Photography…mostly.

random thoughts

  • Steall waterfall panorama

    I took the opportunity while shooting around the Inverness-shire and Ross & Cromarty areas of Scotland to climb to to the source of the River Ness. Lying in the shadow of the UK highest mountain, Ben Nevis, its river begins high up too. The water flows from the source and tumbles over a cliff to form the Steall Waterfall. As well as creating lots of new frames of this fantastic piece of wilderness, I made an interactive panorama for fun.

    It spins, magnifies and if you click the full-screen button enlarges the view.

    I will post more imagery from this trip, but this was one image that I liked with the side-lit tree and composition in front of the waterfall and growing from the bank of the river. Water being essential for growing.

    John_Lamont_Blethering_Skite-110314_

    Here is a map of where the panorama was photographed – the centre.

  • Hold still, until my iphone reboots

    Hold still, until my iphone reboots

    Ever the photographer I’m keen to capture family events big and small, I ask my youngest child to stop hugging his mum goodbye and stand in front of his departing ski bus. A few friends join the line-up as other parents whip out their smartphones and get their shot. I can’t.

    I  ask the kids to wait a second as I fumble with my iPhone 5S. I get taunted “Come on dad, hurry-up”, but I can’t.

    “My phone is re-booting”

    Not since having an HTC Tyan Window Mobile 6.5 phone reboot mid-call have I ever tasted such a halting bitter technology fail. And there is more.

    On Sunday I was listening to music on my iPhone, it was a half-hour into Penthouse and Pavement (Heaven 17) when the music and screen died. Jabbing the on/off and home buttons did nothing, then the white bitten apple appeared. Another reboot.

    The cause is the hidden system Springboard or application launcher within iOS7 which is failing and what you see is the blank screen for 20-30 seconds as springboard reboots or worse a longer device reboot. My fail rate is 2-3 reboots per week on iPhone and 1-2 on an old iPad 3 and has worn me down from anger to tolerant friction. In December while going through photographs springboard bailed. Blank screen. Anger. Immediate 2m walk from Starbucks to Genius Bar across the street. I knew this was just flaky iOS7 software, the genius did too, but he was so irritating using that Genius-speak. The sort of language that cannot acknowledge:

    1. Our product or service has a fault.
    2. The fault is out with specification.
    3. Our bad, sorry.

    After testing he declared “this is normal”

    “Aye right” was my reply.

    Since iOS 7 launched many have suffered and the fix is coming in 7.1 (currently in beta testing). Despite my iPhone wanting and getting the China only (!) iOS 7.0.5 patch, problems continue. What is unacceptable is the length of time Apple has left Customers with such a severe and highly visible bug.

    What made me write this was opening up iMovie (latest desktop version) to create a short portrait of someone only to discover it can no-longer split media clips (10m+ video clips) since the last update.  Back to Adobe Creative Cloud.

  • Birthday treats, Scottish sweet

    Birthday treats, Scottish sweet

    Someone is trying to tell me something…

  • “This is unacceptable”

    “This is unacceptable”

    Most things have limits. Speed limits on roads, how often a razor blade is used, the expiry date of fresh fruit.

    In an earlier life as a young Engineer in ’91, I noticed how different management styles affected the behaviour of staff. One of my favourites was Randy Ziffer. A spirited young Director of Manufacturing at Sun Microsystems’s only non-US plant in Linlithgow, Scotland.  I recall one troublesome period when SparcStations we were making were being rejected by a Japanese OEM for cosmetic reasons. While Engineers asked Operators to use the detailed visual Specifications and Managers to read it, rejects continued.

    It became a hairball of finger-pointing and Specification bashing until Randy heard the noise.

    (more…)

  • The best smartphone speaker you throw away

    The best smartphone speaker you throw away

    everyday low-cost phone speaker

    An everyday low-cost speaker.

  • Sunset stroll in Glasgow at Christmas

    Sunset stroll in Glasgow at Christmas

    I am a fundamental Hasidic unorthodox follower in Lord Monty’s second 8th-day compendium of devout agnosticism. In other words I believe in the you and me in the here and now. You may notice imagery in this blog of other churches and cathedrals, not because I’m aligned to one wing of religion, but because the buildings are rather stunning. What people built long ago using primitive tools and methods remain standing today and put many modern building to shame (looking at you 1970’s). There was such powerful combinations of belief, money, power and fear to invest so many lives and years of toil to design and erect. Shelters to gather and spread the doctrines of their belief. Many sited on prominent ground, near hilltops. They do inspire, architecturally of course.

    So I did more testing of photographers tools in a walk around the east end of Glasgow at Christmas and shot parts of Glasgow Cathedral which was my first visit then a few city centre street shots. It was dusk and near pitch dark in the Cathedral, but all the light is ambient and seasonal.