I recorded this celebration with a Flip video camera as a crowd watched President Obama’s first inauguaration ceremony on a large video screen on Idepedendence Mall in Philadelphia on January 20, 2009.
Category Archives: Gadgets
Pocket photojournalism
I am preparing a workshop on video storytelling for some of my students — and that brought me to revisit this video I made for a conference I could not attend last year. It’s getting old in the sense that more alternatives are now available but still a pretty good wrap:
[quicktime]http://jimmacmillan.com/wp-content/macmillan-nsc11.m4v[/quicktime]
I produced this video in lieu of appearing on a panel that I was unable to attend at the National Press Photographers Association’s Northern Short Course in in Warwick, RI, in March 2011, considering tech concerns for educators teaching photojournalism students. Related links are below.
Gorillapod - iPhone Tripod Holder - Photojoj iPhone telephoto lens - Eye-Fi cards - Virgin Mobile MiFi hub - Zoomit - Posterous.com
Zoomin’ it
I got my new Zoomit SD card reader for the iPhone in the mail yesterday, and opening the package opened a world of possibilities, making it possible to move full-resolution photos online without a laptop, Wifi, or anything else.
It calls for a little set-up: It needed a charge first, from an included USB charger, and when I plugged the charged device into the bottom of my iPhone4, it prompted me to download the free Zoomit app. (There is also a $2.99 Zoomit music app in the store, but I don’t need it and so I didn’t buy it. I’m all about the photos.)
Next, I plugged into the other end of the device with an SD card that had been in my Canon 990 pocket camera, which contained a few pre-dawn photos, like the one above, which I had taken on my way into New York a few days ago. (No, I was not in the driver’s seat. Distracted driving kills.)
After selecting an image on the iPhone screen, Zoomit sharing options include emailing the photo or posting to your existing Facebook or Flickr accounts, for which you will be prompted to log in.
From Flickr, I emailed this photo to my Posterous blog, which then redistributes to several more platforms, including whichever one you are viewing now.
It’s hard to swallow the $60 price tag at a time when USB SD readers cost so little, but when combined with iPhone apps and social sharing platforms, this baby feels like a game-changer, especially now that more professional-quality cameras are coming SD-ready.
I can’t wait to put it to work in the field.
Sent from my iPhone
Big Sparklers
I have been having a lot of fun with time-lapse video lately and so I took for Flip Mino out to the Columbia, Mo., fireworks last week. I sped it up to 10,000% on my iMac with Final Cut Express and kept the nat sound.
No time for that iPad keynote?
This video sums it conveniently in 180 seconds with all the important words. No scene is repeated and everything was said on this keynote!