Kidologist.com: Karl Bastian’s Personal Site and Blog
Archive for Photography
October 18, 2008 at 10:02 pm · Filed under Adventures, Family, Life, Luke, Photography
The annual pass to Brookfield Zoo has turned out to be a good investment. Free parking. Free admission. Free soda. (good on the wallet, not so much on the waist!) Free shuttle ride. Free shows. Too bad it takes about $20 in gasoline for us to get there and back!
Of course, we saw all kinds of animals! (Took the ones above from the tram!) I enjoy taking pictures of the animals - I do not enjoy smelling them!
However, it is not the animals that Luke enjoys the most. Oh, sure, he likes them. He’ll look at them when we point, and can even identify several by name. But there are other “creatures” on display at the Zoo that he will run to! And he’ll spend more time with each of these “animals” studying them, than he will on anything with fur or wings or hooves. Yup, you guessed it, the Cars on display from various dealerships.
Oh, yes. The cars. When we said we are going to the Zoo today, Luke’s answer is, “See Cars?” But our favorite thing about the Zoo is not the animals or the cars… it is being in a safe place where Luke can run around and enjoy a rare form of freedom to lead us around for a change, and for me, it is a wonderful opportunity for my hobby - “Luke Photo Journalism.” Here are some of my favorites from today. (Thanks for indulging me!)
Luke enjoying the playground. It’s a tunnel!
Luke behind bars… “I’m innocent!”
Luke, the fashion model.
Luke, the old fashioned greeting card.
Eager to get on the carousel.
Around and around with Dad.
Proof that I take pictures of my wife too!
It was a great day hanging out with the family. One of my good friends, Alan Root, said recently at Kid U, “Every day God gives us a gift - he gives us today. That is why it is called the Present.” It was a good reminder to live in the moment and enjoy TODAY. As Jesus said, “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Today was a present.
June 20, 2008 at 2:01 am · Filed under Adventures, Family, KarlTube, Luke, Photography
For our 15th anniversary we are spending a week in Lundington, Michigan. There are lots of pictures still to go through, but I wanted to blog our highlight today, on our actual anniversary. What a fun day! (click on any picture to view larger, then browse back to pick up where you left off!)
Luke was just eager to get going on our 1.8 mile hike to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse which is only accessible by hiking in.
If you squint you can see a little black and white dot in the upper left hand corner of this picture… that was our destination. Would Luke make it, that was the question!
Fortunately, some friends of our who live in Ludington, who we visited with on Tuesday evening, “just happened” to give us a kid-backpack. (God is indeed sovereign, and He likes to prove it over and over!) So when Luke got tired or decided he wanted to walk in directions other than forward, we had a way to make progress without losing too much time.
But we were in no rush, so we stopped often to rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery - a strange combination of sand, water and evergreens. (I’m sparing you all my nature photography!)
Luke definitely takes after his father in having this strong irresistible urge to wander off the well marked path! Keeping him on the trail was a constant struggle! Little explorer that he is! Oh, the fun we will have in the years ahead wandering around like Lewis and Clark!
Just had to post this one - is that one beautiful boy, or what? (note the shirt!)
Once we hid from mom off the side of the road when she wasn’t looking, but she soon found us!
“Does this road ever end?” Luke asks. “We’re not sure,” we answer!
But FINALLY we arrive and enjoy our sack lunch on a bench under the shade of some trees looking out over Lake Michigan. The lighthouse behind us and the roar of crashing waves around us. Luke seemed thrilled to have arrived at our destination and is eager to explore!
Soon he is off to see where all these wooden paths lead to. Treasure? Cookies?
He finds a steel wall with steps leading up to… to what? What could BE on the other side?
It’s water! As far as the eye can see. (Luke absolutely loves water!)
Luke ponders how there could be so much water in one place. (I don’t even try to explain that this is only a lake and that oceans are even bigger.)
He decides he likes this place very much, but he doesn’t like the big steel wall!
So he finds his way around it to the BEACH! And points so I know where he wants to go!
Soon he has found a UBPT. (Universal Boys Play Thing) Also known as “a stick.”
And what do boys DO with sticks, you ask?
Why, THROW THEM, of course! (this was only one of his many victims who were cast into the sea*!)
But then it was time to do what we came here to do - CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE LIGHTHOUSE! Luke made the height requirement by less than an inch so he got to go on an adventure to new heights, literally!
