Death Valley iPhoneography

iPhone, Photography, Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Dec 062011

During a recent trip to Death Valley National Park, I often took a step back from my ‘big’ camera and pulled out my phone to make some panoramas. If you want to see the big camera photos, click this – Death Valley 2011. The iPhone panoramas are all linked below – the first set was exported from the amazing Photosynth iPhone app and the second set was stitched using AutoStitch. I wrote about both apps in this post a few months ago.

At first glance, the Photosynth panoramas look weird and terrible. Keep in mind, though, that they are full 360° in all directions and when you constrain it to be a 2D rectangle, things get a little squished. Click the ‘interactive’ link below each image to see it how it was intended. The Dante’s View Photosynth turned out particularly well, in my humble opinion.

The AutoStitch panoramas are much prettier, but of course lack the interactivity and imersiveness (?) of the Photosynths. AutoStitch can handle multiple rows of photos, but in all the cases below I just did a single row. It’s interesting to see what textures and scenes each app could handle gracefully.

Photosynth

Zabriskie Point [interactive]

Dante’s View [interactive] Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 10:00 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Panoramic African Vacation with Photosynth

iPhone, Travel No Responses »
Sep 052011

My wife and I recently returned from an amazing 3-week trip to South Africa and Mozambique. Along the way, I used the Photosynth app on my iPhone to capture full 360° panoramas of all of the places we stayed and a few places we visited.

Now I share them with you.

Church Square in Pretoria, South Africa

Each of the links below will open in a new page on photosynth.net, where you can pan around and zoom in/out. Be sure to try it full-screen.

My wife makes many cameo appearances, as does my shadow and feet. Not all of the panoramas are complete due to space constraints and/or laziness. Please ignore any weird artifacts or ghosting effects – Photosynth is a quick-and-dirty tool. OK, let’s get started!

Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 5:13 pm Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Culture and Decay in New Orleans

Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Feb 272011

In mid-February I took a tag-along trip to New Orleans, meaning my wife went to a conference, and I tagged along. Apart from a few non-consecutive weeks in Florida, I’d never spent much time in the South. I was excited to see the city still surviving the effects of Katrina, the famous (infamous?) French Quarter, historic above-ground cemetery tombs and a few surviving plantations along the mighty Mississippi. Here are the photos. Read on for the highlights.

Beads in the French Quarter

Winter Weather

Blanca Peak (14344 ft, 4372 m) in the Sangre de Christo range

The trip began well, with clear skies over much of the Western United States. Thanks to a huge storm the week before, everything East of the Rockies was covered in snow. I love looking at stuff from above, and it’s just that much better when conditions are good for photos.

Unfortunately the cold weather continued even in the Deep South, and it was only about 40 degrees our first day in New Orleans. I even saw an icicle on a drainpipe! The second and third days saw temperatures in the 50s and the sun was out, but it was still very cold. I’m very happy I brought gloves and a warm hat. Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 10:51 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

8 Crazy Days in Hawaii

Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Jan 052011

As well-traveled as I am, prior to this trip I had never set foot off North America. I had never flown over an ocean. And I had certainly never witnessed molten lava. Luckily I captured my first (wife’s second) Hawaii experience with about 1500 photos. A handful are below. More are here.

Lava Entry Point

This was our 2nd Anniversary trip. Year 1 was to Yosemite – quite a different experience. Since we had the whole week of Thanksgiving off, we made it an 8-day trip. We were lucky to have family on Oahu, so of course we stayed with them for a few days. We spent the rest of our time on the Big Island, where the allure of witnessing an active volcano was too much to pass up.

Looking back, here are some quick facts about our trip that stick out to me:

  • Islands visited: 2
  • Nights in a hotel: 0
  • Sea turtles on the beach: 3
  • Legs injured while snorkeling: 4
  • Amount spent on coffee: ~$60
  • Amount spent on macadamia nuts: ~$100
  • Geckos living in bedroom: at least 4
  • Noisy crickets living outside our bedroom: ~600 million, give or take
  • Terrifying boat rides: 1
  • Cliff diving opportunities: 2
  • Phrase most uttered: “This is crazy!”

Seeing the Sights

OK, so here’s all the stuff I’m going to write about. It’s a lot, because it was a long trip and we saw so many things! Feel free to skip around, or head straight to my Hawaii photo gallery if you don’t like to read. Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 1:00 pm

Hot Action in Austin

Photography, Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Sep 102010

Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue Along Lady Bird Lake

In mid-August I visited Austin, Texas with my wife to see some friends and just to get away. We certainly didn’t go for the weather – it was 102 degrees the 2nd day we were there. Ugh. But enough about the weather.

