Beer vs. the helicopter

….so I’m shooting these aerials in Austin last week and the helicopter pilot I’m using seems to be unusually gifted. Almost telepathically, I see the image in my mind and Ray Asgar sees it a second later, positioning the aircraft perfectly. Ray’s machine is truly an extension of his body…but only after completing the flight do I comprehend the depth of Ray’s powers.

He apparently holds the record for opening beer bottles with his helicopter. This is accomplished by taping a bottle opener to the helicopter strut and then “flying” the opener into position to pop the cap. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw2wviQAXYw

I can’t think of anything to top this but Ray says he plans to undo a bra with his helicopter next. Stay tuned.

 

Keith

Attention spans: the shorter the better

I’ll admit it right up front. I like new stuff. I’m not talking about shiny toys (although I like them, too) I’m talking about ideas. I like the fact that our paradigm seems to shift every couple of months. I like the fact that not only is change ubiquitous but the rate of change is accelerating every day.

For a long time I attributed this to being an early adaptor. But I can’t decide if I’m a true early adaptor or just have a really short attention span.

Historically, having a short attention span hasn’t been particularly useful especially when we had to focus on one job for 20 years and there were only three television channels. But the information age changed that.

People who study human brains say the fire hose of information that confronts us every day is forcing our brains to process information differently. We now live more moment to moment as dictated by the current data stream hitting us in the face.
Could it be that multi-tasking is actually multiple, micro spans of attention oscillating up and down the radio dial of life?

An art director once remarked to me that all photographers have ADD. She said it in a way that implied if I didn’t know this already….well, I must not be paying attention. Maybe she had something. Individual photographs are graphic representations of a moment in time….or span of attention. And we have been dividing reality into 1/60th of a second increments since Henry Bresson’s decisive moment.

Seeing the whole and its parts at the same time is a helpful skill for story-tellers (visual or not). Plucking significant moments out of time requires a thought process that’s part multi-tasking and part short attention span. Thoughts move laterally rather linearly.

keith

Nikon D3, out of the box

My new D3 gets uglied up with tape and a nasty green strap before it goes out the door. I’m sure Nikon’s marketing guys would cringe if they saw it but it’s cheap insurance.

The number one thing I like about the D3 is that it brings the Nikkor 17-35 zoom and 14 mm lenses out of retirement. I am so happy I didn’t sell these two lenses as I added Nikon’s DX lenses to the bag. The two lenses don’t realize optimum use levels unless on a film body or full-sized sensor digital SLR. I typically, try to sell off equipment I’m not using and all the signals from Nikon indicated there would never be a full-size sensor SLR so I’m lucky to still have these two pieces of equipment.

The other thing I like is the twin battery charging unit that comes with the D3. Maybe this fact was included in the pre-reviews but I missed it, a happy surprise.

The camera handles very similar to the D2x but already I find myself recomposing (after locking in the focus) a lot less due to the increased number of focus points. Also, being able to carry two flash cards on board will decrease the number of times I open up the camera. This is critical because I shoot in dusty, dirty environments. These two items should speed up workflow.
One of the other reasons I jumped at the D3 is the prospect of traveling without a tripod. I like to go with carry-on baggage only and a tripod frequently pushes me past what I can comfortably get into two carry-on bags. Whether or not I can get acceptable low light shots without a tripod is yet to be seen. I haven’t shot enough frames yet to give an opinion on how the D3 handles low light. I’ll know more in a week. Stay tuned.

keith

New gallery of Israel images

see Israel link

Keith

Mind maps: A mental tailwind

I have become a little obsessed with mind maps over the last five years <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map>. Since I’m a life-long right brainer images often speak more efficiently to me than words. Organizing my ideas in a graphical, less linear way has helped me with a variety of tasks, everything from designing wireless networks to preparing for the IABC accreditation exam.

