Bob Filner Supporters Gather in Mission Beach
Bob Filners last two supporters gathered for a “Filner is still Mayor” rally in Mission Beach yesterday. Dan Mack organized the rally which he say’s is just a grass roots and early endeavor to put the rightful and righteous mayor back in office. “If Mayor Filner is guilty of being sexy or if that’s wrong, than I don’t want him to be not guilty or right” yelled Dan Mack as he waved a large Filner Cardboard head in the air.
A single supporter, a massive hunk of tanned flesh of a man on a bike joined Dan Mack. The man refused to give his name, wishing to remain anonymous, however advised that he can be found on CraigsList under the name “DirkDigler”
Dan Mack looks on as his deeply tanned compadre on a bike rides off into the sunset.
A Casual Ride up the Mountains
Tu and I went for a long ride in the car. Up to the mountains to visit beautiful places and to feel the cool mountain air. One of the funnest things is to visit the small stores a long the way. They sell fresh fruits, jams, jerky and olives.
The road to Julian and beyond, winds left and right for miles. Past Julian, just a tiny flash of a town called Warner Springs and high on a hill if you look hard you might spot St Francis Church built almost 200 years ago. Its a little adobe church. No one was inside.
If you watch by the side of the road you might see deer. You might see a mountain lion or just beautiful views that you won’t see near the beach in San Diego. Thats what we did. We were just looking for nice views.
Just past Julian as you go left and right, and then left and right again a few dozen more times. You will come upon a Lake with a pier and boats. Its a beautiful lake. We had a wonderful day today.
5 Best Photography Apps for your Phone
Face it. Most pictures you take now are probably on your phone. The quality may not be the best but it certainly is the most convenient way to take pictures. Camera phones are a blessing and a curse though. While they are convenient they are pretty prone to taking crappy looking boring pictures so you have to use them carefully. Note, you are not the one taking the crappy picture, it’s your phone and you can blame that on Tim Cook or Obama (your choice)
I am unusual, in that I carry my large camera around with me virtually everywhere I go. Occasionally, I cannot so I rely on my iPhone5 to help me document the moment. When I take a picture I like, I almost always use an app to enhance the picture. It just makes it more interesting.
Here are my 5 favorite iPhone Apps that I think are a must for any serious Iphonographer.
# 1 VSCO Cam
This is a super simple app that applies some of the coolest filtered looks you can find. I like this app the most because it keeps the picture quality high and applies subtle vintage looking filters on top of it. Check it out here – VSCO Cam. These filters seem well thought out and they brought to you by the same company that basically creates all of the film filters that people use for Lightroom and Photoshop. I highly recommend this app.
Sweet filters to make you look cooler than you could ever be in real life.
# 2 Over
I talked to the guys that created this app and they are awesome. I think this is actually one of the best and most useable apps on the iTunes store. With this app you can create cool text over photos. The fonts they chose are very artistic and cool and they partnered with various artist to provide you with interesting graphics to put over your photos. This is an awesome, awesome app. Check it out here Made it with Over
So awesome text over photos. Its all about the fonts and they have all the cool ones on this app
#3 Afterlight
This is a phenomenal image editing app on iTunes. This app has so many bells and whistles that it will blow you away. There are custom frames, light leaks, filters and tons of various image editing tools right in the palm of your hand. This is like having a mini-photoshop right on your phone but easy to use. This will cost you a whopping 99 cents. Check it out – AfterLight
Bar none, one of the most complete and easy to use apps. At 99 cents its the only paid app I use.
#4 PhotoWonder
This app is a complete trip but a heck of a lot of fun. Do you want to put mustaches on people? Or bow ties, Or how about an ugly hat or nerd glasses? You can do so many hilarious things with photos and this app that I put it on my top 5 list. I really like it and it can be hours of fun. Check it out here – Photo Wonder
Put a hat or mustache on your friends laugh your ass off.
#5 Hipstamatic
Yeah I know that more people use Instagram which is probably why I didn’t even put it on my top 5. For my money, which is nothing, I would download and use Hipstamatic. For one thing they have some great filters on there and they also have great printing. Hipstamatic is one of those apps that you keep going back to when you want to do something on the fly that looks different. I like this app check it out – Hipstamatic.
Want to be a hippy or a hipster? Use Hipstamatic you fool!
Thanks for checking out my blog. Do you want to see my favorite Polaroid – Click Here. How about my favorite Lens – Click Here. I have lots of favorites. Thanks for reading.
