journal

Uploading videos to YouTube while on the road

in

One the biggest challenges when you are on the road and have a YouTube channel to update is how to upload the videos.

Sometimes, you get lucky: the place we stayed at in Andorra last week had a pretty decent connection so uploading movies and backing stuff up to the cloud wasn't a problem at all.

We didn't get as lucky with this week's AirBnB, though: uploading a new video using this connection would take forever, and there are no cafes around that I know of.

I wish apps like AirBnB or Booking could tell you how fast the WiFi will be on your next stay.

The obvious solution for this problem is to use my phone. I've published videos using the YouTube app before, and while it works just fine, it doesn't let you upload 4k videos. Instead, it will convert them to 1080 and then proceed with the upload.

The best option I've found is to use my computer, tethering from my phone. If I have 4G coverage, of course.

This isn't perfect, though: I "only" have 25GB a month and my average video weighs in at about 3GB. This means I'd be able to upload 7-8 videos a month using my phone exclusively. I usually publish 2-3 a week, or 8-12 a month, making me effectively dependent on things I can't control.

Maintaining a YouTube channel while on the road is not an easy task, but it can be done. You just need a little bit of luck when it comes to your hotel / Airbnb's WiFi, and a phone with a lot of data as a backup.

How I made these Star Trail images

in

It's been a long summer here in NW Spain. It feels like we've had nothing but sunny and clear skies for the last two months. I'm more than ready for some fall weather but hey, if life gives you sun and blue skies, you play with star trails.

This is what I wanted to show you in this video. If you've never shot the night sky, then this can be good to get you started. I talk about the gear you will need, and the software.

Hope you enjoy it!

Zeiss ZX1: the future of photography (sort of)

in

These past weeks have been pretty exciting. There are plenty of new cameras coming out soon, and even if you have no plans to get any of them (like me), I'm sure we can still agree that new camera gear is always interesting.

Most camera companies are giving their new cameras incremental updates. Yes, Canon, Nikon and Panasonic just announced their first full-frame mirrorless cameras, but they are -at best- just small improvements over what we already have now.

Even Fujifilm and its new medium format cameras are about polishing and making stuff that was already here, a bit better.

I wanted to mention one company who has gone a slightly different way, though: Zeiss and its first full-frame camera, the ZX1.

What's different about this camera has little to do with the hardware and everything to do with the software. The ZX1 looks like someone took an Android phone and attached a full-frame sensor to it. This makes me wonder about the booting up times.

Built-in Lightroom, smartphone-like features like the gallery and sharing capabilities, built-in battery (ouch) and ZERO SD card slots (it comes with a whopping 512GB of internal storage). The experience of using this camera will be very different from using other cameras we are more used to.

Most of the software features in this camera look a little gimmicky: who's going to edit images in the camera? Keep in mind: that will use battery, that you can't change since it's built-in.

This is why the title of this post has a "sort of" at the end.

I look at the ZX1 as a hint of what the future might bring, though. Computational photography is going to play a big role in the near future as modern phones have been showing us for years, but we are yet to see it making its way into "real" cameras.

If the iPhone XS can do what it can do with that tiny sensor and lens, just imagine what a full frame camera could do in the future.

Seeing Lightroom in a camera also reminds me of the attempt made by Sony to bring apps to their cameras. Now abandoned, it was a brilliant idea that got a poor implementation. I'd love to see apps making a come back into cameras - that'd open a whole new world of innovation.

Anyway, just my two cents on the Zeiss ZX1 and the future of photography.

Still here: update from Picos de Europa National Park

in

The adventure has begun, and I'm realizing now how hard it is to keep creating daily content while on the road. I'm still here, though!

While I try to find a balance (probably sitting down one or two days a week to create enough content to schedule for several days in advance), let me give you an update from the beautiful mountains of Picos de Europa National Park, in Asturias, Spain.

I am back in my hotel room now, after spending a night in a shelter at the base of Urriellu Peak (also known as Naranjo de Bulnes), one of the most beautiful peaks in Spain. Someone referred to it as the "Spanish Dolomites" yesterday, and I think it's very appropriate.

