I was lucky enough to be able to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower this year, which was a particularly good year for it. I tried my hand at some astrophotography for the first time. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture a meteor, but I did this consolation prize (or rather constellation prize, thanks Moh!), instead. It’s not perfect, but I’m proud of this first real attempt. The orange glow behind the tree is actually the Moon setting at about 1:15am.
I’ve recently traded in my old Sony a77 for an a6000 and I must say, I’m impressed. It’s tiny, inexpensive, performs very well for both photos and video, and is cheap to put underwater.
It’s also a great platform for adapting vintage glass! The photograph below was taken with the Minolta 70-210mm f/4 “beercan” lens on the first real day I took the new camera out for a shoot.
I can’t wait to get the a6000 underwater and see how it performs in that environment!
For close to six months now, I’ve been doing scuba diving shows at the Seattle Aquarium. This was one of my initial far-off goals when I started diving in the first place, and I feel incredibly lucky to have achieved it. I look forward to each and every show, and the interaction I’ve had with both children and adults has been incredible. This work has inspired me to pursue other opportunities in ocean education and I’m exploring even more ways to expand my diving horizons to that end. My first attempt at this was doing two shows for the UW Friday Harbor Labs facility during their open house. Dozens of children and their parents stopped by to watch the live feed and ask questions as I explored the water below. The technology to do this is not particularly new, but it is exciting nonetheless. Combined with a broadcast over the web, this could be a powerful tool in education.
If you’re interested in how this can be utilized, the Fish Eye Project is a recent but excellent example.
Ideally, I would like to find a way to make the beginning of this imaginative Future Vision from Microsoft a reality.
I have many more projects and adventures coming this summer, both underwater and in the air. I can’t wait to share more!
Hello!
Here are two projects I’m working on this spring:
Tuts+ GoPro Course:
I’m working on a comprehensive course on GoPro cameras for Tuts+! While you wait for mine, check out all the other interesting lessons and courses they have on the site: http://tutsplus.com/
Live Stream Experiments:
With the recent popularity of Periscope and Meerkat, I’ve been exploring live streaming. Instead of either of those platforms, I have been playing around with Stre.am. It’s been lots of fun chatting with people about all sorts of tech and media production topics, and yesterday I did my first ever live drone stream. Yes, I streamed video live from a drone over the web. This is a big first for me, and is an exciting indicator of the developments to come in both of these technologies.
Here’s a screenshot from the stream:
The developers of Stre.am were pretty excited about this, and the footage might be used for something cool in the future!
This is one of my favorite things about living on the Puget Sound. We really do have some of the best sunsets in the world.
Also I’ve been playing around with a new logo that a friend of mine made for me. I’m generally not a fan of watermarks, but this is simple, unobtrusive, and I love the design.