to teach and “bring people along” to locations I’ve visited through slide show presentations, writing, and my photography. I’m always trying to integrate my wildlife biology background into the photography work I do, and here’s a perfect opportunity to combine all of those things into a vicarious experience for anyone.

I’ve put together 4 options for people to participate in this adventure. These options are relatively inexpensive and you get some cool stuff:

$50 - at least 4 postcards handwritten by me and postmarked from Zanzibar. Who knows what the postcards will be of or what I’ll write….
$75 - One (1) signed 8×12 photographic print of my choice
$100 - at least 4 handwritten postcards and one (1) signed 8×12 photographic print of my choice
$125 - at least 4 handwritten postcards, one (1) signed 8×12 photographic print of my choice, and a surprise (I don’t even know what it will be)

There’s more information on my website and a special page created for this project. It’s called Get a Piece of Zanzibar and all the information (well, a lot of information) is there as well as the links to sign up to get your stuff.

Just be quick, the deadline for signing up is August 28.

Last year, I stopped by a friend’s studio and he showed me his iPhone. I’d heard of this reportedly amazing device, knew of friends and others who stood in long lines waiting to be the first owners of such a wonder, like they were waiting to see the Rolling Stones, Dancing with the Stars, or the Pope. This thing seemed to me to be a fad, a flashy gizmo, a status symbol and, being a “traditionalist”, I only wanted (or needed) a phone that could make and receive phone calls. Technological advances have a way of overwhelming the senses and trying to keep up is taxing on the brain as well as the wallet. It was five years being a cell phone user before I upgraded to a phone with a camera. What does a photographer with professional gear need with a camera on a phone, anyway?

Then my friend showed me his iPhone. What did me in wasn’t the slick touch screen or elegant design, and the fact it had a fairly nice camera didn’t push me over the edge. What sold me was a simple application. My friend showed me his favorite application, Tide Graph. We’re both photographers, he lives on the coast now, and I visit the coast as often as I can. Figuring out tide tables can be a hassle, the book gets ratty, and even though you can find them free all over town, getting your hands on one can be inconvenient. What’s great about Tide Graph, other than location-specific tide tables for just about anywhere you might be, is the graph. The graph is a visual representation of where you’re at on the tide cycle, giving you a better idea how long it is to the next high or low tide and how high or low that tide is relative to the previous or next tide. It’s great.

It took me a little over a year to succumb to the iPhone bug, but now I have the new 3GS phone and I’m really enjoying it. When I was in high school and early college (that was back in the Apple IIe, Commodore and Amiga days), my computer geek friends and I would talk about future devices and what they should be able to do. The iPhone meets those criteria. It’s not just a phone with some additional functionality like taking pictures or playing music, it’s an integrated device. A precursor to a larger array of highly functional, small-footprint devices.

I’ve only had my iPhone for a month, but I’ve amassed a selection of applications I now use to help me with my photography and with photos created with the iPhone. That integrated camera is really helpful on scouting trips or quick idea or concept snaps, daily diaries, and other situations when larger, bulkier 35mm gear would be more inconvenient. Photographer Zack Arias recently posted on Twitter that the iPhone was now his favorite camera, probably for those reasons, among others.

I’ve seen some lists, but none yet specifically for photography or geared toward photography. Not all applications are image-related, but cover many aspects of a photographer’s needs. I hope, if you have an iPhone or intend to get one, that this list is helpful to you. Please feel free to drop a comment about your favorite app, because I’m always going to be looking for the best quality and I’m sure others would benefit.

I came across one list of the “best app interface designs”, but after trying one or two of the applications on that list came to the conclusion that snappy design does not necessarily mean useful or functional. It might look pretty but really suck.

Here is the list of the applications on my iPhone. Some are free, most cost $0.99 - $2.99. Some application developers offer a free version (trial, limited functionality, or with ads) and a paid version that is more full-featured or without ads. So far, I’ve spent a total of $35.86 on applications, deleted several free apps, and maybe wasted $6 - $12 on apps I’ll eventually remove. A person could certainly spend a lot more. It’s easy to do at $0.99 and $1.99 a pop. And, there are a ton of applications out there.

In my opinion, many apps are not worth the price paid, so take care. Also, your mileage may vary regarding the usefulness of these apps to your situation, as well as your opinion of these apps. Remember, the image manipulation apps are working on, at most, a 3 megapixel image. This isn’t Photoshop and these files aren’t going to be printed large, used for commercial work, or submitted for stock (generally). They’re good for email, Twitter, or Facebook. A disclaimer for image manipulation apps should read “for entertainment purposes only”. The effectiveness of the business-related, navigational, and other apps will depend on your personal workflow and needs. These apps are just what I have on my phone at the moment. There are other apps that could be added to this list, like to do lists, accounting/budgeting, word processing, document readers, business card scanners, etc. not to mention games and other diversions.

