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Also, I’m working on a new (to stay) blog redesign! So get ready, hopefully sometime next week it’ll hit the press.
Just a quick note, I’m using a new layout for the time being, trying to be a little RSS Friendly as I get more emails about how my last one wouldn’t work well with RSS readers. I’m definitely no web expert, so I just did what I thought might work! Also, if you dont follow me on twitter and dont get my POSTEROUS links, feel free to add this site to your RSS as well!
http://austinjwalker.posterous.com/
New post is in the works! Be pumped.
Austin
This week, I’m spending in San Diego with FSM. I’ll spare you the details, but heres some stuff I’ve snagged along the way. I’m flying back Monday. All I have to say is I walked up a 150 yard hill and didn’t break a sweat. I’m convinced San Diego shares a forecast with heaven….and Arkansas with…well….you know.
I’ve had my 32 GB 3G iPad for a couple of weeks at this point, so I decided to go ahead and post a personal review. Keep in mind, I’m not a tech guru, this review is strictly my opinion on the iPad. SINCE I’m not a huge techy, some of the review points will be fairly brief, but to the point. It will probably also be fairly unorganized. If you just want to read app reviews, skip to below!
For those of you who haven’t seen my Facebook, twitter, or played me on words with friends, I love my iPad! In the past, I’ve taken my Macbook Pro everywhere. Eeeeeverywhere. It’s a laptop sure, but less than portable. Late last summer, it decided it had had enough and crashed. Talk about a freakout moment. Now, I’m able to leave the MBP at the house, because I take my iPad with me. Before I start to ramble, let’s try and do this in a somewhat structured manner.
memory box photography iPad review.
CASING 10/10
A lot of people I know have gotten covers or cases for their iPads, as you would for an iPhone, but I think there’s something to be said for how great the silver casing the iPad has looks! I’m a fan of the “naked iPad” if you will! It’s very sturdy, and as it is with all Apple products, very clean and crisp. Simplicity at its finest! Just like with the iPhone, it has a home screen button on the bottom and a “lock” and power button at the top. The right hand side of the iPad has a volume ‘clicker’ as well as a screen lock. With the screen lock “engaged”, the accelerometer within the iPad wont change the orientation of the screen’s contents when the iPad is turned. This is awesome for reading my RSS feeds or a book while laying down!
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
DISPLAY 9/10
This was one of the first things I noticed when I held an ipad at the BestBuy store in Little Rock. Pictures are nothing short of vibrant on the crystal clear 1024 x 768 display. Everything looks magnificent on the display itself. The one downfall I could think about is that due to how glossy the screen is, it loves to show off those reflections and glares. It’s also pretty bad about showing fingerprint smudges. But that’s no big deal, I just wipe it down with a lens cloth and it’s good as new!
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
INTERFACE 10/10
I didn’t quite know what to call this, but the iPad is extremely sensitive and responsive to touch. Much more so than the iPad. It’s very intuitive, as one could imagine, while flipping through pages in a document, lists in an Inbox, or Photos in an album. I haven’t had any problems as far as typing, either. In a portrait layout, the keyboard will pop up on the bottom, which lets you use your thumbs fairly easily.
