Can't text while driving... does taking pictures while driving fall into the same category?

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Easter's on it's way, so I figured I'd do a little one on one with our Faberge Egg. It's hand-carved... out of, uhhhh some kind of wood aaaaaannnd.... painted! As you may be able to tell, I am an expert in these matters. Need to know anything about Faberge Eggs? Just ask ME and I'll Google it for you ;-)

Anyways, I like this little egg and it seemed the Droid did as well. I've been trying to take some close-up shots of other things and was getting a fair amount of grain in the photos. I didn't like them, hence their absence on the blog.

I did like these however. Hopefully, you do too.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

I struggled a little bit today. I tried some more difficult things in the morning, pretty much like yesterday, and the results (again) weren't favorable. Then as I was walking outside there was this small bush of bright yellow flowers embracing what sun they could get from the dreary sky. They were set against a huge tree that has a little more recovering to do from the extended winter, but I thought they looked pretty neat juxtaposed against one another.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

After some failed photos earlier and a really busy day, I got this on my way home from a photo-shoot.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

So we've made it to the double digits. So far so good. I'm enjoying this project and the feedback I've gotten from it. Thanks for your support and comments.

Yesterday I asked for any suggestions or challenges for photos. I got a few and this morning I tried two of them out. Underwater and children's toys... combined. They were two separate requests, but Meagan suggested combining the two! So, I filled the tub with water, found a cute little rubber ducky, and waterproofed my Droid (aka double bagged it in Ziploc baggies). First I tested a paper towel inside of a zipped bag to see if it would get any bit wet while submerged for 30 minutes. It was dry, so I continued.

To sum it all up in a few sentences. I may have ruined the light I used for yesterdays photo. I thought it was waterproof, turns out it just LOOKS like it is! And on the photo side of things, I'll still be hunting for today's photo as the day goes on. I'll have to figure out a new waterproofing technique for the camera. It didn't focus well through the bags and all the images were a bit hazy. On the bright side, my Droid is dry and survived it's submarine impression.

R.I.P Craftsman LED Worklight

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Here's Day Nine. I might get another one up later on, but just in case, this is going to be it.

The weather here has been less than desirable recently, so we haven't ventured outside too much. To put it into perspective, I was wearing shorts and flip flops less than a week ago and we were considering turning the air conditioning on. Yesterday? IT WAS SNOWING!!! Our willow tree had just sprouted a bunch of small leaves for the spring and now I think it's second guessing it's timing.

Alright, any guesses as to exactly what this is a photo of?

Also, I'm up for a challenge. If anyone has any suggestions of possible photos or something that they think can't be taken with a camera phone, let me know and I'll give it my best shot.

Later

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

In keeping with the coffee theme, here's my beans!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

The morning cup :-)

This morning I'm sitting here working on another project and enjoying some of Starbucks finest, AND drinking it from my favorite mug! The Tribute blend was just released at the beginning of March and it's so good! It has notes of Berry and Dark Cherry, and is a nice Full-Bodied coffee. It's a blend of beans from Ethiopia, Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, and Colombia. Most of my favorite single-origin beans in one bag? Can life get better? I submit that it cannot!

In fact, I can't think of a better "tribute" Starbucks could give to their customers. Well, maybe free drinks... but I'll take a new delicious coffee blend. You're welcome Starbucks for being a loyal customer since the dawn of my coffee drinking years.

Sincerely,

Caffeinated-Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

It's before noon and I already have my photograph(s)! Yesssssssss :-) I've got another one that I may post, I'm trying to decide if I like it enough.

I went to drop off our recyclables this morning and thought that the glass bin looked pretty cool. It was even better I was throwing my glass containers in and they were shattering into a million pieces! I just might need to take the D700 back there next time and capture the pieces shattering, how cool would that be?

Well, I suppose I'll post my other picture too. It's of my Technivorm coffee maker filter basket while brewing some Sumatra. I thought the colors of the oils on the bubbles were really pretty against the dark brown grounds. The blur in the corner is the water flowing into the basket and a perfect 200F :-) How did it taste you ask? Like perfection in a cup. Here's the other photo below. UPDATE (a few minutes later) So, after seeing the coffee photo on the bigger screen I don't really like it as much. I'll leave it because I said I'd post it... just don't grade me on it, I realize it's not great. Come to think of it... I don't really like the first ones very much either. I'll find a better one throughout the day :-)

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Ok, I'll claim this one as the Day Six photo. This was taken through the front end of our DuaFlex camera. I had the idea earlier when I was loading up our recycling stuff to take one through my old 35mm Minolta. Then I saw the DuaFlex as I was putting some clothes away and thought it'd be fun to try and get a cute one of Liam. I think I succeeded ;-) How can a photo of my son not be cute?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

At some point I know I'm going to have to quit writing the number out. Android 365: Day Two-Hundred Fifty-Six is a long title. Maybe it looks better than the number 256 though? I guess we'll decide when we get to that point, it's still a ways away.

