My first You Tube video

Posted on Wed February 17th, 2010. 6:41 pm

I know it’s probably hard to believe… seeing as though I work on the interweb thingy, and I’ve signed up for most social network sites – Facebook, Twitter, Dailybooth, Gowalla, Digg, Linkedin, etc. But I’ve never uploaded a video to You Tube! Until now that is.

The reason I signed up to You Tube, and joined the millions of other users uploading video content, (I’m informed that as much as 20 hours of video is uploaded to You Tube every minute of the day), is not because I’ve got an underlying urge to broadcast video… but simply because I could, and I could do it easily.

You see I’ve recently upgraded my photo management application Aperture to the new version, Aperture 3. And one of the new features of Aperture 3 is the ability to create video slideshows of your photos without ever leaving the application. So while messing around learning how to take full advantage of the slideshow feature, I created a short video presentation of my macro images in absolutely no time at all. The results can be viewed below.

Update: I’ve tweaked the video slightly to improve image quality. Also, here’s my second video upload…

The Robin Hood Tax, show your support to help poverty

Posted on Wed February 10th, 2010. 1:45 pm

I stumbled upon this today, on the great world wide interwebs thingy, and immediately thought it to be a fantastic and simple idea. Oh, and there’s a great video about it featuring Bill Nighy, which has also been directed by Richard Curtis

The Robin Hood Tax is a proposed 0.05% on certain bankers transactions which will in turn generate billions of pounds per year to help fight poverty and promote climate change. Please check out the video below and show your support by voting YES.

One frosty Sunday morning

Posted on Mon February 1st, 2010. 4:03 pm

Yesterday was a gloriously sunny Sunday morning, although it was still very cold. A heavy frost had covered the ground, and the sharp cold air beckoned me out (with hat and coat tightly fastened), and my camera at the ready to hopefully capture some close up macro shots.

I walked up the hill, across the fields towards Swaddywell Pit, where I photographed this great shot of frosty ice crystals clinging to a thistle and blades of grass.

It was good to be out and I managed to get some well earned peace and quiet away from all the usual comings and goings that happen during any normal family weekend. Just a couple of hours to myself, with two dozen good photographs in the bag!

Sharp winters frost on a thistle leaf

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