Every twenty steps or so there was a window with a ledge big enough for him to sit on, and he absolutely loved sitting there and taking in the view. There are quite a few of these pictures, though the lighting was tricky for pictures to get both the view inside the fairly dark tower and the outside. I was able to get it by opening up the aperture pretty wide to get the outside in focus and not lose the inside. Until I figured that out, either you got nothing inside (like below) or the outside was washed out and all white. (TMI for most of you I know, but my photo-friends will appreciate it!)
This shot shows when we spotted mom from around 50 steps up in the lighthouse!
Not even half way up yet, and already the view is getting spectacular. (Yes, that’s mom in the pink!)
We waved and waved and suddenly Mom actually SAW US in the little window and took this picture!
We went rather slowly, but I was so proud of Luke. He did the entire thing all by himself! Here he is passing the 100th step. (and this is the only time I wasn’t immediately behind him)
Yes, that’s me and Luke 130 feet up in the air at the top of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse!
The view was wonderful and the sky was perfectly clear. It was pretty windy but it felt great.
The lighthouse was pretty busy with a steady stream of visitors and yet, when we got up there, we had the whole thing to ourselves for about ten minutes. It really was a gift from the Lord. Luke had absolutely no fear at all. The funny thing was, the only thing that scared him was some orange streamers they had hanging from the two hatches you had to come through on the stairs. They were blowing in the wind and really freaked him out. I had to hold him as we passed the orange streamers. Silly, but sweet too.
Can you spot us up there at the top of the lighthouse? Good thing mom was too scared to come up, she was able to take some fun pictures from the bottom. 
Here’s a zoomed in version of Luke at the top of a historic Michigan Lighthouse!
VIDEO: Watch Luke at the top of the Lighthouse
All good things must come to an end. In this case, all good things have another hour long walk before they come to an end!
Not that all of us had to walk the whole way, at least one of us got the royal treatment for most of the trip back. But as I said on the walk, even as my legs and back were aching, if he rests his head on mine, I could walk a thousand miles.
It was a wonderful way to spend our 15th anniversary. Several people have seemed surprised when they found out we took Luke on our anniversary trip - but when you waited as long as we did for a little child to love, he is the highlight of our celebration and the joy of our times together. (and he does take naps)
The Big Sable Point Lighthouse can be seen for 19 miles out into the Lake. I’m so glad that on this 19th of June we celebrate that we know the Big Savior who made a Point of being the Light we can build our House on! When the storms of life hit, we don’t rely on some rusty old retainer wall to hold off the erosion of time that pounds against our lives relentlessly - we can rely on the grace and mercies of God which are new every morning! Praise God!
*for those who e-mail me my typos, the use of the word “sea” here was figurative, not literal. OK?
June 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm · Filed under Adventures, Children's Ministry, Conferences, Photography, Spiritual Growth, Yosemite
(Reprinted from Yosemite Summit for my blog readers)
- Don’t miss the video at the end, and click any picture for a larger view.
It’s hard to believe the Yosemite Summit 2008 is over. It’s been several weeks, but it still feels like a part of me is still there in the Sierra Nevada. It’s been fun sorting through the 5000+ pictures we took and reliving the fun memories. Not only the incredible PLACE we were, but the awesome friendships that were formed and will continue to grow in the years ahead.
It was an amazing time together and God did some incredible work in our lives. For me, my soul comes alive in this place and I finally feel truly free. We started our first day watching the sun rise at Glacier Point. The views are simply spectacular!
It was a time to leave the busyness and noise of normal life behind and just listen to God. There were times we could just sit and soak our souls in the presence of God as well as walking with Him on the incredible hikes.
There is just something powerful about reading God’s Word and praying when you are in a place where His handiwork is so much on display. The rocks indeed did cry out - God is real, and God is here.
The hikes themselves were indescribable. The first day we did a solitude hike (each separated by about five minutes so we could hike alone with God) and then on the second day we did the Panoama Trail which took us on an incredible hike around the rim of the valley, through many types of landscape and ended with the Mist Trail which goes to the top and then down the side of two thundering waterfalls. In the picture below we are near the starting point and in the background you can see the waterfall we would be at some seven hours later!
By the third day we did some easier hikes that had incredible views of the valley, some with a few straight down of seveal thousand feet! Below is one of the few railings due to the incredible drop straight down over 3500 feet!
