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Articles Tagged with: technology

One Of A Kind

Taken on my iPhone in Best Buy seconds after I got the phone call from my wife that Steve Jobs passed away

Where to begin? What to say? I guess the only way to express how I feel about the man behind Apple is to share my own relationship with his contributions to modern life as I know it.

I didn’t grow up with computers. Sure, my brother had a Commodore VIC20 that we would hook up to a small black & white TV that we had in our bedroom, but other than that I grew up with minimal technology. I was an art and music nerd in my teenage years. I cared more for Gibson guitars and Marshall stacks than this AOL phenomenon my other less artsy friends were into. When I first attempted to go to college right out of high school, it was for graphic design. It was the first time I laid my hands on a Power Macintosh. I found it threatening. I spent all of my free time playing scales and writing lyrics, how would I ever have time to learn how to use a computer? Needless to say, I failed at that first attempt at higher education within the first semester when I dropped out to go on tour with my band.

Fast-forward 5 years and the band was winding down. I got married and my wife, unlike me, grew up with computers. The first major purchase we made together was an iMac in glorious translucent green. It only took a couple of days before I was a full fledged, card-carrying Apple fanboy. In fact, I was so engaged by the iMac that I wanted to learn as much as I could about computers in general. I went back to school to do just that. I built PC’s and talked endlessly about the latest technology with anyone who would listen. I was baptized in the “Steve Jobs reality distortion field”. Some people think that phrase is an insult, I think it is the ultimate term of endearment for the one man who could bend what we think of as possible into something we could feel in our soul.

I’ve made a living from technology and it has provided my family with almost everything we have today. I can’t think of another company that could have transformed this music lover into a technologist. Steve Jobs is a man who changed the world as we know it, and more importantly to me, his contributions to the world changed me.

Thanks, man.

Gear Porn

Photography is all about capturing moments, interpreting scenes, and showing images of the world with your own unique vision. Lets face it though, every once in a while you just like to drool over some technological smut.

I’ve been talking so much about my new Nikon Coolpix P7000 lately that I thought I’d share some pics of it. Here it is all tricked out with a Nikon SB-400 Sppedlight and a Joby Gorillapod Tripod.

The diffuser on the SB-400 is a Sto-Fen Omnibounce. That flash/diffuser combo works so well indoors that I use it more than my SB-600 for indoor on-camera flash!

I love the addition of the optical viewfinder. When it’s sunny outside that thing is a life saver! The level is pretty cool, and so is the built-in ND filter effect. You can see that I have a very busy LCD screen, but that’s no problem because all I have to do is press the shutter halfway and it goes away. Alternatively, I can press a button and it shows me just the scene I’m framing.

The physical dials and buttons are what makes the camera truly attractive to me. I like being able to control the settings while I’m composing, not before. Every movement of the camera alters the exposure because the direction, volume, and quality of light changes, and I don’t want the camera to make all of the decisions for me all of the time. If I have to go into the software of the camera to change important settings, the moment will most likely be lost!

I also recently ordered the Nikon case for the camera. While I was shooting at the Archers of Loaf show a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the effect of dirt on the lens covers – they get stuck! This case lets you use the camera’s straps (I use the Domke Gripper strap) and is quite minimal – something I cherish with this camera.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Gear Porn! No SD Cards were harmed in the making of this post.