Pummelvision is a cool program that creates a video based on photos you’ve got online. You can choose photos from Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, and others. It automatically creates a video and uploads it to either your Youtube or Vimeo account for private or public viewing.

You can choose the most recent 2,000 photos or specific sets on Flickr but unfortunately not multiple sets. With Facebook you can select your uploads, photos you’re tagged in, or specific albums but not multiple albums.

The result is wild journey through your online photo life. You can set them to appear in chronological order to really put your year in perspective. There is a choice between 2 songs, one by http://friendlyghostmusic.com/ and the other, Mos Def.

First, I chose the most recent 2,000 photo option for Flickr, which did show a bit of 2010 at the beginning of the video. Then I choose my uploads on Facebook, which will definitely show previous years. If you do one of these videos, you can no longer give your friends a hard time for not looking at all of your photos because it will take them less than 5 minutes to look at 2,000! Below you can check out my Pummelvision for 2011 or check out last year’s.

No related posts.

The sunsets and rainbows were among the best I’ve ever seen. In fact, we must have seen about 40 rainbows or so during the trip—even a double rainbow. Below is the sunset on Waikiki beach at the Halekulani hotel, at a bar call House Without a Key where they sing Hawaiian songs from the 40′s and 50′s. It was mentioned in the NY Times 36 Hours in Honolulu.

Related posts:

1. Dubai – The Old, The New, and The Trip – in Photos
2. St. Martin Trip and Photos
3. Our Hawaiian Adventure [video]

We went to three islands – Oahu for 3 days, the Big Island for 5 days, and Kauai for 4. We enjoyed the fantastic rain-a-bit, shin-a-lot Hawaiian climate, never really having to use the air conditioning much. Driving was a huge component of our trip on all the islands. I’ll recap individual bits of our trip on other posts but first, a quick 4-minute video showing you the highlights of our trip, soundtrack provided by Friendly Fires (one of my favorite bands) doing their fitting single “Hawaiian Air”

Related posts:

1. Excellent New Video by The XX for Islands [Video]

They recently released a new slide show feature, which is super easy to use. You simply add a common tag and a number to each fotobabble, search for the common tag, and the slide show code will appear for you to embed in your side, tweet out, post on Facebook, or just watch right on Fotobabble. I definitely encourage you to try it.

Well I was very surprised and happy that they used my slide show to promote their new feature in an e-mail newsletter they sent out to users/fans of the application!

I originally did the slide show for my post on San Francisco, but you can also see it below.

Related posts:

1. My Couple of Days in San Francisco [Photos]

Here we were all out to dinner at Bangkok Joe’s in Georgetown:

And here we all are with a fake river background behind us!

Here’s Dinner on Sunday Night Before Leaving:

Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, provided me another opportunity to test out my Hipstamatic. I love this shot:

Flower at Brookside Gardens

When I needed a little ZEN, I just walked outside and watched this (in person of course):

Thanks to Jamshed’s great driving, we made it back to Trenton safely and in great time. We did have to wait a bit for the next train (since they’re an hour a part at this time of night) but it wasn’t bad. There was this to look at on the train:

NJ Transit Memorial DaY eVE

Adi lights up like a rainbow when he’s tired:

We were grateful to see the main NYC post office and that cab line after our 1:35 a.m. arrival at Penn Station:

Here’s the flickr slideshow (Non Hipstamatic):

And here’s the Hipstamatic flickr slideshow Mostly Brookside Gardens:

Related posts:

1. Muir Woods and Silicon Valley Sites through the Hipstamatic Lens [Photos]
2. July 4th Weekend in DC and Virginia Beach
3. Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Someday I want to take photography more seriously and actually get a DSLR camera. But even after I do this (sometime this year, I hope), I think I’ll still enjoy the fun and sometimes beautiful shots that my Hipstamatic iPhone app takes. There are a ton of apps that allow you to add effects on photos but the Hipstamatic is the only one that adds the effects via a series of lenses, films, and flashes that can be adjusted on the camera app itself.

Who Knew Redwoods Could be So Hip?

Some people are addicted to games like Angry Birds and Farmville. Hipstamatic has been my digital addiction and I don’t see it ceasing anytime soon!

I captured several shots in Muir Woods and Silicon Valley with my Hipstamatic. Here are some of the highlights. This next one is one of my favorites. See it large.

A Touch of Green in a Sea of Purple in Muir Woods

Look at this fantastic clover I found in Muir Woods. See large size.

I love the white one in the middle.

The next day while touring Silicon Valley area with Rashmi, I took some great shots. I especially love the ones I took at Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Hanna House. See large size. You can see more of these in the slideshow at the bottom of the post.

Hip Hanna House

Here are some Hip Wildflowers (large):

I Love Wild Flowers.

