Best father’s day a guy could ask for – kayaking and oysters at Tomales Bay, near Point Reyes, CA. Unfortunately I blew most of the kayaking shots due to not wiping crusted saltwater off the lens regularly (live and learn). Check out the note my wife left for me in the sand.
Miles’ Bedroom Wall
Miles – Spontaneous Closeup
Hiking in the woods, went to snap a shot of M when he rushed the camera.
Cupcake – Eat Me
Amy teasing me for not getting around to eating a cupcake that had been sitting out for three days.
Photo365 for 2014
Family resolution: All three of us are doing Photo365 this year – one photo a day for an entire year. Easy when you’re out doing interesting things, a lot tougher when you settle back into the daily grind – everything starts to look the same and it’s on you to find new angles and lighting environments etc. I did the project back in 2011, and will be posting to Flickr again. Amy and Miles are also set up with Flickr accounts and empty sets, ready to go. Wish us luck!
You can track my 2014 progress here.
Spinning Burning Steel Wool
We did it! Inspired by this Mashable series, and using this tutorial, I built a little rig for spinning burning steel wool today, then took it out to the local park with Amy and Miles after dinner. Amy shot the images while Miles and I took turns spinning. Not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, but we still wore a protective hoodie and goggles, and brought along a gallon of water just in case (none of it needed).
These are all 30-second exposures. The hardest part is getting the distance right – tough to know in advance how far away the subject needs to be, so the tops/sides of several of these are off. More practice needed. Would also like to figure out how to change the color of the sparks. Any chemists in the house?
Heath Ceramics
On the way to a hike at Tennessee Cove today, stopped in at Heath Ceramics to find tile to cover an ugly old fireplace. Everything in that place is gorgeous. Starting with these vases.
At Heath Ceramics
Vimeo vs. YouTube for GoPro Footage
Owning a GoPro camera is a total blast, but having to deal with the ultra-high-def footage and non-standard frame rates it generates forces you to think of details you might not have had to think about before. And beyond that, of course you want to show off all that pixel clarity. Watching one of your clips on the desktop is a jaw-dropping experience; watching it again after it’s been uploaded to the web is comparatively disappointing. But hosting the original files on your own server isn’t a very nice option either.
After spending the day with a GoPro on my head at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk yesterday, tried uploading one of the clips to both YouTube and Vimeo, and you can check them both out below for sake of comparison (try both of them full-screen).
Here’s the Vimeo version:
Double Shot, Santa Cruz Boardwalk w/GoPro Helmet Cam from Scot Hacker on Vimeo.
Since Vimeo is known for having the highest quality, it’s no surprise that the Vimeo version has less pixelation and more retained detail. But I’ve got seven clips to upload, and have to “wait for my week to reset” before I can upload more high-def footage, unless I spring for the “Plus” version at $10/month. Otherwise I have to wait for Wednesday to roll around if I want it free.
And here’s the YouTube version:
I don’t mind paying for services that provide quality, but $10/month is kind of steep for me, given how seldom I’ll need this ability. Hrmm, what to do.
Kauai 2013
When we experienced Kauai for the first time in 2010, I was so blown away – and found the experience so transformative – that I spent three days writing a blog post about it when we returned.
Just returned from a 2nd trip, but no way am I going to do that much writing again, even though I’ve got just as much to say :) Instead, just spent a day combing through 2,000 photos (mine, my wife’s and my father’s), and whittled down the set to around 200.
For best results, click the full-screen slideshow option.
A few highlights:
Kilihiwai Bay
Scot and Miles, Kauai 2013