My photo gallery can be found here – Austin 2010 – be sure to click the Map This button if you want to see where all the stuff is.

Read on for the highlights of the trip! Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 2:15 pm Tagged with: , , ,

4th of July Trip to Ventura

Photography, Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Jul 182010

Over the Independence Day weekend, my wife and I spent two nights in Ventura, California, a small town along the lovely coast of Southern California. The trip started with a wildlife cruise to Anacapa Island, part of the Channel Islands.

I highly recommend visiting! It has a very small-town feel, with neat old houses, great downtown, historic mission, and excellent ocean access.

See more more pics at www.jawsnap.net/travel!

Map of Ventura, CA and Surrounding Area

Wildlife Cruise

Anacapa Island is part of Channel Islands National Park, and the cruise took us along its North shore. A company called Island Packers is the sole concessionary to the park, so if you want to visit you have to call them. Rich people can charter a private plane (San Miguel island has a landing strip) or take their own boat. We originally planned on spending the night on Anacapa island, but the fates were against us. Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 3:59 pm Tagged with: ,

Macworld 2010 – My Full Report

Photography, Technology, Travel, Trip Journal 1 Response »
Feb 192010

I was fortunate enough to attend the Macworld 2010 expo in San Francisco from 2/9-2/13 on my employer’s dime. This was the first major convention I’d ever been to, and I had a great time! I learned stuff, saw cool products, hung out with friends/colleagues and ate far too much delicious food. I’m writing this with myself in mind – that is, the ‘me’ of 2 months ago when I didn’t understand exactly how the convention was organized or what to expect. Skip to the bottom if you just want to see the awesome food we ate.

What is Macworld?

Macworld @ Moscone Center

Well, it’s an expo, and a convention. It’s also called a tradeshow and a conference. And it’s a magazine and corresponding website. So yeah, it’s a lot of things. From the Macworld Expo website, the event can be broken down into 1) the expo and 2) the conference. The expo is a giant show floor with lots of vendors and speakers while the conference consists of various classes divided into categories like MacIT and Creative Safari.

This was the first year that Apple was not involved. There was no Apple booth and no Apple presentations or speakers. I read that attendance was down slightly, but it was still a huge event – I surely didn’t notice a lack of participation. Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 11:37 am

Empire Ranch

Photography, Travel No Responses »
Jan 132010

On 12/22, I started driving South from Tucson with no particular destination or time constraint and ended up at Empire Ranch just North of Sonoita.

Historic Empire Ranch Headquarters

See all the photos and check out the Empire Ranch Foundation website

It’s a working ranch, but the old ranch headquarters are historic buildings from the late 1800s. It’s jointly managed by the Foundation and the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). I really like the area around the ranch – gentle rolling hills covered by grass that was dormant this time of year and a nice shade of yellow. I find it very similar to Sonoma County in California, and in fact there is a lot of wine production near Sonoita. I also like the massive cottonwood trees that grow in the washes where water is flowing underground year-round. Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 10:57 pm

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

Travel 1 Response »
Jan 012010

If you’ve ever driven between Tucson and Phoenix on I-10, you’ve no doubt noticed the ostrich ranch next to Picacho Peak. It’s been there since 1993, but I just stopped there for the first time on 12/31/09.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

I can vouch for the biting, but it's not that bad...

The main attraction is to feed the ostriches and other animals they have. It’s only $5 for a big cup of feed for the ostriches, deer, goats and donkeys, and you also get a cup of nectar for the lorikeets. I think that’s a pretty good deal, and it’s a ton of fun.

Website: www.roostercogburn.com

More Photos: www.jawsnap.net/Misc/Rooster-Cogburn-Ostrich-Ranch

Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 12:33 am

Yosemite National Park

Photography, Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »
Dec 022009

For our first year anniversary, my wife and I visited Yosemite for the first time. On Day 1 (Thanksgiving Day), we drove up from Los Angeles (~300 miles) and had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel. One Day 2, we used the shuttle system to get around the valley to go on some short hikes and see the visitor center. On Day 3 we drove to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and went on a longer hike. On Day 4 we walked around lower Yosemite Falls before heading back to LA.

Read on for the full report and check out my photo gallery.

Yosemite Valley - iPhone Panorama

Yosemite Valley - iPhone Panorama

Continue reading »

Posted by Jonathan at 3:48 pm Tagged with: , ,
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