App-etizers

Since I got my iPhone a few weeks ago, I have become addicted to searching for cool apps to load on to it. For those of you who don't know what an app is, it's a third party program that you load on to the iPhone. It's just like loading a program on to your computer, such as a game or accounting software. There are over 85,000 apps available for download, many of which are free or cost just a few dollars. Unfortunately, many of the apps I've come across are either useless or cheesey. There are a few though that really make the iPhone a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Star Walk - This app is a virtual night sky that you hold up over your head at night. It takes your location and calculates where things are in space and points them out to you as you pan the night sky.

2. MotionX Drive and MotionX Sport - Both of these are GPS maps for the road or off-road respectively. Why spend hundreds on a GPS when for $2.99 you can get turn-by-turn directions right on your iPhone. The catch seems to be you need a strong 3G signal or the app lags behind your actual location, not great when it tells you to turn 2 miles ago.

3. The Weather Channel - Finally an app with a looping radar. It's primitive but it works.

4. eBay - Now I can bid on items no matter where I am and not be outbid.

5. 13WHAM - Rochester's channel 13 has an app to connect you to local news and sports.

6. Thunder N Lightning - A simple program that calculates how far away lightning is by timing the gap between the lightning and thunder. Simply tap the start button when you see the lightning and tap it again when you hear the thunder and the program does the calculations for you. You can fine tune it by entering the ambient temperature which effects the speed of sound. Great for weather geeks like me.

7. Facebook - We're all slaves to it, now we be slaves 24/7.

8. Fly Cast - This app has nothing to do with fishing. It is a like having satellite radio in the palm of your hands with streaming audio of hundreds of stations and dozens of genres.

9. Sportacular - Almost real time stats and scores from most major sports except NASCAR. Now I can see Yankees beat the Red Sox from anywhere.

10. iHandy Level - This cool program turns the iPhone into a bubble level.

I'm sure I'll find more but these are my favorites for now. If you have any cool ones post them here.

Thank You Hudson Valley

I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker for the Hudson Valley Professional Photographers group last night in Newburgh. Not only is it an honor to be asked to speak for them, but also to get to know such a great group of photographers. The meeting was at the Hilton Garden Inn near Stewart Airport. I had the pleasure of staying in one of the rooms last night. Compared to some of the other places I have stayed recently, this hotel is awesome. If you're travels take you through Newburgh and you need a place to stay, this is it. It's also right next to the new headquarters of Orange County Choppers, which I thought was a motorcycle museum when I pulled up. The place is amazing. Now it's time for the 4 hour drive back home.

Wedding Catsup

October has been a very busy month for weddings so I'm a little behind on my blogging. On October 10th, Ellen and I photographed the wedding of Meghan and Pat. I haven't had much of a chance to shoot with Ellen this year. We had so much fun, especially with Meghan's sense of humor. She tried to make clouds disappear with waving hands and a magic spell that had something to do with peanut butter sandwiches. She had us laughing all day. A marriage based on laughter is a sure bet in my book.

iBlog

This is my first official post sent from my iPhone. It's amazing how accessible the world has become. I now carry my connection to it in my pocket. I'm going to have to get used to the new formatting issues with the phone when doing blog posts.

I have a new phone number with the phone. I wanted to overlap with the old phone while I get used to this instead of just switching over the number. It's amazing how attached I have become to the old number. It's almost as much a part of my identity as my social security number. It will be a sad day when I turn it off. I feel like I should have some sort of memorial service for it or a candle light vigil. Perhaps I will retire the number on a banner and hang it from the rafters of the house. The thought of someone else having my number after I cancel verizon feels like a violation of my identity. If only verizon had agreed to work with apple in the beginning.

Larger Than Life

You know the saying, "Go Big or Go Home". Well, we didn't want to leave so we went big. I ordered studio samples of Sarah and Cade's photos from this year as the largest gallery wraps I could find. They're so big, Cade was able to stand behind Sarah's photo to hold it up for me while I took her photo with it and we couldn't see him at all. Both photos are 5 feet long and are now hanging in Sue's office which is also our projection room. Can you say Christmas Gift? Isn't it always exciting to receive a gift so big it won't fit under the tree?

Cooperstown

I recently photographed Cooper, who is the son of Natalie and Quinn, the couple I photographed in Sedona earlier this year. Poor little Cooper is destined for therapy with his mom being a Yankees fan and his dad being a Red Sox fan. We all know who wins in that show down.