The hikes were challenging - but the views breathtaking and like nowhere else on this continent. Not only can you not believe what you are seeing is real, but when you are hiking, you can’t believe “I’ll be there in a few hours” or “I was there yesterday?” We hiked through areas that at times looked like Narnia in winter - under the shadow of huge trees walking on several feet of snow while at other times we were out on barren rock checking out lizards. The scenery and climate changed constantly. We’d be hot and enjoying cold water to cool off, and later getting drenched from the mist of a raging waterfall. Like I often say, “This is the place God just showed off.”
I have been to MANY National Parks and NONE have the views and variety and splendor of Yosemite. I’ve often said the Grand Canyon is a yawner if you’ve been to Yosemite. We ran into some guys who were at the Grand Canyon just two days before (doing a cross country hiking trip) and they said Yosemite outdid anything they had seen at the Grand Canyon. They were in awe and said Yosemite far exceeded even their high expectations!
Yosemite is a photographers heaven. My wife was a little worried that I’d fall off a cliff in pursuit of a great picture and end up in real heaven. So I told her any time I saw an awesome, but dangerous, photo opportunity, my motto would be WWSS. (What Would Sara Say?) That motto cost me many potentially incredible shots… but also brought me home alive.
I have been dreaming of doing some of the serious hikes at Yosemite since I was a boy. Coming on this trip, and bringing a group of fellow children’s pastors with me was a dream come true. At one point I asked Yosemite had lived up to my grand descriptions of Yosemite before we arrived - and they all said no. One guy said, “You didn’t do Yosemite justice. You can’t begin to describe this place.”
There were people there from all over the world. (I was surprised there weren’t more Americans - or are we too used to having entertainment pumped into our homes?) I don’t know how anyone comes to this place and doesn’t leave with an awed sense of having been in the presence of the Creator. Everything here points to one thing: GOD.
I still have a lot of photo and video editing to do to create the “official” highlight video, but I decided to give you a small taste of what Yosemite Summit was like. It was truly a time of experiencing God in a place where his creative power is on full display and where his Voice is more easily heard. Men, as you watch this video, whisper a quiet prayer asking God if He is calling you to join us next year for Yosemite Summit 2009.
I just booked the lodge for 2009 and updated YosemiteSummit.org with next years dates!
November 16, 2007 at 12:22 am · Filed under Adventures, Family, Luke, Photography
Well, our Kidology-conference-extended-into-vacation trip is off to a good start. Travel is always a bit of a pain, and tougher with a little tot, but we are now settled. Here is a quick recap of our day.
The first of many retraining devices Luke would be in today!
Luke is a such a great traveler! He puts up so naturally with all the contrainsts of travel… car seat to stroller to tight airplane seat to stroller again to shuttle to rental car seat and hours upon hours of travel. He was strapped into something or confined to a small space from 8:30am until after 6pm! And only once complained, and even then had a good reason. (which we promptly smelled)
This being his fourth time flying (see his first flight) I gave the camera rest and just enjoyed the flight, except for a one point where Luke kept excitedly pointing out the window at something, but I could see nothing but clouds, so I took a picture with my iPhone to look at later more closely later when I could zoom in.
If you click on the picture below to view larger, maybe you can make out what Luke was so excited about seeing out the airplane window:
If you can see anything, let me know in comments.
CAR RENTAL RANT: (skip this paragraph if you want)
Can I rant a little? We got a great rate on our Budget rental, but I think it is because they laid off all their employees. At the airport it took forever to get our car, and then they did NO inspection of the SUV and I had to point out the damage in two places and insist they make note of it so they don’t try to blame it on me when I turn it in. My last trip to DC I ended up with a damaged rental car, and I wasn’t taking any chances. TIP: It is your job to check the car for damage before you drive off the lot, they love to try and pin prior damage on you so they can make money several times off one accident. After once having them try to pin damage on me I didn’t cause, I’ve had this happen several times where I inspect the car and find damage and the act surprised it’s there. But they never seem surprised on the other end.
We ate Chick-fil-A in honor of Steve and Amy Tanner.
We finally got to our resort and it is a beautiful place after dark, I can’t wait to see it in the day time. (even though Google Maps could not find it, nor our GPS, so the local gas station gave us directions when we backtracked, and said they meet most of the guests who end up at that same gas station!)
Sara went grocery shopping so Luke and I played and moved in. Sara came back with some bubble bath for Luke to enjoy in the hot tube… which for Luke will be a Luke-Warm tub… get it? LUKE warm? (never mind) Anyway, I decided to try the bubble bath stuff and it didn’t seem to work, so I kept adding more, and nothing happened. Then I turned on the jets… OH BOY!
I guess Mr. Bubbles works after all!
