Kelly: he’s probably calling me right now, deck
You can’t text message breakup. You still owe me 1200 dollars, shetbag!
vegas, baby! … part 1
Six of us took a long weekend and flew down to Vegas to celebrate John’s birthday. We had a ball…. here’s the video of the first night. That city… is fun.
I haven’t done much self-filming video commentary quite yet, so you’ll notice some fun captions instead. Perhaps I’ll get my act together like super-vlogger Tony Hayden, buck up and do a little self-filming… though I gotta hand it to him, it’s a lotta work.. but he’s all-pro. And you look a little crazy, too.
And yes.. this whole thing was filmed on my Nokia N73 phone.
Hope you enjoy… we did. :)
chacon… chocolate + bacon
Another random video snippet… discussing what we might call a combination product of our 2 favorite foods.
Vid Snippet: Dave on the Pride Paparazzi
I decided I should post some of these old video snippets.. random fun ones that don’t really compile into anything, but hold some fun memories. Like Dave’s comments about the photographers at his first pride parade. Oh Dave… you’re a monster.
So I suppose that aside from more compliled video blog entries, you might expect some of these random ones.
Evolution: The Magic’s in the [digital] Makeup
This video is pretty crazy… shows you just what a normal ad does with original photography. This video is for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty… which is the first time I can recall a cosmetics or skincare company taking on pop culture’s obsession with fashion models, extreme dieting, and unheathly body images… as well the health and cultural problems they cause.
This reminded me of some pretty remarkable/scary sites regarding photo touch-ups. I’ve done some of this work for clients in the past, though it was more for product photography rather than glamour shots. However, I have had a few jobs where I helped “compensate for poor lighting and the lack of a professional makeup artist.”
While morally questionable (or just plain despicable, depending on how you see it), it’s quite satisfying work from a photoshopper’s standpoint. It’s the kind of photo work where you can make a great photo spectacular… and more often than not, completely unrealistic.
Here are a few sites with before & after retouches that I found impressive. The best one - http://www.glennferon.com/ - doesn’t currently have his before & after shots up, but here are some others that will make you think for a moment before admiring a pretty face. Behind every amazing photographer, is an equally truth-defying retouch artist.
Greg Apodaca’s Digital Portfolio
Has a variety of photo retouches.
FluidEffect.com
Some pretty high-profile image work with click-to-see-before shots.
Detouching!
Making the celebs look bad… really bad…
www.nasonart.com
For the most part, more subtle retouching work.
nokia n73: a great camera and then some
I’ve been using the Nokia N73 for almost 2 months now as my primary handset. I decided I’ve give it a little while before posting my thoughts, allowing myself ample time to get used to Nokia and the symbian OS again, after switching from my Sony Ericsson w800i.
As you can tell by my blog entries and the nature of my handset reviews, my primary interest in a handset revolves around its ability as a tool for media creation and sharing. This handset is primary designed to be an excellent still camera, but it’s still a great all-around mass-market smart phone, too.
The day I picked up the N73, the first thing that struck me was the great screen… the design of the handset makes the screen very dominant. It’s got the same rockin’ 320 x 240 screen the N93 does… only this one isn’t hidden because of a flip form factor. Some find the design of the handset to be sparse… I like the clean, understated lines. It’s got a quality finish; while the N93 felt chunky and a bit boxy, the N73 fells solid… like very expensive handsets (and other portable electronics like iPods) typically do.
The camera rocks. The Carl Zeiss 3.2 megapixel lens is great… I prefer it to the N93, which I feel over-sharpens photos. Check out the last 50 or so pics on my photo journal for example of the quality. Color representation is spectacular… even slightly more vivid than real-life. This makes for impressive, though not always true-to-life, photo results. The N73 is also capable of pretty good video recording quality… at a resolution of 352 X 288 at 15 frames-per-second. While not as impressive as the 30fps VGA video recording capabilities of the N93 and the upcoming N95, it’s still pretty damn good… my video blog entries will show you, it’s definately worthy of producing video for the web.
Unfortunately, I noticed a few issues with the N73 that took a little getting used to. The number pad is small will very little tactile feedback. Your fingers alone cannot tell where one button ends and the next begins. This can make texting a frustrating experience, depending on what you’re used to. However, after a couple months, I’ve gotten used to it’s not bugging me as much as it did initially. Curiously enough, the C key is located on the far bottom-right of the front of the phone (it’s used to backspace when composing a text message). This can make it very difficult to correct a typo when texting using your right hand. You almost risk dropping the phone. So type it right the first time. :)
Sadly, the N73 doesn’t sport the rockin’ WiFi feature like it’s video-centric older brother the N93 does. While I certainly wouldn’t call this a problem, it’s something I really want in a smartphone after using it on the N93.
While the photos that come out of it are bitchen, the camera takes a little too long to load. I’ve gotten used to sliding the lens cover open as I’m pulling it out of my pocket to take a shot.
Despite it’s quirks, the N73 has been a great handset for me so far… very well-rounded, and on the whole, a pleasure to use. That is, of course, until I toss aside for the N95, at which point I’ll prompty forget it ever existed. :)
my house mixes