In landscape, the keyboard will show up at the bottom again, allowing a fairly natural use as a normal keyboard. If you type as fast as I do, you may have to slow down a little bit, or you will find yourselves a few words farther in your sentence than what is on the screen. It takes a little getting used to, but is great when writing emails or messages once you get used to it.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
CONNECTIVITY 7/10
I bought the 32 GB iPad WITH 3G….and I have a confession to make…I have yet to try out the 3G. In all honesty, I’m somewhat nervous. Being a Verizon customer, I’m fairly spoiled. I see tweets, especially recently, complaining about AT&T dropping calls with full 3G coverage where they were, and things of that nature. I cant think of a single time I’ve ever had a phone call dropped by Verizon. Come June, I’ll be traveling all over the map, so I’ll probably subscribe to a month of 3G unlimited limits. But, for now, I’ll just judge the connectivity based upon the WIFI performance. This is where it lacks. The sensitivity (for lack of a more informed term) is lackluster. In my bedroom, where my laptop will show full connection to our house’s wifi, the iPad shows one bar at best. I’m sure this is easy to explain for someone who knows what they’re talking about…but I do not. Other than being somewhat weak in outer reaches of a wifi hotspot, it’s been great.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
OVERALL 10/10
The common thing to hear people complain about is what the iPad can’t do. It can’t take pictures, it can’t take video, it can’t show flash objects. The list goes on for someone who is trying to find something that they can jab an iPad for. However, I choose to focus on what it DOES. On a photoshoot, with my camera connection kit, the iPad DOES do a phenomenal job allowing me to upload pictures onto my iPad, allow the client to see straight out of camera shots from mere minutes before, and allows them to hold it. From a photographer’s point of view, the iPad makes our work tangible. I can’t stress the importance of having something tangible to show a client. In client meetings, instead of waiting on my 17″ Macbook Pro laptop to boot up, then showing them in Finder some of my work, I can hand them my iPad and say, “Yea…go crazy.” They get to hold the images. Did you catch that? They hold the images. That’s huge.
Since I’ve had my iPad, I’ve been able to leave my laptop in the house, on a desk, safe and sound. I use it for culling, editing, filling orders, etc. But for the most part, I do all of my internet browsing, RSS reading, Tweeting, Facebook stalking, news reading on my iPad. I’ve loved every minute of it.
Apple did a great job with creating and advertising a need, then developing a great product to fill the need they just created. It’s not for everyone. Some people have asked if they should get an iPhone or an iPad instead. Frankly, that comes down to each situation. I wont sit here and say everyone needs to go get an iPad right now, but I will say that I dont know anyone who wouldn’t enjoy one. A lot of people try and say, “Oh, I have a mini iPad,” and show their iPhone. Or claim that it’s a big iPod touch. It’s so much more than that, but until you try it out, you won’t understand why.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
==========================
Here’s a quick note about the accessories that I have for the iPad.
The first is an Incase brand slip sleeve. Rather than zippers, it has a slit about 1/5 the way down the back which allows the iPad to slide in, and then you wrap the top 1/5 around the top, much like the back of a throw pillow or something. It’s extremely snug, and at times inconvenient, but I love it! It shipped with a “iPad Stand” Incase included in the package. It’s garbage. Every time I’ve tried to use it, it’s dropped my iPad. And also given me a heart attack.
I also have the iPad Apple Camera Connection Kit. It’s been great. Ships with a connector that plugs into the Apple port by the Home button, and allows you to upload via SD card, or if you have a card reader, CF. Importing is super easy: the screen pops up, you touch the thumbnails of the images you want, and import. They’re stored in your All imports album in your photo screen. Easy peasy. This is especially great for wedding receptions!!
==========================
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
APPLICATION REVIEWS
Here’s what I really was wanting to write about…my favorite and most used Apps! They’re judged completely objectively, for better or worse. My apologies, but this isn’t in any particular order!