Well, time to head to bed, off tomorrow to hang out with Todd McKeever, Kidology’s CP Team Captain and another CP Team member… guess who? GOOD NIGHT!
September 9, 2007 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Family, Photography, iPhone
In 1986 I was a junior in high school when I saw a picture of a missionary’s daughter in the Philippines in a missions slide-show on a Sunday night at church. (and thought she was cute) After getting her parents permission to write to her (she went back to the Philippines a few weeks ahead of her parents for the start of school), I sent her a letter. We were soon pen pals. Once I found out that she would be heading to the same college as me in a few years (MBI) I got out a calendar and figured out what the date would be of her first Friday evening as a Freshman in college… (before the days of computer calendars!) and asked her on a date for September 7th, 1990, four years in advance! Our first date included a limo ride to Navy Pier, but I could only afford one way, so I left my car at the planetarium and took a cab back to school in the afternoon. After the dinner cruise from Navy Pier (when Navy Pier was only a freight yard and the dinner cruise ship was ALL that was there!) we walked along the Lake Shore to the planetarium where we just “happened” to discover my car and therefore our ride back to the dorms.
We’ve done the same date every September 7th, ever since, and this year was the 18th time we’ve done it. While we usually go on the Spirit of Chicago or the Odyssey Cruise ships, this year we tried one we’ve seen there for years called the Anita Dee II.
But as we headed downtown, things were looking bad for a cruise!
It was POURING RAIN our whole drive downtown!
We’ve only had bad weather once in the past 17th years, so we figured that the odds had caught up to us. The one time before the weather was bad the ship never left the dock because the waves were too sever, and at one point the boat was rocking so much that the giant roast that a chef was cutting meat from ended up on the floor! Other than the time our ship crushed a small boat into the dock, most years have been uneventful from disasters, so we figured we were due for a rainy cruise after 17 years of clear sailing.
But, by the time we got downtown the rain let up, and things began to dry up. We saw a wedding party taking photos in a soaked park across from Navy Pier. But we should have known the weather would be bad, after all, “Steve Said It Would Be Like This.”
We cracked up when we saw this advertisement while walking the wet pier hoping for a dry cruise. When I stopped to take a picture of this ad, Sara said, “Oh, I know what you are going to do with that!” I said, “Put it on my blog when I write about the rain?” and she said, “Oh, no, I thought you were going to……………..” So I did:
It wouldn’t be the first time Steve Tanner was right about something relating to disasters.
We had fun at the Pier before docking time. (Don’t tell Sara I posted this pic, she is out and I didn’t have time for my usual “pre-blog wife photo approval process!”)
I often include pictures of the local wildlife - sorry, this is the best I could do.
The reflections on the water are always beautiful
Probably the first disappointment with the City Lights Cruises is that they don’t do a nice photo as you board, but the next guy in line was nice enough to take a picture of us while we held up the line. Their marketing is a little sneaky, I bought some advance tickets that said they were the full cost except for a docking fee and two drinks - ha - a surprise extra $60 after you think you’ve paid for the whole dinner and think all you have to do is buy two drinks, and since we drink Coke and not booze, we thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Oops, they charge your for two alcoholic drinks even if all you want is a Coke. It also didn’t have assigned tables like the others and the food was about as cheap as possible.
But in the end you are there for time together and to enjoy the view, so it wasn’t too bad overall - but definitely a step down from the other dinner cruises. (but also less expensive - as they say, you get what you pay for)
Ironically, when we arrived we were first in line, so we decided we didn’t need to be first, and went for a walk. When we got back the line was looooooooooong! We were wondering if this many people could actually FIT on the ship - and then learned that it is first come, first serve to seats, and feared we would be standing all night, but once we got on board, I ventured out of the line (which was heading for the bar) and found that the front of the ship was empty, and got to have it to ourselves for quite awhile, and later only a few couples came up there. So we ended up having a really nice time despite the fact that there were definitely NOT enough life boats for all the people on board!
Photography on these cruises is always hard, you have to really over expose to get a picture, but they still look nice if you don’t enlarge too much. It was a wonderful break from work and the usual pace of life, but I confess, I did check my e-mail at one moment when I was alone, and the funniest thing happened:
Yes, my iPhone said that I had 2 billion, 147 million, 483 thousand and 646 unread messages. Now, it definitely FEELS that way at times, but this was too funny. I grabbed my digital camera and took a picture of the iPhone screen. Since the odds of reading over two billion e-mails on a date was slim, I put the phone away - having learned my lesson - and after the cruise I peeked again and the number was back its usual high number, but in perspective, I get almost no e-mail now. I still haven’t figured it out - could that have been the total number of unread e-mails of everyone on earth at the moment?