This list isn’t in any particular order. One caveat about apps for manipulating images; Some apps save manipulated images at smaller resolutions resulting in less quality. Read the reviews (carefully and with a grain of salt) before making a purchase.

1. Focalware: $9.99. This is the most expensive application I have so far but worth it. Sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset calculator using the internal GPS to determine time, azimuth, and elevation for your current position, from a list, or custom input location for the current date and time or any in the future. Great for planning shoots. Simple and elegant interface.

2. Photogene: $2.99. Photo manipulation; sharpness, color balance, levels, saturation, contrast, some special effects and frames. Kind of a mini-Photoshop.

3. Tiffen Cool FX. $0.99 (currenlty on sale). Filter effects, B&W conversions, color temperature.

4. Google Earth. Free. Same use here as on the desktop, location scouting, looking for new places to shoot.

5. Tack Sharp. $0.99. Depth of Field & Hyperfocal distance calculator. Good tool for beginners.

6. EVCalc. Free. Calculates exposure brackets. Good tool for beginners.

7. PhotoCurves. Free/$1.99. Photo manipulation, curves, brightness/contrast. I have the free version, but mostly use Photogene.

8. Clinometer. $0.99. Acts like a typical clinometer, measuring slopes and angles. Also has a nifty level. Useful for hanging artwork and precision set ups.

9. Road Trip. Free/$4.99. Tracks mileage, mpg, maintenance for your vehicle. Free version allows only one vehicle.

10. Weather Bug. Free. Very nice weather application for your current location and others you can save. Current temp, wind speed and direction, humidity, wind chill, forecast, satellite maps, quite comprehensive.

11. Write Now. $0.99. Another friend with an iPhone has to grab pen and paper to write a caller’s info. With Write Now, you can write/draw notes directly on the screen. Takes a little practice, but saves on paper and fumbling.

12. Twitpic. Free. For you tweeters out there. Post your iPhone pics in your tweets.

13. Colorslide. Free. Connects to Adobe Kuler for color swatches. Great for designers. I use this instead of Kuler because Colorslide shows the swatch color values in an easy-to-see form.

14. Color Calc. Free. Sliders give RGB & HEX color values, grayscale, RGB to HSL, CMYK, and system colors.

15. MotionXGPS. $2.99. Turns the iPhone into a full-featured GPS unit. Enter waypoints, generate GPS tracks, built in compass, stopwatch, speed, avg speed, distance, max speed, distance table to waypoints, iPod.

16. Tide Graph. $1.99. Explained above. Tide Tables for anywhere, with graphical representation.

17. Convertbot. $0.99. Conversion: speed, length, volume, currency, temp, time, area, data size, mass. Convert from a wide range of units using an elegant interface.

18. Inquisitor. Free. Yahoo Search. Fast, gives only top few results.

19. Groups. $3.99. Very nice handling of contact list. Able to place contacts in easily accessible tabs. Separate friends from family and business contacts from everyone else. Drag and drop, edit, delete, add, email directly from app.

20. Where to Eat? $2.99 Locate restaurants by category, cuisine, food type. Maps location. Nice feature: the map has a back button so you can return to the search without restarting the app.

21. Where to? $2.99. Another locator; restaurants, entertainment, travel & transport, health/medical, organizations, emergency, attractions, gov’t offices, education, services, shopping. Elegant interface, but no back button on the map, so app needs to be restarted for new search.

22. Iwant. Free/$0.99. Another locator. I find myself using this one more than the others. The free version has innocuous advertising, the paid version is ad free.

23. Free WiFi. Free. List of locations with free wi-fi near your location, with ability to filter locations.

24. Facebook. Free. Social networking when away from the laptop or desktop. Similar functionality to the desktop version, but missing some featured.

25. Tweetdeck. Free. Twitter app. Manage your friends and groups.

26. Linkedin. Free. Social networking when away from the office.

27. Pandora. Free. Pandora Radio. Streaming music, learns your likes and dislikes, create genre-specific “stations”.

Have fun with your iPhone, it’s a very nice device and can improve your productivity. But, remember to get outside and use the other camera gear.

Pattie Maes and her student Pranav Mistry (who has done most of the work developing this technology) introduced this game-changing technology at TED in February. The possibilities are amazing and maybe even a bit disturbing (think “Minority Report” - maybe not the best comparison to use by the developers of this technology).

The technology projects onto any surface (look at a map on an airport wall, use your hand to dial your phone), “reads” materials in front of you and searches and collects additional information and streaming video you can access while browsing a book in the bookstore or reading a newspaper. Take a picture by framing your hands. Very cool.