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 »

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 »

8 Crazy Days in Hawaii

Travel, Trip Journal 3 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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