Vroom Vroom

2009-09-26T00:00:00-07:00

I went to a vintage aircraft show today. Took a lot of photos and a bit of video.

The StickPic

2009-07-07T00:00:00-07:00

When I first heard of The StickPic, I sent Avagdu a tweet about it, thinking that he might find it useful for the video that he shoots. Rodney Java, the inventor of the StickPic, saw this and offered to send me a free one for my trekking poles. I readily accepted, singing the praise of Web 2.0.

It’s a very simple device. The top screws into a camera’s standard tripod socket and the bottom slides onto the tapered end of a trekking pole. You can then set the camera’s self timer, hold out the pole, and take a self portrait. Or pretend that you’re Les Stroud and shoot a little video. Overall, an ingenious little device.

My initial worry about the StickPic was that it would fall off the tip of the pole, taking my camera for a tumble down the side of a mountain. So far, that has not been a problem. You can jam the StickPic on the tip of the poles pretty tightly, and also loop your camera’s wrist strap around the pole above the basket for added security.

I usually carry a Joby Gorillapod with me and keep the attachment doohickey for that screwed into my camera’s tripod socket. Switching that out for the StickPic takes only a few seconds.

The Gorillapod is overall a more versatile device, but fails to address the problem that StickPic primarily concerns itself with: when you are alone, in an alpine environment, with no conveniently situated tree branches to wrap the Gorillapod around or perfectly sized boulders to set it on top of.

In terms of size and weight, the StickPic wins out. It weight 0.3 oz, compared to the Gorillapod’s 1.5 oz.

So far this summer, I’ve been carrying both. They each address different needs and only weigh a combine total of 1.8 oz. Not much weight for the extra versatility added to your photography arsenal.

Update:

There’s a new and improved StickPic now available. Check out my review.

Walking

2008-06-08T00:00:00-07:00

Walking itself is the intentional act closest to the unwilled rhythms of the body, to breathing and the beating of the heart. It strikes a delicate balance between working and idling, being and doing. It is a bodily labor that produces nothing but thoughts, experiences, arrivals. ... [T]he mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord. Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without being made busy by them. It leaves us free to think without being wholly lost on our thoughts. - Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust

Photo Booth Is Much More Entertaining Than Work

2008-06-07T00:00:00-07:00

pig-monkey.com - photos

Vroom Vroom

The StickPic

Update:

Walking

Photo Booth Is Much More Entertaining Than Work