cellphone camera blog

Avid readers of this blog (both of you) may have noticed I haven't updated in a bit. The weather has been crappy and I decided not to waste any of my Days of Dawn on overcast mornings.

However, during the past week I started another blog, shot entirely with my cameraphone, posted entirely from my phone.

lookingaroundme.wordpress.com

30 Days of Dawn, day 21

2.10.09 -- Seaside, Calif.




2.10.09 -- Seaside, Calif.




2.10.09 -- Seaside, Calif.

30 Days of Dawn, day 20

2.08.09 -- Gonzales, Calif.

2.08.09 -- Gonzales, Calif.

Condors in Big Sur

It's not everyday that you see an endangered species, especially one that came as close to the brink as the California Condor. So it's pretty special when you see six of them at once, and two of them fly below you, gliding silently along the coastal cliffs of Big Sur.

2.07.09 -- Big Sur, Calif.

2.07.09 -- Big Sur, Calif.

30 Days of Dawn, day 19

After skipping a few days of shooting due to a lingering sickness and bad weather, I decided to set a camera trap Saturday morning. I was going to catch Amber and I sleeping in.

It really didn't work out as I had hoped. My plan was to have a Pocket Wizard on the camera on intervalometer mode, shooting a frame every two minutes for an hour.

First problem: I would have to wake up to trigger it, because I couldn't figure out a way to make a Pocket Wizard go off eight hours after I go to bed (I think I need a Time Machine for that). So I set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. and set a Pocket Wizard next to the bed. I'd wake up, press the button, go back to sleep and the camera would do its thing.

Second problem: I don't have a pre-trigger cable to keep the camera awake, so the Pocket Wizard would have to be able to wake the camera and make it fire. I solved this by setting the contact time on the Pocket Wizard to three seconds. To prevent possible multiple shutter releases over those three seconds, I set my EOD 1Dmk III to silent mode, which keeps the camera from resetting the mirror as long as the shutter is depressed.

Third problem: I thought I was pretty clever for figuring out that last one, but that was negated as I slept when the half-dead batteries that I left in my Pocket Wizard on the camera became completely dead. When I woke at 6:30 and pressed the button on my Pocket Wizard next to the bed, it gave me the signal that the other remote didn't get the message. So instead of going right back to sleep, I had to program the good remote for intervalometer mode, attach it to the camera, make sure it worked, and then go back to sleep. Which I never did, because every two minutes my damn camera clicked and woke me up.

Fourth problem: The picture isn't very good. Needs some actual sun hitting the curtain, not an undescript glow.

2.07.09 -- Salinas, Calif.

30 Days of Dawn, day 18

2.04.09 -- Salinas, Calif.

Big Sur weekend

30 Days of Dawn, day 17

2.03.09 -- Salinas, Calif.

2.03.09 -- Salinas, Calif.

30 Days of Dawn, day 16

So far, my photos from this project, while pretty, are not groundbreaking. I'm not staking out my particular vision as a photographer. I'm not pushing the medium in any new direction.

That's not really the point. Right now, the point is just to do it. To make myself get up at ungodly hours and make a picture. To develop the discipline and have something to show for it.

Besides, there's nothing wrong with a few more pretty pictures in the world.

2.02.09 -- Monterey Bay, Calif.

2.02.09 -- Monterey, Calif.

2.02.09 -- Monterey Bay, Calif.

30 Days of Dawn, day 15

Camping this weekend with good friends at my favorite campsite, a little spot on the cliffs at Julie Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur. I only had to walk a few hundred yards for this view of dawn on the Pacific.

1.31.09 -- Big Sur, Calif.

1.31.09 -- Big Sur, Calif.