Gorgeous Time Lapse Photography

So I'm a photographer and designer, most of you know that. It's this kind of incredibly gorgeous work that inspires me.

QRCode

Ever see one of those weird block looking things in a magazine, in a store on a sign, perhaps on a business card and wonder "What the hell is that?" Well it's called a QR Code or Quick Response Code. It's a two dimensional barcode that holds a whole lot more information that just a simple number that your standard barcode holds.

These QRCodes are a new(ish) way of getting a message across to someone without having to write it all out. All you need is a smartphone and you're golden. Download a free QR Scanner to your iPhone or Android and go ahead scan that weird blob in and see what comes up. Alright alright, it literally decodes to the following:

BEGIN:VCARD
N:Joseph Cote
TEL;CELL:(760) 563-2683
EMAIL:josephacote@gmail.com
ADR;HOME:;;364 Wilder St;MA;Lowell;01851
ORG:207 Stills
TITLE:Photographer
URL:http://www.207stills.com
BDAY:June 30, 1986
END:VCARD

Which when you use a decoder such as QuickMark QR Code Reader 4 (99¢ via iTunes) it will most likely show you something much prettier like this:

So how is this useful you're asking. How could this crazy system of coding and decoding really be a viable source of communication? Well, just as everything else, it has its place. Let's say you're a small business owner and you want to place an ad in the local paper to advertise your new ice cream stand. Why not take out a very small box that simply has a simple tagline like "Here's the Scoop!" and next to that is a weird matrix of information that if you scan it with your phone brings you right to your ice cream shops website, or perhaps its Google coordinates.

How about you have a business card and you want all your friends, or new colleagues, to have your information in their phone immediately... put one of these QR Codes on your business card and hand 'em out. All your friends or colleagues have to do is scan it in with their iPhone and it will import your name, company name, title, birthday (if you so choose), your business phone number, perhaps a private link to your online resume. Whatever information you want to share, it can be imported to your card info on their phone immediately.

iPhone 4

I'm sure you've heard the news of the new iPhone 4. Here's a great sentimental feeling video showing off Apple's newest, most technologically advanced smartphone ever:

DIY Strobist On The Cheap...ish

I've been getting more and more involved with photography over the past few years and with every photoshoot I do I gain a bit of knowledge in some area or another. My next venture is getting into a more professional level of strobe photography. Currently I have two continuous 250 watt lights that I shoot with shoot-though umbrellas, which works... but it's just not enough power to really capture someone in all their essence. I'm still looking for a somewhat cheap solution to this issue, but so far I've found that the best investment seems to be in a strobist system. This is where you actually use standard on-camera flashes and you take them off... your camera...

This allows for the same quality shot you might get with a super expensive studio setup, but for half the cost, plus it gives you the option to go somewhere and shoot someone in a location where you have no access to a wall socket. The other nice benefit of using standard on-camera flashes is that making diy light modifiers (such as softboxes or snoots) is really simple.

So, how cheap is cheap...ish you ask? You can get a Vivitar 285HV for $81 bones on Amazon, a light stand and the connections for another 65 bucks or so, plus maybe an umbrella for $12 at Adorama. So for under $200 bucks you can have yourself a pretty nice little setup. I've been looking over my options recently and I think I'm going to pick up two 285HV's and a two flash strobist kit similar to this one from Midwest Photo Exchange. These kits start at $199 and include everything you need (minus the strobes themselves) to get the most professional lighting system a starving art student can ask for.

Pictory Mag

Telling a story is always easiest and most effective when you have an image to simply show what you're talking about. pictorymag.com is a new site that exemplifies the exact point. here's what the site looks like, check it out and see for yourself how awesome it is to see incredible imagery that perfectly explains the story attached!

Google Wave

Google Wave is the internet-based communication of the future, no doubt about it. It's like email 2.0. Here's a video from the developers themselves introducing Google Wave. it's a great watch.

I love the ability to have images, videos, and music put right in line with my message. Also being able to have conversations with many people at the same time about the same topic such as planning a trip, then having a private message with just one person about the same topic who's already a part of the conversation; maybe asking Sally if she's okay with us inviting her ex-boyfriend... she might not want to answer that to the whole group involved in the conversation, but to just me she's more than willing to answer so we know what's the best course of action. This can all be done within the same thread. Public and private messages including pictures, video, music, slideshows, links, you name it.

Nikon Film Festival

What would your day look like in 140 seconds? That's the question Nikon is asking. Nikon's Film Festival is where you can see the answers other people have posted. They encourage you to use a Nikon dSLR with video to make your movie with either stop motion or in movie mode, but it's not a requirement. A day in the life of photographer Chase Jarvis for example...

New Remastered Beatles Box Set

If you're a beatles fan this should be exciting news! Apple/BMG just released a new box set with all the original albums remastered!

Check out the original article from NPR's All Songs Considered, this last weeks episode is all about the new box set and what's actually new