The other surprise - not sure whether it was good or not - was the discovery after boarding that the cruise was THREE hours, not two as we expected. (Like the others) After a call to the babysitter to make sure she knew, we settled in for a long relaxing time afloat, but it was long. Toward the end we managed a spot on the couches on one level and slumped back to relax and enjoy the last hour or so, when we saw an equally bored looking Filipino family next to us. As I returned from getting my drink and was squeezing by I dropped a little Tagalog (language of the Philippines) as I often like to do to see their surprise when a white boy speaks a language most Americans don’t know. I’m not fluent, but I can say enough for the beginning of a friendly conversation, such as Iki Nagagalok akong makilala kayo. (my spelling of ‘Nice to meet you’) Though I started with just a ‘thank you’ as I passed by to my seat. (Salamat Po) Adding “Po” at the end is a sign of respect, which they always appreciate.
The next thing I know we were having a very enjoyable conversation and the last hour flew by.
Hindi ko alam kung papaano ko po kayo mapapasalamatan sa inyong kabutihan.
September 3, 2007 at 6:36 pm · Filed under Bugs, Family, Luke, Photography
One of things God has been teaching me this past year is a new definition of “recreation” - something that once meant ‘fun’ or ‘play’ or ‘games’ has transformed into something much deeper and penetrating as I have discovered re-creation. Rather than something I do to “take a break” re-creation is now something I seek regularly, that refreshes and recharges me for the rest of “life.” This Labor Day weekend was a special opportunity for some extended re-creation spent with family. (reminder, click on any image for a larger view)
The treats of the weekend began on the way to church. Now from this picture you might I assume I live out in the wilderness, but there are several forest preserves quite close. But as we drove down the road to church my tendency to be taking in everything around me I caught a glimpse of something through a break in the trees and through a fence! Sara was surprised as I quickly pulled over and put the car in reverse claiming to have seen something through the trees which appeared solid on the left… indeed, I had!
My guess is an Elk? We have a lot of deer in our neighborhood so I assumed it was a buck, but after getting the pictures onto the laptop and zoomed in, I think it is an Elk. These pictures were taken through a gap in the chain link fence off the side of the road!
We went to two different preserves on Sunday and Monday… there is something refreshing about being outside enjoying the Son with family…
Luke seems to come alive outdoors and we want to instill in him not only a love of nature, but of the Creator who painted this world with His love. I really liked the motto I saw on a banner at the nature center, that turns out is a nation-wide effort: Leave No Child Inside. (Just google that phrase!)
Posing for a picture next to one of God’s most beautiful creations!
Luke taking in the scenery…
Although his favorite thing was just picking up rocks!
Of course, there was lots of beautiful examples of God’s Creative ability! Tough to only post a few!
Mom and Dad enjoy a romantic moment alone…
Luke is so blessed to have such loving grandparents nearby.
Taking in one of the beautiful views…
Right below us was a HUGE turtle, over three feet head to toe!
Luke with his daddy…
and mommy too!
My favorite “catch” of the day was this butterfly…
How anyone can not believe in God just escapes me!
It was a very refreshing and renewing weekend of re-creation!
September 3, 2007 at 8:57 am · Filed under Devotional, Luke, Photography, Spiritual Growth
Sometimes a pictures says it best… Just wanted to share my current wallpaper which captures my son’s love for water. (click image for full size 876 kb)
If I was ever stranded in the desert with no water, but had Luke with me, I’d be O.K. I’d just follow him! If there is any source of water… he can find it!
He is drawn to water like a deer… wait, isn’t there a Bible verse about longing for water?
 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2
I pray that I would be as drawn to the Lord as my son is to water. After all, Jesus is better than water, He is the Living Water!
 ”If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:37-39
 Jesus is the Living Water who walked among us.
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13
 Take a lesson from Luke…
Follow the Footprints of Your Father…
and seek the Water!
July 3, 2007 at 10:07 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Devotional, Family, Life, Photography, Spiritual Growth, iPhone
Sunday afternoon we went on a picnic with some family friends we haven’t seen in awhile. Their dad wandered off at one point and returned with a GIANT dandy lion for his daughter. I have never seen one so big!
Here is a ‘very dramatic’ girl holding the bundle of seedlings. (taken with my iPhone by the way, and edited in iPhoto) As I had fun do doing some effects to this picture, I couldn’t help thinking how much the dandy lion and my little friend have in common. Both are full of tons of potential that won’t truly be discovered until they are set free to go wherever the Lord blows them.