The process of creating a mind map is like a mental tailwind for me. Our thinking is naturally radiant –as opposed to linear– so being able to organize ideas as they occur rather than forcing them into a linear format creates clearer solutions (at least for me). Something extra happens when I put pen to paper to create a mind map. The process of creating a graphic document seems to stimulate idea production in a non-linear way. Also, if you tend toward the ADD end of the learning continuum (which I do) mind mapping seems a lot more natural than a traditional outline. Typically, I have a lot of effort invested in my mind maps so I hang on to them…which can be very useful.

Author Tony Buzan has created one of the best books on mind mapping <http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Map-Book-Thinking-Potential/> which includes many excellent mind map examples.

Keith

Keith’s top ten travel tools (6-10)

6. Scott eVest http://www.scottevest.com

What’s this? Well it’s a whole range of clothing now but it started as a vest. It has over 20 pockets as well as routing conduits for wiring so you can hide your iPod’s earbud wires. I’m on my second eVest (this one has zip on sleeves and hood). This doesn’t look like the dorky photo vests that everyone seems to wear now. The pockets  hang on the inside for a sleeker, unconspicuous appearance. I use mine in the field quite a bit but  the real reason I don’t travel without one: those dreaded words travelers have come fear…”ladies and gentlemen we have a very full flight today and the overhead bin space is now full.” At this point I will have pulled the camera gear from my carry-on and loaded up the Scott eVest. I haven’t had to resort to this many times but it has saved me from having to check mission critical camera gear on those few occasions.

7. Gaffers tape is like duct tape on steroids and is the photographer’s best friend. I buy it in huge rolls but travel with it by taping ten-inch strips to the outside of my hard-side cases. It “uglys” up the case and is much more space efficient than taking the whole roll. Since I spend a lot of time on my feet I frequently develop blisters. I figured out several years ago that by gaffer taping up the hot spots I could completely avoid getting blisters. Sometimes the same tape will last up to a week. I also tape up all my camera bodies/lenses so no colors, logos or model numbers show. It makes them less attractive to theives (I think).  The list of gaffer tape uses is truly endless and you don’t have to remember to pack it.

8.  Samsonite’s hard-side, carry-on bag has become my benchmark in carry-on cases. It’s not as strong as a  Zero Halliburton case but looks nothing like a camera case (especially with tape all over it). I can go anywhere in the world with gear (including tripod) and clothes inside. It has a wide wheel base so it’s stable with my heavy computer bag. It’s counter intuitive but you can actually get more stuff in a hard case because of the compression effect. Also, the clothing packed tight (in the lid) serves as padding for the camera gear (in the main body). I can’t say enough good things about this case but oddly I don’t see many on the road. The ones I do see are with hard core road warriors or airline crew. How I can get all this stuff  in one carry-on will be in an upcoming, packing post: “Two Kinds of Luggage: Carry-on and Lost”.

9. Waterfield computer bags…another personal benchmark in travel gear. I have over a dozen Waterfield bags in different sizes. They’re bullet proof, not flashy and just get the job done better. Again, I rarely see anyone with these bags partly, I suspect,  because they are a small company. I believe they do all the manufacturing at Waterfield’s base in San Francisco.

10. An unlocked, GSM cell phone is an absolute necessity for internation travel, in my opinion.  I’m more than satisfied with CDMA technology at home but most people I talk to need a phone that uses GSM when traveling internationally. I use a Motorola Razr because I like the small size and it syncs via bluetooth with my Macbook Pro. Since the phone takes multiple SIM cards it’s possible to get great rates  in different countries. (VOIP  calling on services such as  Skype or Apple’s iChat could take the place of this in the future. )

Happy Trails

Keith

Why not.

I once had a professor who said he was more interested in the questions than  answers. That’s what this space will be about….questions more than answers. Starting with; why does fat chance and thin chance mean the same thing? Or, on a related matter, why do American shoppers ride the elevator to the third floor of the store to buy a stair climbing machine?

There are more questions than answers and that is what makes this interesting for me. In the communication world, the list of questions stretches from here to the horizon. This is partly because technology reframes the discussion every 15 minutes or so. Also, the roles for organizational communicators are changing as well as expectations from various audiences…multiple moving targets trying to hit other multiple moving targets.

stay tuned

keith