Look at this Vintage Dodge in Burlingame (large):

And here’s the entire flickr slideshow of my fun with Hipstamatic while in San Francisco:

Related posts:

1. Muir Woods and Napa in a Day…[Photos]
2. Looking Out the Window with Hipstamatic…
3. My Couple of Days in San Francisco [Photos]

Whatever my weather complaints are (and we all know that there will always be some), we had breathtakingly beautiful weather, views, and scenery while in California. And the day we visited Burlingame and Palo Alto was the most spectacular. We have to thank our Rashmi Aunty for providing so great a tour of the area. We couldn’t have done it without her.

Me and Rashmi Aunty

After Adi and I toured a bit of Pacific Heights and worked our way (in a cab) around the participants in the annual Bay to Breakers race, we milled around the Embarcadero area a bit before Rashmi picked us up. The recently revitalized Ferry Terminal and Bay Bridge looked fantastic in the sunshine. I especially love the way it reflects in the puddle of water.

Ferry Terminal Reflection in Puddle

We drove down to Rashmi Aunty’s apartment in Burlingame, had some lovely afternoon fresh fruit, and then headed out for a tour that involved a lot of vistas. We eventually worked our way down to see the Stanford Campus, which is really gorgeous. This is a shot of the William Gates Building of Computer Science. Lots of big names on this campus.

William Gates Building Stanford

We drove through the vast area of campus housing that included homes, mostly occupied by professors. The land is always owned by the university but the properties can be bought and sold to incoming and outgoing faculty and employees. Cheaper than buying a home with the land but expensive nonetheless.

Amongst these great homes is Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Hanna House. I love this, whatever it is—bird water feeder?

We also spent a bit of time driving on Skyline Drive, taking in some amazing views, including the Standford Tower, in the distance.

View of Stanford Tower from Skyline Drive

And of course we saw some many examples of one of my favorite signs, the California Scenic Drive sign. Despite all of its economic woes and screwed up proposition-crazed government, California still rules when it comes to its scenic routes.

The worst thing about having this great day touring around The Bay Area with Rashmi was knowing that we had a Delta red-eye flight ahead of us. I would like to say that all this stunning scenery was worth it, and I will say that. But I’ll also say that I’ll NEVER take another red-eye in the future!

Bay Area Day 4 Slideshow:

Related posts:

1. My Couple of Days in San Francisco [Photos]
2. Muir Woods and Napa in a Day…[Photos]

Adi and John in Muir Woods

I’ve been to Muir Woods 3 or 4 times in my life but this is the first time with Adi. It’s definitely one of those places that no matter how many times you visit, you never get tired of it.

It was a bit crowded the Saturday we went but we managed to enjoy its beauty as if we were the only ones there. When you see these GIANT Redwood trees, everything in your life seems to get put into perspective.

Adi in Muir Woods

Here’s a bit of video:

After spending the morning in Muir Woods, we headed off to the wine country. We couldn’t decided whether to go to Sonoma or Napa and we only wanted to go to one since we only had a half day. Given that most of the vineyards in Napa now charge for tastings (because they can), we didn’t drink that much wine. That was probably a good thing since I was going to be driving back to San Francisco.

And I didn’t want to be falling asleep at the wheel. So we took in a few sips at Sutter Home and then just drove around the valley. It was a cold and somewhat damp day, but I could see that this place would be an amazing place to spend a few days. At a spa or a secluded house, doing tastings in the early afternoon, followed by a nap. Something to plan for in the future.

John and Adi in Napa

After a few hours in Napa and lunch at a mom and pop Greek restaurant (which was Yelp recommended and great), we headed back to San Francisco by way of the East Bay. We stopped in Berkeley and drove around the campus a bit, reaching there at the same time as the ending of the graduation ceremony.

Here’s a slideshow from our day in Napa and Muir Woods:

Related posts:

1. My Couple of Days in San Francisco [Photos]

I’ve put together photos in a few posts. This post reflects my wanderings in the city, mostly when Adi was busy with his conference. I concentrated on non-tourist areas and mostly flatter areas of the city.

Here are a few of my favorite photo memories of the city:

View of San Francisco from Hill between Noe Valley and Castro

After spending some time in Noe Valley, I headed down the hill to The Castro, the gayest neighborhood I’ve ever been to. Many New York neighborhoods probably have many more gay people in them but I haven’t seen many neighborhoods that celebrate GAY as much and as well as The Castro.

What a fantastic view of the rainbow flag and The Castro sign from Castro Street.

On the second day, I went to the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. It’s filled with very high end shoe stores, clothing stores, furniture stores, and boutiques. They’re all specialty and unique designer shops. I didn’t recall seeing any chain stores in this area that really didn’t exist in its current state the last time I was in San Francisco. The earthquake in ’89 collapsed the end of a freeway that ran up into the heart of this areas.