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
Words With Friends HD $2.99 RATED: 10/10
I LOVE Words with Friends. I’m addicted. Before I had my iPad, I played a few of my friends and favorite photographers on my girlfriend’s iPhone. This was the first app I got when I received my iPad. There’s nothing crazy cool about Words with Friends, it’s just fun entertainment. It also includes a chat feature, which has been great as I get to know the people I play that I haven’t met in real life. The HD version on the iPad allows you to see the entire screen without having to zoom in to see well. Just like scrabble, the advantage of Words With Friends is that it’s turn based, but not time sensitive. So, I can play at my own pace. Currently, I have 19 games going! I dont know how many Words lets me play at once, but at least 19! If you want someone not too skilled to play against, feel free to hit me up: AustinJWalker
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
FeeddlerRSS Free RATED: 7/10
On my desktop, using Mail.app, I have 53 RSS feeds I subscribe to, ranging from photo blogs to twitter searches to friends’ blogs of trips. When I got my iPad, I knew I wanted to be able to read these wherever I went. Feeddler has been the best free option I’ve found yet. I had to go through the process of putting them all in my Google Reader account (Feeddler draws from there to find out what RSS feeds to check). The interface is simple enough, but some of the posts are painful to try and click on links. At times, it feels like Feeddler just feels like not opening the link. If anyone else has another RSS reader they’ve had great experience with, that would be incredible. Feeddler does the job, but not in an enjoyable way.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
Twittelator $4.99 RATED: 9/10
Shameless plug….@austinjwalker. Follow me. Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I used to used Twitterific, and was fairly satisfied with it, especially for a free app. However, a good photographer friend of mine, Michael Baxley, told me to check out Twittelator. In landscape, Twittelator lets you see your feed, as well as your @replies, direct messages, searches, drafts, and lists. Click on a tweet in your feed, and it gets its own box in the main (right hand portion) section of the screen, allowing you to retweet, forward, reply, favorite, etc. Or you can view stats of the person who tweeted the message. I owe Baxley a huge thanks for getting me hooked on Twittelator. I’m always skeptical of any app that makes me pay $5 for what seems to be something basic, but Twittelator is definitely worth it.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
WIRED Mag. $4.99 RATED: 10/10
Ladies and gentlemen….this is what a magazine SHOULD be like. You open the app, and you’re greated with an interactive cover, complete with a link to watch exclusive content from the upcoming movie Toy Story 3. When you change from landscape to portrait, the pages dont “shrink to fit” but rather switch to an equally aesthetic layout. To browse article to article, simply swipe left or right. If you want to go deeper into an article or an advertisement, swipe up and down. Ads have links to their websites, articles have interactive audio, video, animations, and information. This is the future of the magazine world. Wired worked with Adobe for months before the iPad was even announced in order to be tablet ready. Well played, Wired…well played. At this point, I’m not sure if I paid $4.99 for the one issue of Wired, or for the future issues as well. I believe the print version for a subscription ends up being somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 cents, so hopefully it wont be a $5 charge for every issue, but honestly, it’s worth it even if it is.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
Gravilux $1.99 RATED 9/10
Ok…I’ll be the first to admit…this is a totally pointless app. And at the same time, I find myself enamored by the fun of it. Gravilux gives you a screen full of dots, and your finger touch is the graviational pull. All you do is manipulate these dots around the screen. You can even change the force of the gravity, whether it’s gravity or anti gravity, and the number of dots on the screen. There’s nothing more to this. This quick paragraph doesn’t do it justice. It’s mesmorizing, and it’s a time killer…but I love it.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
ToDo $4.99 RATED: 9.5/10
This has possibly been the most productive $5 I’ve ever spent. A few months ago, I downloaded a trial of Things for my laptop in order to try and get myself organized. I liked it, but didn’t want to drop $20-30 for the iPad version. Then, I stumbled upon “ToDo”. In ToDo, I’m able to quickly type out a to do list, assign a due date and time for each item, whether it repeats, and more. You can even create a new project and create deadlines within the project. You can choose to have it remind you to call a contact, email a contact, visit a website, go to a location, or just a generic to do. I have weekly responibilities at work, and now ToDo will renew each weekly item so that I dont forget it. There’s also a “lightning add” option, which only asks for the ToDo item itself, and skips any of the details. It automatically assumes the item is due today. Being a “less than organized” person, with everything starting to pick up, ToDo has been a LIFESAVER. I absolutely love it. It’s so nice to know that if I think of something I need to accomplish for the day, or a phone call I need to make in a week, I dont have to find a pen to write it on my palm and hope I dont sweat at all the rest of the day.
memory box photography iPad review.
memory box photography iPad review.
Those are my “Heavy User” apps I’ve fallen in love with. There’s more, but I’ll just list them for you!
Well…There it is. A probably somewhat scatter-brained initial review of my iPad! I’d LOVE to hear what some of your favorite and most used apps are! Shoot me a comment on here and let me know!
