"Live one day at a time, and make it a masterpiece."
- Photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins
The iPad Chronicles
As a photographer, particularly one who travels quite a bit, I have several cameras at my disposal.
 |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC |
Three Nikon SLRs lead the pack, two digital and one film. Plus a Nikon L120 point and shoot, a major workhorse given its high function, excellent resolution and portability. And while for the most part I am a Nikon aficionado, also I count a Canon video camera and a Fuji DSLR as options when needed. A year or so ago, as I discussed in a previous column, I added a new Nikon: the underwater and heavy duty AW 1, which so far has been exemplary.
 |
| Soda at the Rock Cafe, Rt 66, Oklahoma |
Each of my cameras have their own niche specialty and use -- and each of them has contributed in some way or form to my overall portfolio. I have my favorites for indoor shots, landscape shooting and most of the usual lighting challenges. By far the majority of shots here on the blog are from the Nikons, though an upcoming series of videos were shot using the Canon.
But if you follow my posts on Twitter, or Facebook -- or any social media for that matter -- those are not the majority of the images you're seeing.
The majority of photographs I place online, to visually highlight my adventures as they occur, are from my lowly and soon-to-be-replaced iPad 2 -- which in no way shape or form can boast a visual advantage over the Nikons or Canons. But what the iPad does offer is immediacy. The ability to shoot something and quickly post it online, making the iPad's images among the most timely if not the highest resolution or best composition. This, of course, makes it ideal for someone chronicling their adventures on the road, while they are on the road.
 |
| Live band in Austin |
I bring the iPad almost everywhere while I'm traveling, or even when I'm not. Not only can I get instant images, I also have a few reference databases (the best being Ralph Velasco's MY SHOT LIST, which you can get from iTunes -- link down below), plus easy access to the internet for posting and commenting upon what I'm doing. It's a good source of entertainment, as well as a handy tool for writing, notekeeping or other activities. This column entry, as well as numerous others, was written on my iPad first, then transferred to the blog.
But what about those iPad images? Those pictures which, by and large, echo the ones I make with the more sophisticated cameras? If I decide not to include particular ones, or think another image, captured perhaps just an instant before or after, they usually sit under-appreciated and lonely, gathering electronic dust in my archives. A few of them though -- quite a few of them -- tell as much of a story as the higher resolution shots from the 'real' cameras, or even the "other" iPad pictures I choose to use.
 |
| Counter at McKenna's, Long Beach Airport |
Brief Aside: I am aware, and often witness, other travelers and tourists using their iPhone or other smartphones for photography. I disagree that SLRs (those are the cameras with the big interchangeable lenses, as opposed to those which are point-and-shoots) will ever be replaced by cellphones, but recognize their use by the casual photographer. My version of the iPad is not quite even up to those cameras' resolutions, but it handles the requirements I ask of it nicely enough.
Within the next week or so, I will be getting a new iPad. The Mini. Easier to carry, lighter and with better photographic resolution. I'm excited, but will miss the early days of lugging around the larger 2 and shooting the low res shots put up on frequent display here on the blog and other social media.
 |
| Martini at the bar, M Resort, Las Vegas |
Even with the new iPad, the photographs won't be portfolio or gallery ready, but I must profess a fondness for these shots. They, more than the rest, really are about the gritty everyday. The fun. The moment. A lot of martini and airport shots -- likely related to the fact I am at a bar in an airport when I am most likely to be using the iPad. Waiting for flights, or watching the world pass by as I sit and take notes, some of which make their way into your lap in some way, shape or form.
Maybe someday I'll publish a grainy cocktail table book using only these images. There are a few of them good enough (not this one, BTW) which have earned a place in the planned coffee table book Chasing Martinis. Sometimes grain works for an artistic success.
But more than anything else, these shots represent the moments I am most at rest. They're the instants in between. And sometimes those become the moments we remember most, the ones which resonate with us in the years to come.
Particularly when we're traveling.
 |
| The view from THE VIEW HOTEL, Monument Valley |
No comments:
Post a Comment