Once blown way, this beautiful puff of seeds will soon give life to many others once it finds its place and begins to grow, though right now, there is no way to know where those plants will be.
Likewise, this beautiful girl will also someday produce fruit in ways and places that only God knows right now. I know mom and dad aren’t eager for the day she is ‘grown up’ (neither am I!) but it is comforting to know that when that time comes, wherever God may take her, she will blossom as well.
Train a child in the way she should go,
and when she is old she will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
July 2, 2007 at 11:21 pm · Filed under Internet, Mac, Photography, iPhone
As you may know, I waited in line for about four hours on June 29th to get one of the first generation iPhones. (Links: eager to go, in line, ten minutes to go, first review)
Reviewing the iPhone will be an ongoing process, so rather than post multiple posts, I will just keep updating this post when I have new information, feedback, or gripes. So far, I am so incredibly impressed, I know that some will ignore my review as being too positively biased… but I will try hard to find bad things to keep the skeptics and Mac haters happy, as much as I can. As I have often said to my Mac-attack friends, I am a big Mac fan, but I am an honest one. I have ripped on my Mac online, so I don’t only say the positive - it’s just that there just is so much more positive than negative. And that is the truth.
REVIEW OF FEATURES: (will update)
TEXT MESSAGING: Not only does it look sweeeeet, and typing easy with the intelligent keyboard, looking people up is a snap, but there is a COOL feature. If you get a Text Message, and the phone is off. Not only will it notify you that you have a message, but it will simply give you the message and the sender in a pop-up so that you can see the message even without unlocking the phone and going to the SMS area to read it. If someone is sending you a quick answer, with a glance you can see the message and you are done.
CALENDAR: Scrolling through events is easy and visually wonderful. Day and month views are great too. Setting reminders and alarms is nice, especially the secondary alarm. For an appointment to meet a friend this week at a movie at 4:45pm, I set a reminder for 3:45 and a secondary at 4:00pm - the first I was in the middle of a conversation and hit ‘ignore’ - but on the second one, dismissed myself to make the appointment. That was cool.
PHOTOS: Man, this is amazing. The images seems a clear as a monitor. You can flip through with a flick of a finger, and the image rotates ALL FOUR ways if you turn your iPhone this way or that. Zoom in, or e-mail the picture you just took in seconds. I sync my favorite albums on my laptop, as well as “Last Roll” so I always have the last roll I imported with me.
CAMERA: Obviously, with no flash, it is best outdoors or in a well lit room, but it takes nice pictures at 2 mega-pixels. The shutter is slow, so blurs are easy to get:
HERE ARE SOME PICS TAKEN WITH THE iPHONE WITH COMMENTS: (click images for larger view)
Takes nice outdoor pictures.
Shutter is slow, so fast moving objects can get distorted.
The button to take the picture is visual on screen, not a “real” physical button, so it is very touchy (pun intended) and accidental pictures are common, and if you aren’t very careful, you push the iPhone when you push the button, and get a blurry picture, so you really have to concentrate on lightly touching, not pushing the button, keeping your finger close the button so you won’t tap, but not so close it senses your finger and takes a picture. Not dificult, but takes more concentration than a camera with a physical button. The location of the button so low on the screen makes it a little uncomfortable to hold and click, but that’s minor.
Lighting can be a bear, even in the sunshine, without a flash to fill in, but easily fixed in iPhoto - here is a picture as the iPhone took it (above) and here it is after iPhoto lightened it in one easy click:
YouTube: Wow, this is a time waster. Fun, but you could quickly lose a lot of time watching videos, but hey, if you are stuck somewhere, its like having a TV you can turn on and search for something fun.
Positive: you can easily and quickly find and watch YouTube videos on your iPhone and bookmark the ones you really like.
Negative: the audio doesn’t seem to always match the video, but I’m not sure if that is an iPhone issue, or YouTube issues, as I don’t use YouTube much even on a computer. The search also seems limited, I searched for “Conan Late Night ILM” on the iPhone (after a friend recommended it) and it said no results on the iPhone, but on YouTube it comes right up.
It also makes me nervous having so many kids with iPhones, as the content is often a concern - but then, I know kids are online viewing YouTube, it is a fact of culture, but now kids can watch stuff on their phone when no one is around to filter or supervise.
YOUTUBE UPDATE: (from Apple article) To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.