The Best Polaroid Camera is the SLR 680
The Steve Jobs of Photography – Edwin Land and his Best Invention
I have bought and tested quite a few Polaroid Cameras over the last couple of years and I think I found my favorite – The Polaroid SLR680. This particular camera came after the famous SX70 which is one of the most iconic Polaroid cameras ever made.
When it was launched in 1982, the SLR 680 was the culmination of years of research combining advanced optics, articulating strobe and 15 patented components. In short, this camera was built leveraging the collective brain power of one of the best camera and photography companies of the time. This camera has autofocus and auto strobe which are remarkable little inventions for this time.
If you think of Polaroid in the 1970’s – it was basically the way Apple is today ; exciting, technologically advanced with a large following of fans. This SLR 680 is like the IPAD is today.
The SX-70 Was Incredible, But This Camera is Better
The SX-70 is possibly the most popular Polaroid of all time. It certainly looked extremely cool and was very portable. It was also the first instant camera that had the film develop without the photographer doing anything. Just snap a picture and the film came out of the front of the camera. Amazing little device.
And to this day it remains extremely popular and expensive. If you want to pick up an older SX-70 they run at least $200 or more on Ebay. Flickr has a pretty active community of people that use the camera and post some pretty incredible shots – Flickr SX 70 Group.
Having Andy Warhol take a self portrait with your camera certainly ups the cool factor.
Nevertheless, even though the SX-70 was an extremely awesome Polaroid, I still believe that the later model is superior. It is actually a bit cheaper to buy than the SX-70 but I believe overall the image quality that comes out of the cameras is a bit better.
What makes the SLR 680 an Awesome Instant Camera
Well It’s Polaroid
First off. It’s polaroid. So you get the awesome square pictures on the Polaroid like background and you can use new film like the Impossible Project which produces the best film for instant cameras today. Also when you get this camera you are getting all of that Polaroid technology that made the cameras so great to begin with.
Because it’s Polaroid you can get the standard Polaroid film look with this film.
Yeah, The Focus System is Awesome
This is a big one. I think the focus system is pretty awesome. Because you can control the focus, you can get some cool depth of field looks with this particular Polaroid. Additionally the automatic focus is pretty fast and locks into the subject almost instantaneously Depth of Field is one of those things where you get the blurry background and things in front in sharp focus. If you want that look, this camera delivers it. Check out this photographers blog, Patrick F Tobin . He uses the SLR 680 and gets some pretty incredible shots with it playing with light and focus.
It’s compact like James Bond 1980 Style
Carrying on from the revolutionary design of the Land Camera. The 680 folds into a total James Bond style. It feels like you are carrying a small notebook around in your hands but the fact is you are carrying the most amazing instant camera. Imagine how you will impress your friends as you engage the camera, pulling it open to snap a beautiful photo of them.
The amazingly compact SLR 680 folds into something that you half Maxwell Smart would carry after making a call from his shoe.
The Picture Quality is Rich and Dreamy
Now I am not sure if Impossible Film just got a heck of a lot better in the last year or this Polaroid takes amazing shots but this camera makes people look good. Because it regulates the flash essentially delivering just the right amount of flash power to each shot it gives people a very nice look. The pictures generate a very film like look and sharp in just the right places. I have tried most of the other Polaroids and nothing comes close to this camera in delivering good looking shots.
No need to photoshop out wrinkles, apparently this camera just knows how to make people look fabulous
From 10.4 Inches to Infinity (like all the way to Pluto)
This camera is so versatile that you can take instant pictures from as close as 10 inches away to infinity. Having an instant camera that can be used in a variety of settings is a huge help and gives you an awesome range to use at parties and events.
Ok let me leave you with one more awesome Polaroid Project. This site contains photos from Jamie Livingston, the guy that took a Polaroid every day until he died. Jamie Livingston Photographer .This is an astounding and mysterious photo project which follows a photographer from 1979 to 1997. From the mundane (blurry pictures of the street) to life changing (pictures of him being treated for cancer) this project was very interesting for the sheer time involved and span of the pictures taken.
Many people (including I), find it hard to do a photo of the day project for a single month, but this guy did it for 19 years. Thanks for reading.
The Number is
150,000 visitors to the blog for 2013. Thats a pretty big number and far beyond what I thought it would be considering last year I had 18,000 visitors. Thank you everyone for reading the blog about, well nothing in particular really. It was a fun year and I’m looking forward to what is in store for 2014!
