Review of Mini Wide Angle Lens for iPhone

I got a mini wide angle lens for my iPhone 4 as part of our annual secret santa exchange at work. The lens is a 2-in-1 and also acts as a macro lens. For $20, the quality is amazing. One problem, with the iPhone 4, the magnetic ring adhesive doesn't stick to the glass iPhone backing very well and keeps falling off plus I really don't like the look of having something stuck to the back of the phone all the time. I came up with a simple solution involving a mini suction cup and part of a binder clip. Since the lens is magnetic to begin with, it sticks right to the binder clip. I bent the clip a little with some pliers to get it just right. Works like a charm.

yes, these were all shot with an iPhone 4 and a $20 macro lens

1893 Golding Pearl Printing Press

For the past year I've been wanting an old printing press. My life is surrounded by technology and I needed something more analog to occupy my time so I figured this would be a neat project. The problem however was actually finding a working printing press since most got destroyed when computers started taking over. I researched a lot of presses and got it narrowed down to a few models I'd settle for but like I said, it's not like there's an abundance of them around. I tracked down a guy that collected printing presses and had a few of the ones that I really liked so I emailed him to see if he'd want to sell off some of his collection. I was actually surprised to find out that he was just about to start downsizing. He was located 7hrs away in St. Louis so I made the trip over Thanksgiving weekend. The press was a mess, covered in 100+ years of oil/grease/dust/funk but it worked and it was complete so that was the main thing.

The press weighs around 500lbs and is an absolute bitch to take apart. I spent the last month cleaning and getting it presentable. I wanted it to be the focal point in my home office so I totally redid the room as well to really set the press off. Now I just have to learn how to use it.

Watch my inspiration on Linotype:

Crosley USB Turntable is Amazing!

My mother just bought me a Crosley USB Turntable for $150 and it's definitely worth the money. I have it plugged into an Apple HiFi and the quality is so good you can't tell if it's an iPod or vinyl.

IOGraphica

I found a cool little app that creates art from your mouse movements. Download it free from IOGraphica.com

iPad + iPhone Matching Wallpapers

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I'm a huge Apple fan (probably working for them didn't help matters). Almost every time Apple releases a new product, I'll be first in line to get it and the new iPad is no exception. I might not care for the name (altho it's growing on me) or the fact that it doesn't multitask (but that could be changed in an update) but those few downsides don't make up for the fact that it will be an amazing product right out of the gate just like the iPhone was. Lots of people are asking me why someone would even want it, well for me it will be a huge connivence. I usually do my web browsing while laying in bed with my laptop and I'm always worried it's going to slip and fall + this will be a great platform to show my photography on and when not in use it can act as a digital picture frame.

Since the iPad will allow you to actually have wallpaper viewable (unlike the iPhone that only displays it on the front screen) I figured I'd get a head start and create a few iPhone / iPad matching wallpapers. At first when I started making them, I was designing them vertical like the iPhone is laid out, however after watching the demo of how the iPad functions, I noticed by rotating it you will get more of the image on the top (when vertical) or sides (when horizontal). Since the resolution is 1024 x 768 on the device, I just made all the wallpapers 1024 x 1024 to compensate for rotation. Feel free to download the ones you want.

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman

Droste Effect

The other day while surfing the net, I discovered the Droste Effect which is where an image depicts a smaller version of itself in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear. I've seen these types of images before but never knew what they were called or how they were created. Well, much like my months of obsessing on how to make Tiny Planets, I just had to figure out this Droste effect. Almost all the info I found gave instructions on how to create them on a PC, but I'm on a Mac and had to figure it out for myself. There are some free programs out there that say they work on Mac, but not the latest operating system. I finally found a free program from Adobe (yes, I used the words, "free" and "Adobe" in the same sentence) called PixelBender that does an amazing job. The hard part is finding an image that will work seamlessly, but after hours of fooling around with the program, I got a few decent ones.

[view them full screen]

This is the starting image that the above black/white and gold images are made up of. The white areas are transparent to allow for the wormhole effect.

1920s Kodak 9A Century Studio Camera

The other day I was browsing through an antique store in downtown Columbus and under all kinds of crap, wedged way in the back was an old wooden camera. I contemplated getting it but instead went back home to do some research to see if it was worth the price. I couldn't really find too much info on it other then it was called a Studio Camera. I loved the way it looked and went back today to have the shop owner hoist it up so I could go over it. The camera is made of either Cherry or Mahogany and the craftsmanship is impressive, I was also impressed that the camera was still in good condition. There was a tag hanging from it that read "Used in a photo shop at Niagara Falls to take photos of visitors." I figured what the hell, it looks cool and would be an awesome addition to my growing camera collection.

When I got it home, it took me a few hours to clean it up. I didn't want to get it too perfect using pledge or polish on it as it would loose that patina. The bellows (the accordion looking thing) is in good condition without light leaks and it even came with a second adapter for Polaroid film.

After a little more digging I found that the camera was made between 1907-26 but no way of knowing for sure the actually year. I'm now after a matching stand for it. The antique shop had one but it was 3 times the price of the camera so there was no way I was forking over that kind of cash for it.

[Love this brass plate on the front]

My Inspiration

A few weeks ago my boss had a brain storm about doing a ton of videos for our website and he wants me to be in charge of shooting, editing, and web updating. Only problem is I know not a single thing about video.

The videos are going to be mostly client testimonials, our attorneys giving case examples and such ranging from 2-5min. Everything has to be done in the best way possible so my boss just bought me a 27" Quad-Core i7 iMac, Final Cut Studio, Sony EX1R plus all the lighting and accessories I need to make it look super professional...and he wants me to be good at it by the beginning of next year, which is a few weeks away.

At first I was overwhelmed (still am) and wasn't liking the new duties I was given, until I saw some videos by Andrew Zuckerman. Andrew has an amazing eye and I love his simplistic videography. I've analyzed his "behind the scenes" videos of the way he has his lighting and studio setup and I'm going to try my best to mimic this.

If any of you reading this are into video editing and can give me some tips on lighting, I'd be grateful to hear them.

Here's an example of how I'd like the videos to look:

Andrews photography is just as stunning as his video work.