My Great North Run adventure

Okay, so this has nothing to do with design or UX, but a bunch of us at Riff Raff took part in the Great North Run yesterday, raising money for Finchale Training College, a nice group of people who help adults with disabilities to get back into employment. We've all been training for around 4 months now, and it has been quite an adventure.

The future of retail is mobile

It seems that the humble mobile app is gaining traction in the offline world, as American home improvement chain Lowe's have announced plans to replace their checkout scanners with some 42,000 iPhones, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.

Google TV comes to Android SDK

Exciting times are ahead for those of us with an interest in the emergence of truly ubiquitous IPTV services, as Google announced to the Android development community this week that, with the upcoming OS update to Honeycomb, Google TV devices will finally be Android compatible.

Three clicks or bust

There are lots of popular design myths passed off as 'best practice' these days by armchair designers, particularly within the web design industry. Somehow these guidelines manage to work their way into the public consciousness, often taking root in briefing and specification documents where they eventually become criteria used to measure the quality of a delivered product.

Whitburn III: Waves of Destiny

I took my first sunrise trip out since the winter this morning, mainly due to being extremely busy and too tired to get out of bed to catch the 4am sunrise. Now that we're in late summer, the sunrise is at 5:20am, which is far more reasonable, so I got up at 4:30am and headed over to Whitburn.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 275 secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

I've been running down at Shouth Shields Whitburn regularly over the last couple of months, as part of my training regime in preparation for the Great North Run (please sponsor me) and had spotted this out-crop from the road.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 228secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee Big Stopper

 

There are nice little arches, tunnels and caves, if you can catch the tide at the right time, and it's relatively easy to get to. When I got down there, ther water was quite calm, which doesn't make for a particularly good long exposure shot.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 64 secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

As ever, extremely long exposure pulled out a lovely green-blue from the sea that couldn't be seen with the naked eye, which more than made up for the lack of drama. Be careful if you venture down this way, as the rock formations make it really easy to become marooned as the tide comes in around and behind you!

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 191secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

In my hurry to get out of the house, I totally forgot to take my waders, so I go a bit wet scrambling back to dry land!

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 40secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 189secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

Click on any of the photos to see them full-size against black, and please do leave a comment below if you like the photos.

Bringing online & offline together

Last week I wrote an article for the Tech Notes column in The Journal giving one tiny example of how marketers can unite their online and offline activities to create a single seamless user experience. This is a fascinating topic for me, and something that keeps me up at night scribbling in my Moleskine, so it was great to share a couple of ideas...

Newbiggin by the Sea II: The Resoakening

I took a trip out to Newbiggin by the Sea this morning to test-drive my new waders (a birthday gift from my other half). I took full advantage of them, wading up to my knees to a good vantage point at the far south end of the village where I managed to get a few decent shots.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 261secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

It was also the first time out with my new camera bag: the Kata W-94. I was getting a little tired of my equipment being washed out to sea because I had to leave my bag on the rocks behind me, so I decided to try this waist-pack so that I could keep everything with me at all times.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 122secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

The bag is fantastic, and waterproof too. Lots of space and plenty of protection, and the build quality is just as good as Lowepro (which have served me well throughout the years). All in all, I was very impressed, despite the heavy price-tag.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 76secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

The south end of the beach at Newbiggin is far more photogenic than the north end towards Church Point, with some interesting rock formations. Try to catch it just after high tide, with the the tide heading out for the best shots, as it gets a bit sparse once the sea level drops.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 12secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee 1.2 ND : Lee Big Stopper

 

Click on any of the photos to see them full-size against black, and please do leave a comment below if you like the photos.