So, here's today's photo. It's my Taylor guitar... one of a few we have around here. Meagan has a Gibson electric, which I'm sure will make Android 365 at some point, and I've got this Taylor and an old 1976 Martin 12-String. They're all really pretty guitars, maybe we'll see if we can shoot them all together.

I just saw today that someone makes a tripod for your Android phone! I can't imagine a situation in which I'd need one, but still it's kinda cool :-) I'll find it and post a link.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

My first contribution! Not the best, but I'll get better. I was telling Nate that I feel being a contributor to his blog like a guest speaker at a major conference. Excited and nervous ;)

Meagan (Samsung Fascinate)

I'll be uploading a few more for today when I get within Wi-Fi range, but this is the start of today's find. I'm happy with what I got, I think you'll like the rest of the series.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Aaaaand here are rest of the pics. These were taken at the Baldwin City Depot which was constructed in 1906. The tracks were first laid in 1867. I'm not certain if that's the proper train track lingo "laid" but it seems to make sense.

Anyways, today I figured out that a man taking photos of train cars with his phone must be entertaining. I must say, that after seeing the workers of the nearby grain silo staring at me I did get a little self-conscious about kneeling down and and framing photos with my sweet phone camera. The only thing that helped me feel a little better was the fact that my photos probably looked a lot better than what they might think a tall guy in jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops might be taking with his phone.

I was tempted to go back to my car and grab my real camera to start taking photos with it, just to be like "yeah? Now what!?!?! Booyah!" Buuuuuut... I just let it be. Then I sat there on one of the train cars and went through my photographic bounty of images to choose my favorites and begin to post them.

THE END

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

As I've been searching for new and better photos to post over these last few days, my wife Meagan has become interested in contributing to the blog and joining this year long effort. She has an Android phone as well, so we are within bounds of the initial rules. I still fully intend on posting a photo each day, some days... hopefully most days, there will be a photo from each of us.

The photos will be noted as to who took them and which device they came from.

I will be "shooting" with a Motorola Droid X and Meagan will be using her Samsung Fascinate. She will be following all of the same rules I am.

My Motorola Droid X has an 8 MP camera while the Samsung Fascinate is slightly behind in the MegaPixel race at 5 MP. I don't imagine you will see much of a difference in the quality of the images however, but only time will tell!

This will be a little more exciting I think with two different cameras. It'll be a year long duel.

Soon, I plan on implementing the ability to have followers submit their photos from their Android phones so we can all see what everyone is doing out there.

Maybe I should stop typing and figure out my photo for today?

Please excuse our messed up blog right now. It may look pretty jumbled throughout the day today. It should look normal again by tomorrow.

~Nate

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

It took a while today to find and take the right photo. Meagan and I had the afternoon together so we decided to go to a movie (which we haven't done in months!) and have lunch. It was fun, we rarely get time to ourselves these days so it was a really nice day. :-)

I was looking around for something to catch my eye during the day, but didn't see anything good. Luckily the sunset was pretty when we got home. I took this photo through my sunglasses, which have a tan tint and are polarized. It has not been edited in any other way.

~Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

This is a handle of a really old cedar chest in our house. I'm not overly impressed with this photo, but it's nice.

I'm going to try and get a better one as the day goes on. March 20th is not over yet.

Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Update March 20th: Here's Photo #2 for March 20th. Liam and I were playing with his trains on the floor and he looked so cute, I decided this would be better than a wooden chest's handle. Perhaps I'm biased?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

I wonder if I can sync my Droid to my Cowboy Studio radio flash triggers. That could get really exciting! Sync this baby to some off "phone camera" flashes. Hmmmmm..... any app developers out there wanna take this on?

Maybe I should tell you a bit about who I am. I am a husband, father, inventor, cyclist, runner, wedding photographer, and budding commercial photographer. I am constantly looking for new things to do and ways to improve my environment. I am inspired by great people and amazing stories. However, I don't like to read. So, the stories I hear are mostly through documentaries and other video formats! ha! I find Chase Jarvis to be a very inspiring photographer. Jasmine Star also makes the short list of inspiring do-it-yourself-ers. Lance Armstrong is an amazing athlete who has ignited a love for endurance sports that will never be extinguished. Speaking of "love," I am also inspired by my amazing 2 year old son who learns more and more everyday. I love to watch him play and try to figure out how his toys work. My wife is an amazing mother to our son and an equally amazing spouse. She is also quite handy with the camera. We started our wedding photography business a few years ago and have built it to an "almost" self-sustaining point now to where we can survive solely on the income from it.