Doug and Marcene Gillam had their reception Saturday night at Dickey-Stephen’s Park, home of the Arkansas Travs. Some of you may remember Marcene’s incredible Bridal Shoot I blogged a few weeks ago. I blogged it that day, because at the same time, Doug and Marcene were getting married in California. Since many of their friends couldn’t make it to California, they decided to have a reception “back home.” What better place than a baseball park!? The food was amazing, the cakes were great, the donuts were perfect and the night was a blast.
Here’s a big chunk of images from the night! As always, enjoy, comment and share!
Dont forget, you can also “like” this by clicking the FB like button at the bottom of this post! You dont have to sign up for an app or anything, just click the “like” button! It may ask you to sign in to your account, but it wont add a new annoying FB app.
This post is kind of more an update on life than anything else. That picture up there was from the reception/party I shot tonight! It was a lot of fun out at Dickey-Stephens Park. I’ll have more on that later, when I drop a blog post on yall. The Gillam’s rented out a photo booth for the event. Not one of mine, but a more booth-looking styled booth. Think of it as a memoryBOOTH, but different. Differences aside, that’s where those shots came from! I had been shooting the reception for a long while, and realized, as i tried to take a picture of myself (unsuccessfully), that as a photographer, I dont really have the time, ability, or desire to take a decent portrait of myself. SO, I decided to mosey on over to the booth and get a couple shots of me. These are a good 4 or 5 hours into shooting. At this point, I’m beat, sweating to death (thank goodness for chugging 2 Powerades this afternoon), and BEYOND thankful that I decided to pick up some Dr. Scholl’s gels before heading over to the park. (ALSO, to any photographers who read, yes, my speedlite is facing straight forward. I bounced that sucker all over the place all night long (looong story), but for some reason when I went to take my pics, I put it like that. I try not to do that very often. if ever. and I may be the only one bugged by seeing a flash like that. regardless. My apologies haha.) Beautiful aren’t I?
I have to admit, this week has been a roller coaster. I shot a visitation and a memorial service, which was one of the more difficult things I’ve ever had to do. The family was so kind, and even invited me for a meal after the memorial service. I wish I could have made it, but just didn’t have the time.
Next random note….I also have a new place on the list of favorite places to eat lunch in Little Rock.
Hot Dog Mike’s! First, I ate there with the one and only Wes Hymer. He crashed at my house after rehearsal at Fellowship, and I told him about the grand opening of Little Rock’s very own hot dog stand! Wes, being Wes, was all over it. I have to admit, it’s good. And, in addition, it’s so cool! I mean come on people, it’s a hot dog cart! So Friday on my way to Little Rock to get some pre-shoot prep stuff done, I decided I’d stop by Hot Dog Mike’s again. I knew a few of my friends had been there earlier that day, and it started the cravings inside. When I pulled up, I saw these guys! Pictured, left to right, is Eli Murray, Charlie Roberts, Me, Michael Juiliano (AKA Hot Dog Mike), and Michael Baxley. These guys are some beyond legit photographers. Ever since my post on photography community and the first monthly Photographer’s Meet up, these guys have been awesome to get to know. They’re willing to put up with a guy like me, which always says a lot in my book.
Like I said, tonight was the kickoff for my super busy summer. I just whipped out my iPad, and saw that between this moment and school starting back up, I officially have TWO empty Saturdays. I’ll be traveling to (of course) all reaches of Arkansas, Memphis, maybe San Diego, Olive Branch (Mississippi) twice, and Texas. Goodness. So about summer break and having time to relax? I missed that meeting I guess. I love it though.
One final note, when I was at Hot Dog Mikes, Michael told me he didn’t even know I already had my iPad. I told him I figured anyone who followed me on twitter was probably sick and tired of hearing about how ticked I was that it wouldn’t ship yet, so when I got it, I just stopped posting about it. That being said, I’ll probably post a review/app list type post later in the coming weeks. I’d LOVE to hear what any of you are using your iPad for, how you like it, what you like most/least, and especially what apps you love and recommend!