STOCKS: Looks cool. Google is selling at 530.38 (up 7.68) and Apple at 121.26 (down .78!) but that’s all I can tell you, not a feature I’ll be using unless I have stock someday! I only have time to invest in my family and the Kingdom.
MAPS: Simply incredible - and screaming fast! Put in your address and see your house from space, and zoom back to the whole earth. Then zoom into the middle a Africa and look for some huts if you want. I showed my gramma the Great Wall of China this evening. When I showed her how I could zoom into her house she said she will have nightmares tonight! Downside is, it only saves the places you typed in, you can’t navigate to somewhere and then bookmark that location. That is a little frustrating. But basically, it is Google Earth on your phone, and no slower than on the computer. This is the best thing to show kids. My nephew wanted to wave and see himself from space!
WEATHER: easy, simple, sharp and updates within seconds of going to view it. Six day forcast at your fingertips any time. not bad.
CLOCK: World time with the ability to have multiple times, I have Chicago, Manila and Melbourne on mine. If that wasn’t cool enough, it adds Alarms, Stop Watch, and even a count down timer and of course, choose your alarm sound from the ring tones. (too bad you can’t pick a song in your iPod music!)
CALCULATOR: simple, so surprises or perks… M+,M- and MR/MC is as fancy as it gets. Oh, well.
NOTES: These note pads look neat, yellow lined pads. (Text doesn’t line up with the lines) The font is friendly and casual. But no formatting at all, and your notes are displayed most recent (or recently edited) at the top. I wish I could rearrange the order of the notes. If all you need to do is write a note, this works. The only real “feature” is a nice one though, click and it will open as an email ready to send to yourself or someone, so you don’t have to copy and paste into an email. (which is good, since you can’t copy and paste anything - see CONS)
SETTINGS: You simply have to poke around in here, lots of features and settings, I’m still experimenting!
NOW, THE BIG FOUR:
PHONE: I heard lots of negative about AT&T, but other than having to change my cell phone number after eight years, I find nothing to complain about. My calls are clearer, my signal stronger, and merging two calls is a snap. I can stay on the phone and still use all the other features. (I was on Verizon)
My bluetooth works perfectly, and connects instantly. (My family and friends hated my bluetooth - my wife says my greeting was, “hi, this is karl, hang on, I’m trying to get my bluetooth to connect) Now if I have the headset on, it pops up three choices: HEADSET, iPHONE, SPEAKER, and if I choose headset, it is just there, instantly in my ear!
The EDGE network, while slower than the G3, is SCREAMING FASTER than what I had on Verizon on my Treo, so I feel like it is light years ahead of what I had before. If G3 is faster, I’ll be impressed, because this is fast! I got no signal in an elevator in the center of a building, but other than that, I’ve had to signal issues, and since it dropped AT&T and automatically connected to any trusted WI-HI networks, at home and work and many other places, it is on the wireless Internet anyway.
MAIL: This is my favorite! View, read, delete, respond as quickly and as easily as on the laptop. Typing is a little slower, but I expect it to get faster as I get used to it. And I set my settings to delete from server if I delete from Inbox on iPhone, meaning it will never end up on my laptop, so I can do email when I am out, and won’t have to delete twice. If it is something I need to do on laptop, just leave it alone on iPhone and it will come into laptop. And you can limit your mail to 25, 50, 75, 100 or 200 messages so they will disappear as time goes on with the ‘real’ messages being on your computer. But nice to have that reference with you. I won’t have to take my 17″ laptop with me so much now.
SAFARI: FINALLY the actual real Internet on your phone. Zoom, rotate, and surf easily. Have multiple windows open, and keep them open all day if you want. There is no flash player so Kidology.org header doesn’t appear or the welcome screen to my novel site, or other flash sites, but that is minor, and usually not needed. I can blog, and log into admin sites as well. Still need to see if I can blog a picture using the iPhone. If I can do that, I will really be excited for the reporting I’ll be able to do on the road.
iPOD: This just rocks. For one thing, finally an iPod with built in speakers! And if you have an iPod, you just have a cooler one now. I have 984 songs and 23 videos (two are full length movies, and a few TV shows).
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CONS (what I don’t like)
NO TASKS. My biggest disappointment with the iPhone is that they completely left out any tasks, or to-do lists. I LOVED that on my Palm and it is a part of iCal, so I don’t get why that was left off. My guess is because it has to work PC and Mac, and I know my Mac and Palm struggled with syncing tasks. I am really hoping a widgit or third party solution comes soon. In the meantime, I am using the web-based TaskAnyone.com and finding it very helpful, and easy enough to do on the iPhone.