It was never rebuilt and crack houses that once existed were slowly replaced with shops and restaurants. All of the goods were a bit expensive for my taste, but good quality. This bakery looked so great on this really sunny but cool day. And it seemed to be doing a great business.

French Bakery in Hayes Valley, San Francisco

Patricia Hayes Green is the park that replaced the end of the freeway. “Ecstasy”, the metal sculpture pictured below, will be on exhibition in this park through October of 2011. You can read more about it at www.hayesvalleyartcoalition.org.

It’s amazing in that it looks so different depending on which direction you view it from. It’s part of a larger exhibit called Crude Awakening.

After Hayes Valley, I went to The Mission on my second day in San Francisco. There, I went to a great Peruvian restaurant for lunch, and walked through a ton of vintage shops for clothing and furniture. I also had one of the best cafe lattes I’ve ever had in my life. I put together a couple of different types of slideshows, recapping my time in the city during these days.

The first is done using a new feature of a site/app I love called Fotobabble, which allows you to couple your voice with photos before sharing them with people. They now allow you to capture a string of these photos together in a slideshow.

You don’t see the photos very large, which is not a great aspect of the new feature, but it’s fun nonetheless.

And here are my flickr galleries from these first couple of days in San Francisco. Feel free to watch them in full view.

San Francisco, Day 1:

And here’s the second day of my wandering through Hayes Valley and The Mission.

San Francisco, Day 2:

One of my favorite photos was the one I took right before entering The Mission District’s Bart Station. Such a colorful place. It was here I thought how much I would love it if we could import California’s blue sky to New York, knowing full well that there are many days when this same scene would be shrouded in fog.

Related posts:

1. San Francisco Restaurants Charge Customers for Employees’ Health Care

What’s different about Hipstamatic is that rather than placing treatments on photos already taken with the iPhone, it throws users back to the world of 1980s retro photography mimicking the flashes, filters, and lenses of the “Hipstmatic 100″, a camera born in 1982 with the idea that a camera should be less expensive than the film its photos are printed on. It’s rumored that the Hipstamatic 100 never really existed and that it’s part of iphone app creator Synthetic’s viral advertising campaign for the Hipstamatic app. Via Wikipedia:

According to Synthetic, the company distributing Hipstamatic, that camera was developed in the early 1980s by Bruce and Winston Dorbowski, but was a commercial failure, selling less than 200 units. Reporting on the application for pocket-lint.com, Libby Plummer remarked that this account may well be viral advertising, because she was unable to find any internet sources confirming the existence of this camera apart from material written by Synthetic.[1]

At any rate, the application has enjoyed substantially more success than its purported plastic predecessor, selling 1.4 million times as of November 2010.[1] It received additional publicity when New York Times photographer Damon Winter used it in 2010 to illustrate a front page story about the Afghanistan War.[2]

Synthetic has a blog that talks about the history of the Hipstamatic 100:

Bring people a camera that cost less than the film. Bruce had a Russian plastic camera that our father gave him as a Christmas gift in 1972. The camera had since broke and was no longer being made or sold, at least anywhere he could find it. So Bruce and Winston came up with a plan…

Regardless of whether the camera existed in 1982 or not, the app produces photos that have stunning effects. I can’t seem to stop taking photos with it and it’s officially the first non-information iPhone app that I’m addicted to! It seems that Synthetic is doing something right as they have a thriving community of people uploading photos for a variety of contests, including the current one called Salvador’s Decadence. To participate in the contest, you’ve got to upload a photo taken with the Salvador Dali Museum lens for the Hipstamatic App. My entry for this contest is Fontaine Sorrento and I’m officially plugging it here. Vote for it so I could win whatever they’re giving away!

I have to say that this company has got the viral marketing down! Plus, they introduce new Hipstapak’s (combination of a new lens, flash, and film that don’t necessarily have to be used together) all the time that are available for a limited-time only. If you’re addicted like I am, you buy all of them! The app is only $2 and the Hipstapak’s are $.99 each so I think I’ve only spent about 8 dollars so far. You get a certain number of  lenses, films, and flashes as part of the app.

And of course, you can share your photos on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Tumblr really easily. They allow you to upload them in stacks of up to nine photos and auto-tag them with the lens, flash, and film type. Want to print your photos? Not a problem. You can do that but for a definite price. Since they’re square (retro), they’ve got you stuck on their photo-printing service.

Enough babbling about the App, which you can download here. Let’s take a look at the photos I took from the window seat of a JetBlue A320 headed to PBI from LGA. I just kept randomizing it and taking photo after photo of the plane’s wing with some amazing fluffy clouds below and around it.

Here are my very favorite 6 of the 40-some Hipstamatic photos I took:

Here’s the Flickr Slideshow Titled Looking Out the Window:

See the Flickr Set:

No related posts.