Downtown

We stayed in the Hostel International in downtown San Francisco. I’m a sucker for big cities and let’s face it: San Francisco is pretty high up there. It’s a great city with many awesome buildings, lots of cop cars (they look so cool!), people from many different cultures and countless Starbucks Coffee places.

Starbucks Coffee

I have to say: I never really got what’s so special about the whole Starbucks experience, especially since in Belgium it’s this very hyped up thing where people just go there so they can Twitter about how great it is (ugh…).

I got myself a (very) large hot chocolate every morning and 2 chocolate croissants. The people were very kind and friendly. Even when I had a hard time figuring out which coins were which.
I really liked it there, the food was great, the hot chocolate was perfect and the cute girl smiling at me… Not too shabby for Ronny.

However I’m still not going to any Starbucks in Belgium. I just don’t want to be one of those people.

Alcatraz

The Rock. The famous prison. A historical place. Where the worst of the bad guys served their time. Walking there has a strange effect on you. When I saw the marks on the floor where grenades exploded during The Battle of Alcatraz, I realized that men had fought and died in this very place, trying to escape and risking their lives for freedom. I know it’s kind of an obvious thing… You have to be there and see this for yourself in order to realize this.

Twin Peaks

We went to Twin Peaks. You might never have heard of that place (just like me) but: What an amazing place. You can see the whole city from here! Really wow!

Golden Gate Bridge

We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, you know: The iconic red bridge you see in movies. Yea, that’s the one. Let me just tell you for the record: That thing is gigantic! And what a view… Really amazing!

Google

The giant. We were there. Great place, insanely beautiful campus. I can see how Google employees like where they work. They got everything over there! I love the great statues they put up for every major Android release. Cool stuff!

Facebook

Going to Facebook was one of those things I was really looking forward to without really knowing why. I’ve read about the Facebook campus on multiple sites but being there is really something else. They showed us around the campus and Mark ‘Zucky‘ Zuckerberg walked right past us. I know: he’s just a guy… And yet: he’s not just a guy. Oh by the way: The above picture is (one of) the actual Facebook Wall(s) where visitors can write a little note. We also got a ‘Like button‘-magnet and some Facebook post-it’s. I turned into a Facebook-fan in an instant.

So much more stuff

We went to a couple of other companies (EA Games, Momentum Design Lab, Method, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Obscura Digital) and places (Point Reyes, Castro, Infinite Loop 1, Fisherman’s Warf). There’s just too much to list here. I love this city and at one point I will go back there.
I can really picture myself living there. Maybe one day…

Thanks

Thanks to all my friends for making this a great experience. That’s one childhood dream off the list. What made it even better is that I was able to do this with my lovely girlfriend! It was amazing to be there with all of you. I also want to thank my lecturers for setting up those visits at all those amazing companies. It was really incredible!

If you want to see more pictures, check out my San Francisco Flickr set!
Most pictures were taken with Hipstamatic and CrossProcess (iPhone apps)

Go check out the other shots on my Flickr page! And let me know if you like them!

I wanted to capture startrails. Startrails are basically the same as trailing lights from a passing car at night. The only difference is that the trailing light is coming from about 7 million lightyears (or any random that makes it sound more dramatic) away and it takes about 15 minutes to actually spot movement.

I went out twice in one night just to shoot some pictures. Once, just to be sure I actually would be able to capture startrails and once for the money-shot. The result?

Personally my favorite is the second one because it show so much more than just the stars. Although I’d prefer to actually capture a longer timeframe next time. Unfortunately right now it’s impossible to do so because it’s cloudy all day, so if the weather gods would please do me a favor: Summer please, 28°C, no clouds and piss off. Thank you very much!

Once I get my head around this a bit more I’ll probably write down the outlines on how I actually did this… I won’t right now because it just felt like I was doing it all wrong and got very lucky to get this kind of promising results

Let me know what you think, and which one you like best!

So I was thinking about a way of getting the shot wherever I want, whenever I feel like it, and upload it right away… I figured using my iPhone and some photography apps might do the trick. About an hour later I uploaded my first shot. I really like the fact that it is instantaneous. I shoot, I process, I upload it to Flickr. *magic happens* WordPress gets the latest picture from my set on Flickr and displays it in the sidebar. Done.
It only takes a few minutes a day and I’m pretty sure that next year in September I’ll have a cool collection of pictures (which I’m planning to use in my next big project )

You can see the latest picture in the sidebar. And because I like the process so much, let me share how the workflow is like on the right. (From left to right: I take a shot, I edit it a bit and then I polarize it (and add the tag of the day)).
If you like it, check out my Flickr set which is updated daily (duh)!

If you’re interested in what iPhone apps I’m using:

• Default camera app
• Vint Green (take a shot and immediatly have it developed into a vintage green version)
• TiltShiftGen (take a shot/open an existing picture and edit colors, vignette, blur (circle/tiltshift) (I love this one)
• Polarize (convert the image to a polaroid: frame and color correction)
• QuadCamera (get 4 shots one after each other into a single picture)
• CameraBag (take a shot/open an existing picture and add one of 9 effects)

If you got any cool suggestions or ideas: just let me know

• Tennisballs
• A ladle
• Dry cord
• Lots of oil
• Fire
• A digital camera

You get to play fireball!

We had some great fun, and the result was pretty much what I expected from a first shot (yes, this is supposed to be the first of many fire-related experiments) at Fireballs and trails. If you like what you see, check out the complete set in my Flickr stream.

Yeah, my creativity for a decent post title is really not helping me these days.
However: Luck is totally helping me out. People that know me a bit better might know I have been looking for a fisheye lens for quite some time now.

When I first started looking for one, I actually just went to the local store where they told me I’d have to cough up about 900€ for a decent lens. Later on I went to a MediaMarkt where The Experts were able to find a much cheaper lens! Starting at 850€, my dream was still very far away.

Let’s face it: Fisheye shots are cool, but not 850€-cool. So I was actually giving up, until a friend of mine told me he bought a fisheye lens for 250€. Now THAT is one sexy number.
He gave me a link to the site where I could order the lens. I was about to order when it turned out I could lay my hands on a secondhand lens. Only 24 hours later I had my own Peleng 8mm fisheye lens. Needless to say: I’m a happy camper!

The bad thing? Since I’ve got a Sony camera (worst decision ever) I can’t get a lens with auto-focus…. The Peleng lens is not compatible with Sony, however they can provice an M42 version that DOES go with a Sony. Is that a dealbreaker for a 250€ fisheye lens? Absolutely not. More of a challenge, and therefor more possibilities.

If you’ve been looking for a cheap ( = price) yet good ( = quality) fisheye lens, the Peleng 8mm seems to be just that.

For your viewing pleasure: A few shots made with my lovely Peleng 8mm

More on my Flickr stream.