Digital photography and DSLR's

During the weekend I made special time for one of my favourite hobbies, the beautiful art of photography. Its not to say that I have been away from photography for a long time, just last week I snapped several lunch and snack time photos that I hope would make any food connoisseur proud. Those pictures were taken with my iPhone, which overall produces satisfactory, yet unspectacular results (it’s a camera phone after all). The main difference with last week's photos and the ones over the weekend are that the weekend snaps were taken with my trusty DLSR. It’s been a while since I used it (more than five months in fact) and after the first press and release of the shutter button all I could think was “wow, I sure missed this DSLR.” I also thought about how wonderful it would have been to have that camera while I was in New Zealand last year.

My wonderful, trusty non-video capable DSLR camera

Now I should mention that my DSLR is from the era before video capability integrated in DSLR cameras was the norm. Part of me is sorry my DSLR is not equipped to handle moving images and the other part of me is happy, having comfort  in the thought the picture quality would be better because my camera is just that, a camera. No matter which point of view I have at any given time, one thing is for certain, my DSLR camera rocks. I almost forgot the true joy of photography having spent the last few months in what might as well be referred to as the photography wilderness. During the weekend memories returned of numerous assignments in my journalism days as well as freelance projects. Feeling happy to be using my DSLR again I kept snapping away at the lovely scenery on the rugged east coast of Barbados. I will post some of the images on my Twitter account during the next few weeks.

My overall photo tally during the weekend was just about 400 photos. Ah, the beauty of digital photography. I am indeed grateful for the digital photo age. I remember years ago as a child the excitement of receiving the developed photos from the photo studio or department store. Sometimes that initial excitement was replaced with surprise when you realised not all of the photos were in focus or the composition was not quite what you thought it would be when you looked in the viewfinder.

Of course, it can be argued that those were also the days when you thought more carefully about each and every photo….after all, you had to pay for the film and to develop it. Now its click, click, click, review…"hmm…maybe I’ll delete this one” then click, click, click again.  For me even in the digital photography era I place great effort to ensure that as much as possible each photo is of the highest quality, of course not every snap taken would meet that standard. Some would argue that the main disadvantage of digital photography is you may end up being overwhelmed by the hundreds of images accumulated during a photo shoot. For me however, I enjoy the wide variety and so love this era of digital photography.

The ever changing mobile landscape

Mobile phone operating system sales data released by IDC for Q3 of 2013 highlights that Android continues to dominate world wide. According to an article on CNET’s website which reported the IDC findings the Android platform enjoyed an 81 percent market share that quarter in terms of shipments of new phones and their operating system (OS).

A table was also presented which showed that compared to the previous year Android’s market share increased while iOS and Blackberry saw a decline. The Windows Phone platform also registered an increase, but along with Blackberry its market share at less than 5% remains small.

According to an IDC report,  for Q3 of 2013 the Android OS had an 81 percent world wide market share

The article noted that while the iPhone does really well in the United States its market share is not as strong in some markets throughout the world (with a total world wide market share of 12.9%). As a new iPhone user myself, I was initially hesitant to make the switch from Android. I can now say that initial concern has been replaced by extreme joy. In no way I am saying the iPhone or iOS platform is perfect but it does what I wanted most, to easily synch with my computer and provides me with pretty good battery life. I do miss the open source nature of Android, the graphical user interface, the bigger screens and flash compatibility but for now at least, I appreciate the longer lasting battery life of my iPhone. 

For consumers, competition among the mobile phone ecosystems is a good thing and drives innovation and new product development. The industry has definitely seen many changes since the early days of monochrome one-line screens. Back then a mobile phone was just that a phone. Now it’s a phone, an mp3 player, a flashlight, portable video screen, portable gaming console, address book, map, GPS and the list goes on and on. The mobile phone has become such an important part of life for many people (myself included) that if you leave home without it, your inclined to turn back for your phone, that is once your not too far away.

Speaking about older phones, I watched a cute video the other day on YouTube which showed kids reaction to rotary phones which brought back lots of memories. I never used a rotary phone at home but as a kid I did have the opportunity to use one on several occasions. I can remember how it felt when you mis-dialed the number and had to dial again, oh how long it seemed just to make one call.  It’s not surprising that the kids in the video preferred the modern mobile phone but its always good to reflect and see the technological advancements that have been made. So much has changed and so much more will change during the next few months and years and I look forward to see what new technological and innovation changes will be made in the mobile phone industry.

Spotify how I miss thee

I thoroughly enjoyed my time living and working in New Zealand for a portion of the year 2013. It is truly an amazing country and definitely one which you should place on a list of places to go if you have the opportunity.

Being from Barbados where online music streaming services such as Spotify are not available I took the opportunity during my time in New Zealand to sign up for a free Spotify account. Reading about the service is one thing but having the opportunity to use it is another. The interface is clean and navigation is easy. Of course the main attraction of a service like Spotify is the music and I found the content to be quite comprehensive, also including some selections from the Caribbean.  The only disadvantage was not having on the go access with my free Spotify account. Yes, I downloaded the iPhone app which gave me access on my mobile device but this was for a promotional period. Since then, however, users of the Spotify service do have complimentary access on their mobile devices, albeit with some limitations attached.

I recently read an article in the online edition of the New Zealand Herald that Telecom (soon to be re-branded as Spark) will offer some its pre and post paid customers free Spotify premium accounts. It will be interesting to see how popular this initiative will be.

Towards the end of 2013 Spotify expanded into 20 more markets, including some in Latin America and the Caribbean, however, Barbados was not included. We do however, have Netflix, which I will write about in another article. Here’s hoping that when Spotify rolls out its next country expansion that Barbados will be included.