I'm taking it easy today because I'm afraid one of the tires in the car has a leak. I got the "pressure loss" warning yesterday while driving down on a dirt road, and while the pressure hasn't gone down more than a couple PSI (could even have been me after checking the pressure a few times), it reminds me of a similar situation I experienced with the Jeep in California a couple years ago. That time ended with a flat tire in the middle of a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Not fun. Hopefully this time is different and I can still get to explore more of this stunning place.

These are some snapshots I took on my way up and down Urriellu, and during my time at 2,000m (6,500 feet).

How to get my new eBook for free: "Long Exposure Photography"

in
 
 

"Long Exposure Photography: How to make stunning images that defy time" is my upcoming new eBook. It will be released this Sunday, September 30th.

It will be a free eBook but only the current newsletter subscribers will get a copy, at least initially -it will be publicly available a few weeks later.

A good chance to join the newsletter club! Stay up to date with my work and receive free educational material like this one, for free.

And remember, you also get a free copy of "Examples of the PNW" when you sign up.

Join now and get your free copy on Sunday, September 30th!

Consistency: the gate to Greatness

in

I don't know where I got this quote from. I even had to Google the name to confirm he was The Rock.

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
— Dwayne Johnson

I believe in this.

Don't sit and wait.

Study, improve, work, put yourself out there.

Little by little, every day, get closer to where you want to be.

Don't stop.

Nothing is guaranteed in this life, but consistency is our best shot at getting what we want.

YouTube: it's a full-time job

in

I've been uploading 2 to 3 videos a week to my YouTube channel for the last couple of months.

It might not sound like much.

A family member was wondering about this recently, and they were surprised when I told them the amount of work involved in creating one of my videos.

Most of them are from the field. Going out already takes anywhere from a couple of hours -minimum- to a full day.

Then I work on the images. This means developing and scanning film -at least one hour per roll- plus post-processing for both analog and digital negatives.

Editing the video can take me several hours as well. More often than not, it's a whole day in front of the computer.

Lastly, I upload the video to YouTube -not an easy task when you are on the road-, create the thumbnails, and promote it everywhere.

It's a long process. One that takes hours and days to complete.

I love every bit of it.

Become a curator

in

Ain't nobody got time for nothing nowadays.

You can see it on the road or at the grocery store.

Time is the asset of our days. It always has been.

In the past, there was no escape to a "let me show you the photo album from our last vacation". Today, you can simply leave a like on the FB post and swipe away. People aren't paying attention, though.

Curation is more important now than ever.

We need to respect our viewer's time. They will give us a few seconds -minutes if we are lucky- of their days in exchange for good content. We need to use that time wisely.

Give too much, even when it's awesome content, and they'll swipe away. Give too little and they'll forget about you.

Small doses, all the time.

Edit your videos. Keep clips short, between 5 and 10 seconds. Use good music. Show only the parts that contribute to the story.

Edit your images. Don't show 30 pictures of the same thing from different angles. Sit on them for a while before sharing them.

Discarding clips and images will hurt. Like a wound that is healing, this is good.

Knowing what to share and (even more importantly) what NOT to share is a skill in high-demand, a skill that may take time and effort to develop.

I'd say it is THE skill a photographer must have today.

DSLRs are the new film

in

As it usually happens with big corporations, it's taking much longer than anticipated. It's happening nevertheless: there's no room for mirrors in the future of mainstream photography.

They were just a patch to solve a problem that doesn't even exist with today's technology. They are irrelevant and unnecessary.

And that makes them cool.

Just kidding. Kind of.

The reason why I shoot film is because it's the only way I can make images with a tool like the Bronica.

For the same reason, plenty of people will keep using their DSLRs because it will be the only way to get that experience. Mirrorless cameras are lighter and smaller, they bring a lot of advantages but they change the way we take photographs.

And of course, there are people who'll embrace the flaws of DSLRs, especially the early ones that came out years ago.

DSLRs are the new film. They are about to become a niche in photography, used by some only because of the unique experience (and probably look) you can achieve with them.

I'm excited about it.

Messing up (kind of) my first roll of Rollei Retro 400S

in

A few days ago, I went out to shoot my first roll of Rollei Retro 400S. I made long exposure images and tested the dynamic range of the film.

And then, I broke the thermometer while I was developing it. I had to guess all the temperatures and some might have been off.

The images turned out just fine, though. I will have to give it another try, this time using a proper thermometer and not my finger.