Meteorology, Mama & Baby -or- How I Was Befriended By Luck

It was Easter Sunday, 2010, and unknown to me, dumb luck had befriended me.

Pure dumb luck.

Even scientists believe in it.

In 1996, Duncan C. Blanchard, a meteorological researcher then affiliated with the State University of New York at Albany, authored a scientific paper entitled “Serendipity, Scientific Discovery, and Project Cirrus” published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in which he cited Project Cirrus (1947-52), a period and project of research from which “many serendipitous discoveries and inventions were made, opening up areas of research still being pursued today.”

Blanchard’s work was cited a decade later in 2006 by David M. Schultz, who was then affiliated with the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, and the NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma in a research paper entitled The Mysteries of Mammatus Clouds: Observations and Formation Mechanisms. In it he wrote that what little we know about mammatus clouds was, because of their nature, “obtained largely through serendipitous opportunities.”

In other words, what little we know about the clouds (so named after human breasts because of their appearance), has been obtained by pure dumb luck – although, being prepared, and being in the right place at the right time does account for something.

In conversation recently with a dear, and longtime friend, I shared about

#iPhoneography Tips & Tricks

The iPhone is a simple, though powerful tool. It’s ease of operation often belies the sophisticated mathematical and computer algorithms which undergird it’s operations. The integrated movie and still camera is one of the iPhone’s highlights, and Apple, Inc. makes every opportunity to improve the images the camera produces.

Quite honestly, the iPhone is perhaps my favorite creative imaging tool… as you may likely attest, if you’ve been following my photo stream for any time. There are very few things the iPhone can do that my Nikon DSLR cannot. There are a few features on the iPhone which the Nikon does not have, and vice versa. One is the Nikon’s ability to create RAW images, whereas the iPhone creates only JPEG images. By the same token, the iPhone has a “Burst” mode, whereas the Nikon does not. And I’ve been able to obtain images with my iPhone that my Nikon could never get, such as bluebird hatchlings in their nest box.

The diminutive size of the iPhone belies it’s strength, and the ubiquitous modern smartphone with integrated camera is now so commonplace that

World’s newest billionaire is a camera maker, not yet 40

Meet the 36-year-old ‘surfer dude’ who is the world’s newest billionaire after selling percentage of his action sports camera business

Billion-dollar idea: Nick Woodman, pictured, is the founder of GoPro cameras which capture action shots

• Nick Woodman sold 8.88 per cent of GoPro to Taiwanese manufacturing company for $200 million, making him worth at least $1.15 billion

• GoPro is a wearable camera used by athletes to capture action shots

• Came up with the idea while surfing around Indonesia and Australia

By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 10:19 EST, 24 December 2012 | UPDATED: 11:05 EST, 24 December 2012

He may be a Californian surfer who throws around the word ‘dude’ and goes to work in a t-shirt – but Nicholas Woodman has not been taking it easy.

The 36-year-old is the mastermind behind GoPro – a wearable camera used by

New fans find that film ain’t dead yet!

It may be on life support, but it’s still hanging on.

The odd thing about it is, that anyone can take a crappy picture, and most do. Lens flares, inaccurate color balance and other “quirky” things about these inferior quality cameras for some reason, endear them to their users.

Go figure.

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Just When You Got Digital Technology, Film Is Back

May 30, 2012, By JENNA WORTHAM

When is the last time you took a photo with an old-school camera — the kind that doesn’t have a wireless connection, needs to be loaded with finicky rolls of film and is too bulky to slide into a back pocket?

A panoramic image captured by one of Lomography’s cameras, the Spinner 360. (Lomography)

Unless you are a professional photographer or an artist, it has probably been a while. Most people have abandoned film cameras for digital models or, more recently, smartphones outfitted with lens accessories and apps like Instagram that make photo-sharing extremely simple.

But film photography is having another moment in the sun, thanks to some hip, quirky companies like Lomography and the Impossible Project, which are resurrecting this seemingly archaic art for

The ONLY digital camera that CANNOT shoot color is…

Huh?

You mean there’s a digital camera that CANNOT make color photographs?

Yup.

Not to worry.

You probably won’t buy it.

Besides… it’s nearly US$8000.

Unless you’re an artsy fartsy fancy schmancy pho-tograffer type… and in which case, you probably don’t have a lot of munny anyway. Fo-to-graffers don’t make a whole lot of munny.

You know… they’re the starving atisté kind.

But, on the upsid3… the REAL matter is the development of sensors, and how they perceive and are sensitive to light.

For all the bazillion-dollar cameras that can see in the dark, and blah, blah, blah… there has NEVER EVER been a camera that has EVER come close to the human eye.

Seriously.

Think about it.

Your $8000 Nikon or Canon, or Leica cannot in any way come close to accurately reproducing what your eye is capable of seeing.

Your eye can see detail in highlights AND in shadows… without PhotoShop.

Your Canon or Nikon or Leica cannot.

Try to take a “well-exposed” photograph in the dark.

Your camera needs a flash, doesn’t it?

Your eyes don’t.

Yeah, sure… digital cameras can see the infrared spectrum of light, whereas your eyes

iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks III

Perhaps you’re read the two preceding entries in this series.

That would be “iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks,” and “iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks II.” (Had to clear that up, you know. It never hurts to be certain, right?)

Apple continues to improve the camera application on their iPhone, and in the 4S, the resolution of the camera has reached 8MP, and sports all-new optics. Not only does it shoot 1080p HD video, but it boasts a  f/2.4 aperture, improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced color accuracy, face detection, and reduced motion blur.

As well, the 4S model iPhone has 60 percent more pixels than the camera on iPhone 4.

While the improved camera sensors in the iPhone 4S have increased its sensitivity, it is ultimately the glass that makes any camera’s pictures worthwhile. And the appearance of a five element lens in conjunction with a larger aperture allows better quality light, and more light to reach the camera’s sensors, which results in a clearer focus and significantly improved pictures, overall.

However, those hardware improvement don’t say much about other really cool integrated camera features in iOS 5. And just so you’ll know, iOS 5 will work on the iPhone 3GS,  iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3d & 4th generations.

One useful feature available on all iOS devices is

Lady Gaga interviews with 60 Minutes

Lady Gaga and Lady Starlight performing at Lollapalooza. Image via Wikipedia

The television news program 60 Minutes recently televised an interview with Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, whom is popularly known as “Lady Gaga.” Anderson Cooper interviewed the performer.

In one segment

Photography as therapy

The gentleman who owns VocalCoach.com shared with me that photography is “where I get my peace.” His name is Chris, and I met him today while