NO COPY / PASTE This is a huge oversight in my opinion, many tasks take longer because you can’t copy and paste. Palm had shortcuts which were awesome and you could make them anything you wanted. They need to find a creative way to allow users to have their own keyboard short cuts and copy/paste is really needed!
NOTES: They need to beef this up. I’d like to be able to change the order of the Notes just like you can the order of your Favorites in Phone.
TWO / THREE CLICKS TO DO A PERIOD - I wish period and comma were on the main keyboard, but you have to hit symbol key, then period/comma, and then symbol key to get back to typing, so a period is three clicks. UPDATE: if you hit space after a period/comma it goes back to ABC automatically, but it is still a paid do to puncuation. They should just make the space bar smaller and put period and comma on the main screen.
DOESN’T WORK WITH ALL iPOD SPEAKER SYSTEMS. The iPhone does not work on my car iPod player (that goes through the radio), at all, even though it will dock and charge, just won’t play above a marely audible level. Also, it gets a “this isn’t supposed to work with this” message in the one in my bathroom, but works fine after I put it in airplane mode. (at it’s suggestion)
RESOLVED ISSUES: (will update)
NO CAPS LOCK - found a way to enable it in Settings.
Oh, and let me end with this. Someone posted a picture of a smashed iPhone on Kidology (with the screen still working, fyi) - but I must tell you this, at a picnic this week, I took my iPhone off and put it on the blanket with my keys, etc. to protect it, and later an upper elementary boy stepped on it hard, and it didn’t hurt it a bit. (the boy, therefore, was allowed to live) So, it is a pretty durable device! Not that I want to test that, but I was impressed!
PS: Wow, me and my iPhone got blogged about Down Under!
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BUGS/CRASHES/ETC.
Here I will log actual problems that I experience with my iPhone:
# = number of times this has happened.
3 / Google Maps “Crash” - not sure if it is a crash, interuption in wireless service, or what, but sometimes when you are in the middle of map surfing the iPhone just suddenly returns to the main menu. The first time I thought I must have bumped something, but the next few times I could tell I didn’t. And it doesn’t ‘remember’ where you were, so if you want to return to that place, you have to start over. Rating: annoying
1 / Safari Crashing /Freeze - one occurance, but happens 3 times. I was loading my blog to show my wife my iPhone review, and ironically, the page would get 80% loaded and then go to home screen. On my fourth attempt, it froze, but restarting the iPhone fixed it. (hold down both buttons for 6-7 seconds, like resetting an iPod) Then the page loaded quickly. My Wi-Fi was on one bar at home, so it might have been a slow connection?
Rating: concerning
1 / Freeze and Scorch! - This was new. I plugged it into the syncing/charging cable and attached to the computer to sync and charge, and then set it down and forgot about it. After blogging (the one above this one!) I picked up the phone and about burned my hand! It had frozen, screen still on, and was HOT. A reset did the trick, but ouch, it was overheated big time. Possible causes, it was playing music when I plugged it in, I was curious if the music would stop, it didn’t at first, but then I got distracted, so I’m not sure how long the music played. (Actually, I stepped away for a bit.) After the reset, there was a 20% battery warning pop-up. Maybe that popped up when I plugged in with music playing? Anywy, just reported when things go weird. Rating: Ouch
So far, these are not alarming - it is a computer, and they are prone to need a reboot occasionally. It seems “go to home screen” is it’s default, which beats a freeze or error message. Kinda funny, because it makes you first assume human error.
June 22, 2007 at 9:20 pm · Filed under Bugs, Photography
So I’m out relaxing in the front yard, enjoying an awake-nap (know the type?) in my hammock, when I see something little and white moving across the lawn… (click images for larger close-up view, unless your name is Henry)
See the little white ball?
So I get down close to see what it is: a spider carrying a ball almost as big as him (or her), I honestly couldn’t tell, but when something is UGLY I usually assume it’s a guy.
Pointing to show the size… not too scary, at least not from a distance.
Maybe headed out to play? Or just left and took the ball with him when the other spiders didn’t like his rules?
I got as close as I could and we locked eyes for a stare-down!
He gave me a nasty look and I told him he was alive at my mercy; that I could easy squish him at any second. He shrugged and replied, “That may be true, but if you were my size, you’d be running for your mommy.” I had no come back to that, so I let him live.
But I’m never walking barefoot in my front yard again!
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