Today at Fellowship Bible Church was Senior Sunday! This group of seniors I have LOVED getting to know over the past two years. It’s kind of weird to think that I met them after their sophomore year in high school, for the most part. All of them are off to do great things, but I’m really excited that a good group of them are headed to Arkadelphia for OBU in August! It’s been a pleasure to serve these students the past few years!
At the end of the service this morning, we had all of the seniors to the front of the Worship Center. There had to be 60 or 70 total. Their parents came down and we spent a few minutes in prayer, allowing the parents to pray for their kids, and for the body to pray over the families as they enter the next season in life. It was definitely a moving time, to say the least.
Later on, we had the seniors and their parents come to a dessert we put on each year. It’s always a really neat time, but this year the FSM staff decided a memoryBOOTH would be an awesome icing to add to the Senior Dessert Cake, if you will! Wednesday, I’ll post some of the booth images, but for now, just know it was fun!
Class of 2010, you rule.
Also, check out Aaron Williams’ blog post on FSM’s Senior Sunday!
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On a more “business” side of things, if you will, I’ve gotten emails about the lack of RSS-friendliness of the blog. I’m looking in to what needs to be done about that. Needless to say, soon there will be changes. This may mean a totally different blog layout, or just some optimization. Still not sure, but I know there’s a problem, and I know it needs to be fixed!
Just wanted to let everyone know a few quick details about social media integration on the site!
First off, if you haven’t noticed, there’s now the ability to “like” any of the posts on the blog! I know sometimes you dont have the time to comment, or don’t really know what to say. Well now, you can just click the like button, just like you would on anything you see on your facebook home page. Easy, simple, to the point! So please, any time you like a post, let folks know and just click “like”!
Second, I want to personally invite all of you to follow Memory Box Photos on facebook’s network blog interface.
Just click “FOLLOW THIS BLOG” It’s super easy, and then new posts will show up in your Facebook feed. Easy as pie!
This month is pretty busy just in general. I’ve got quite a few shoots lined up, and even more client meetings for 2010 and 2011 weddings! I cannot wait! It’s going to be a hecka-busy month, but also fun. So, hit me up on Network Blogs and remember to like what you see!
Right now, I’m in the calm between the storms.
March was mucho crazy for me. A good kind of crazy, dont get me wrong, but crazy none the less. This past week, photographically speaking, has been pretty calm, but it picks back up in, oh, 11 hours. Before May, I’ve got a memoryBOOTH event, two portrait sessions, and two engagement sessions! I’m SO pumped. Also, my open weekends for summer weddings are slowly filling up. I dont know how many I have open left, but not many! It’s definitely a good place to be.
If I’ve learned anything this year so far, it’s this. Life is busy. Enjoy the calm. Enjoy the storms more.
Yesterday, I got to go on a road trip with the people I work with, and with some pretty cool students! This summer, Fellowship Student Ministries is going to Memphis to help serve Fellowship Memphis and Grace Church. In preparation for the trip, we took a few students and most of the staff and spent the day in Memphis. I left incredibly encouraged and excited about the trip. Both churches’ staff live in the neighborhoods they minister to, many of them living in the heart of Hurt Village. Obviously a difficult ministry, their resolve and passion for the people in their area is astounding. I left completely inspired and fired up for the FSM United trip this summer! Here’s a couple shots from the day.
This is Shoeshine. I met him on Beale Street. He’s been shining shoes office building to office building in Downtown Memphis since he was 15. As music played from the bars and BBQ restaurants on Beale, Shoeshine danced down the road, showing off and snagging tips.
I dont know how much I can/should say about Theo. LONG story short, he used to be one of the top dogs in the Memphis gang activity. Anyone who knows Memphis knows that’s a big deal. Now, he’s doing what he can to live for the Lord. He has a ways to go, and asked that we pray for him as he tries to “improve my spirituality and my kids as well.”
I had a lot of other shots, filling up a couple of CF cards but I can’t post them all just yet, because most of them are going to be used for promo material for Global Village at FSM and for FSM United.
