Photography and Videography

Photo and video.

Yes, they are two completely separate beasts. One freezes a memory into a single frame while the other records its entirety.

Some schools of thought think that video triumphs all — you can view things in real time, never missing a single emotion. Others believe that photography is more traditional and can be more powerful if done right. Are these purists right? That depends who you ask.

I have worked with both photo and video for a fair amount of time (well, for being a 19-year-old that is): about nine years doing video and about three in photo. Ever since the third grade I have been mystified by video. I took classes in middle and high school to further improve my skills. I have learned how beautiful of an art videography can be, both by creating and consuming it for almost my whole life. I was 100% in the "video is better than photo" mindset.

Everything all changed once I purchased my first DSLR. I'll admit first off that I did not but my Canon T2i for  photographic uses; it was all for video. Once I got rolling, however, I realized how majestic photography can be. Even going out into your backyard can bring about some amazing shots. This photo was one of the first I took with my camera. I love it: the flowers blooming from dead leaves, a bee precariously perched on the purple plant, everything. I'm not saying that video wouldn't be able to pick us these same things, but seeing it as a still adds some charm and pleasure to it. It's also easier to view it as a single shot, rather than in a video.

I do not think that one is superior to the other. Both photo and video have their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing about one can really help you with the other. Getting interesting angles, correcting white balance, and adjusting exposure are needed in each. Knowing where to look for the perfect shot is something that I personally found helpful in my transition to photo from video (I still do both currently, in a matter of fact).

Video was born from photo, and its silly to argue over the superior one (if that argument even exists). I look forward to expanding my skills and both, and translating the skills gained from one to the other.

Travel Application

I just realized that I forgot to post an update on my project last week. I tried contact the Swedish destination marketing organization, but they never got back to me about getting authorization to use images. I ended up using images mainly from their Web site. If or when I put my application on Facebook I'll probably have to remove this content unfortunately. The images on Flickr for Sweden that were classified as creative commons tended to be not be very informative or visually interesting. I'm currently putting the final touches on my project and preparing my presentation. The thing about projects like this is there is always something that can be added or improved. I really am happy that I have been able to maintain the clean design while adding large amounts of content. I'm just trying to get everything to the point to where I'm highly satisfied.

First version of the UVisual

Hello. I deployed the first version of my project (universal visualizer) on the web. Currently it has limited functionality, yet it is possible to use it to fetch images from the flickr and organize them in a sequence of "items".
The page is divided on three sections: top-left, top-right, and bottom-center.
Top-left block has a table of items that can be sorted. Every item may be considered as a "point" in the presentation. When you click the item, the editor of the properties for this item will be open in the top-right block. You can make changes and save them by clicking "update" button. Additionally, in the top-left block you can press the "preview" button to start the "visualization" of the currently selected item. The visualization takes place in the bottom-center block. In the final version there will be an option to run the presentation in the "production" mode, so the user will see only the "visualization" itself - without editors.
Comments and questions are appreciated.