very hard to put it bluntly.

what do ya mean? didn’t you just show up there with your camera + shoot a bit?

not on your life – but glad it came across as that calm + natural.

looking around through the glimmer + shine existing everywhere today + it’s easy to find great work. it’s also easy to assume that this work happens on it’s own or really doesn’t have much of a backstory. but like a good film, without backstory you get a spineless mess that usually collapses on itself.

if you don’t believe me take a look at recent contest winners + start your reverse engineering. in a time crunched, cgi soaked industry it’s relatively easy to assume, “ahh, i have a 5DII with hd i can pop that sucker up on my tripod anywhere + put a fancy pants little ditty together.” and nothing could be further from the truth.

my current estimate in regards to motion work is that it takes quad as long as still image work. of course we’re not limited to pictures (motion or still) with this theme. office time, production work, personal projects, life’s little gifts – everything is evolving + to capitalize on it all takes a unique blend.

here are a few things i’ve found lately that currently or shortly will be enlisted in the effort.

hitchcock – luv keeping ideas moving forward. i firmly believe that if you’re not doing something everyday toward your goals then they’re not happening

evernote’s latest upgrade – great cross everything platform for organizing the myriad vitals

google wave – i was just invited to beta test this potential game changing tool. especially interested in it as project development tool

tilt + shift – purely for the visual fun

as a visual person i’m always on the lookout for anything new, unique + angles that really stand out – a variation on a perspective that adds a touch more light or different visual cues that skew our ‘norm’. though not a huge fan of aerial work there is much i admire about it. in terms of it’s ability to really open our minds to old material + landscapes.

my friends at gravityshots have just such a great thing going. here’s a new school example of what rc heli’s + a spot of determination can do. their style of low level aerial work is becoming more common but jeff + adele have done an amazing job with little more than a ton of practice + fantastic environments. keep an eye on them.

the revolution is picking up speed. after a recent mumblings about the new iphone 3GS video capabilities + third party accessories it’s gone + come together. kenny mosher + crew have put together an entire music video on the iphone + thrown in a behind the scenes via the canon 5D II for fun. get ready for the onslaught. more via pro video coalition.

Music Video Shot on iPhone from Kenny Mosher on Vimeo.

they’re coming fast + furious these days, which i have to admit i don’t mind a bit. nice to satisfy the inner geek once in awhile. that past two weeks have seen major updates for apple, canon + onone (software manufacturer).

the biggie for the general public is the apple keynote earlier this week from the ongoing worldwide developers conference (WWDC) in sf which let loose new macbooks + safari as well as a new iphone + update. you can watch the keynote yourself here (as if you haven’t already). all in all great stuff, especially as the creative community is always hungry for speed. have to admit though that i was let down with the whopping upgrade in the iphone camera – from 2 mp to 3?!?! not that we need 45mp or something but at this stage one would think it would be a notch or two higher. the video, of course, will be grabbing all the attention anyway so i’m sure there’ll be more camera on the next go ’round. the mobile me upgrade is a damn good call + i’m sure it won’t be seeing much fanfare.

canon had the cojones to give us what we’ve been asking for last week and this is good stuff – full manual control in HD video. now i’ve been running this thru the paces + am much more at home with it than the auto controls. of course i shoot primarily manual with my cameras anyway so this is a natural progression for me. the freedom is well worth the wait. tech wise, i have a grasp on the iso changes + the physical aspects of aperture but what does the !??! does shutter do when working in video + why does it stop @ 1/30th???. you switch the dial up + sure enough get light adjustments but what’s causing that – you’re not changing frame rate or anything? anyone?

last on the upgrade list is onone software with their much trumpeted DSLR camera remote app for the iphone. now i may be an iphone kinda guy but i had trouble getting this to function where i needed it – mainly because it needs a computer connected directly to the camera. for me that doesn’t happen all that often, at least not where we’re dealing with a remote when you can work with pocket wizards or the canon TC-80N3 intervalometer sans computer (or if you’re a real geek). inside, however, this slick interfaced little app did studio work proud especially the live view feature, brilliant, but outside on an ad hoc network i was SOL.

trying to come up with a reason why i should buy the app the one thing i thought of was the possibility of using the intervalometer feature (check the video here) simultaneously with my canon intervalometer. working one camera wide + the other shallow i envisioned a time lapse that could run split screen with both big picture + detail. we’re putting the video together now but suffice it to say that despite setting up my macbook pro mere inches from the largest lake in glacier national park in order to run the iphone app via an ad hoc network i was allowed only a single image. the rest i ran on my own, which in the end wasn’t such a bad workaround.

so tying these three seemingly unrelated updates all together, what might be the best thing now that onone has to update the app for the new iphone 3GS anyway, is to simply drop the computer from the scenario + work with canon to get some type of bluetooth or similar set up in the camera so that the images can be downloaded directly to the phone. better now that apple had provided us 32gb versions as the norm.

in my ongoing series TEN we’re highlighting steps that any location photographer can easily incorporate into their business to green things up a bit. specifically we’re looking at recycling – from batteries to the material laden computers we all spend too much time in front of. i’m a tech guy as much as the next customer but with the amount of equipment needed in this industry today we need to be responsible about what we’re doing with it when it’s time has come.

1: one of the first things i do after computer gear goes downhill is to incorporate it into shoots if possible. this image is one of a billion possibilities.

2: if you are done with the stuff think about turning it over to a local charity or school as oftentimes they’re in need of machines(check out freegeek). just because it doesn’t function up to our standards of heavy image lifting doesn’t make it useless by any means.

3: if that doesn’t do it for you then definitely recycle the machinery. companies like apple, epson + canon will make it easy on you. and you can always hit up third parties like flipswap as well.

4: don’t print so much. at least set up a b+w setting for all the paperwork.

5: if you do find yourself spitting out the pulp products, use services such as greenprint that allow you to drop pages or cut out what you don’t need prior to inking it.

6: this is a big one for me but carbon credits ( who doesn’t want to recycle our air!?!?). sure it’s not a perfect system but it’s in place and better than nothing. i’ve talked about this before here and am working it into my workflow for all clients (merrell, cosmo, 24 hour fitness…). see terrapass for more and if you’re a business then keep an eye out as i’ll have an in-depth update on this soon.

7: aside from computers, your cell phones can easily be processed via any number of companies including flipswap mentioned above.

8: ink cartridges can be sent in via prepaid shipping bags as well from places like best buy, etc.

9: work the old school water cooler rather than all the bottled stuff.

10: when was the last time you walked to your studio? rode a bike? skateboarded? busted out the roller skates or the stilts?

and not to let you off easy by thinking it’s all about after-the-fact feel good actions try thinking ahead maybe using refurbished machines, your locations + even grants available.