Anyways, thanks for stopping by. I'm sure I'll share more throughout this experiment.

No, this post isn't going to include the answer to one of life's great mysteries... why we are all here. I'm sure there are many blogs and sites out there to deal with that question.

Mine is rhetorical, although you can weigh in if you want in the comments section, but I have a feeling this will be a little one-sided as I am writing this well before you will be reading it.

What we are doing here is expanding the realm of creativity to something we use every day, our phones. There's rarely a minute in the day that we don't have them with us or at least within earshot. It's a mighty tool for working, passing time, gaming, navigating, building, referencing, and oh yeah... talking to someone! There's a thousand things we can do with our phone, but there's one that we are going to be particularly interested in here. The camera.

I've already stated what I'm going to be doing with this blog. What I hope comes out of it, is that somehow I can inspire other people to be creative with their phone and capture some really great images. It doesn't matter if every photo belongs on a wall. What matters is that there's an effort to be creative and that it's ok to do something just for the fun of it. Take a ton of pictures and look for what inspires you to be creative!

Here are the ground rules I'll be following.

1. Only an Android smartphone may be used to take photos for this blog.
2. Photos can be edited with Adobe Photoshop Express (found in Android Market). Adjustments are limited to Exposure, Saturation, Contrast, Brightness, and Tint.
3. Photos are uploaded directly to this blog from my phone with Blogger-Droid (also Android Market)
4. Photos can only be posted from the day they are taken. E.G. No taking 7 days worth of photos in a day and sitting on my butt for a week.
5. At least one photo per day for one year will be posted, starting on Mar 19th, 2011.

I think that's it.

Is the one you have with you.

Just got an Americano from the Starbucks drive-thru, and as I was waiting the rain began collecting on my windshield. I've always liked the look of raindrops on the window, but Ive never had my camera ready. So, today I just took this photo with my Droid X. I'm pretty impressed with this "phone", if we can still call them that nowadays. They're more like a small computer than a phone. The one thing most of them have in common though is that they have a camera. So the next time you see something picture worthy, just remember that the best camera is the one that's with you.

Nate

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

So, I just got an Americano from the Starbucks drive-thru, and as I was waiting the rain began collecting on my windshield. I've always liked the look of raindrops on the window, but I've never had my camera ready. So, today I just took this photo with my Droid X. I'm pretty impressed with this "phone", if we can still call them that nowadays. They're more like a small computer than a device solely used for talking.

Then I began thinking that the cameras on these phones are probably much more capable than we give them credit for. I decided that I'm going to explore just how capable they are and push my expectations for photos captured with my phone.

My goal is to take one good quality photo a day with my phone and upload it with the Blogger-Droid app to this blog. I will also be using the Adobe Photoshop Express app for Android to make small tweaks to each photo.

Some days I may feel extra creative and post a series of photos or just random photos taken throughout the day.

So, today (March 19th 2011) marks Day One of Droid Pix. My year long journey into the capabilities of my Droid X's camera.

~Nate (Motorola Droid X)

Update: (March 20th) This is a photo taken on the same day. I will most likely edit text on the computer after posting originally from my phone, since I tend to make a lot more mistakes while typing into my phone. Also, like today, I may want to add another photo to the blog on the day it was taken. In these instances, I will still upload them from my phone and add them to the date they were originally taken. I just want to emphasize that even though they may be added later, the photos have only been taken and edited on a Droid phone.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Please join us in helping the victims of the earthquake in Japan. The devastation there is beyond anything we can imagine. There are many organizations working hard to raise money and send aid to help all those affected by in the disaster. As of now and until further notice, we are donating a percentage of all our profits to assist Save the Children in their efforts to help the children and families affected by the earthquake.

This isn't exactly related to photography, but I just really wanted to share this anyways. There are pictures involved, so I'll claim that as the connection! :-)

I'm not quite sure where I got it from, my immense love for coffee, perhaps it's that I was born in the Northwest (unlikely) or that I spent almost 5 years stationed near Seattle while I was in the Navy (more likely). Prior to moving back there, I didn't really like the drink. After a while though, it just felt good to walk around with a warm cup of coffee on those drizzly Northwest winter days, it was comforting. From that point I began to learn as much as I could about coffee. I bought numerous books on the subject and I now follow a few different coffee blogs. So, today I figured I'd share a little about the roasting process and how we roast most of our own coffee at home.

I'll continue later and eventually post the entire process from roasting to brewing. The process begins with choosing the right green coffee bean, then goes on to roasting it properly, grinding it to the right size for the brewing method, and then finally brewing it properly at the ideal temperature and for the perfect amount of time. I know this is a lot more effort than many coffee drinkers may prefer to put into their cup of coffee, but for me the experience is just as important as that final delicious cup. Here's a video and some photos of the air roasting method.

~Nate