Author Archives: Andrew
			
	
  			
							
			
                            
            
				
								My new phone (I upgraded to a Galaxy Note 2 as I was running up against memory limitations on the Note 1) has a potentially useful but also quite scary feature. There’s a service running on it called “Google Now”. This has no direct user interface, but just pops occasional reminders into the notification bar. 
This afternoon I had an appointment, which I had recorded in Outlook simply as “Sally” with the location “Strada Cobham”. At about 2.40 a reminder popped up which said not just “you have an appointment at 3”, but “leave by 2.54 to be on time” , quite an accurate estimate of the required driving and parking time! 
I’m impressed, but also slightly concerned. What other information is Google mining from tiny bits of data of mine?
				
							 
		
	
	
			
		 
		
	  
  
  
  	
		
        				When I bought the Panasonic GX7 on the day of release I realised there might be a short delay before it was fully supported by third party software. A few weeks on and there was support from Adobe and some  Continue reading →
				Tuesday, December 24, 2013 in 
Photography, 
Thoughts on the World 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				Here’s the list of the main kit I took to Morocco: Canon 7D body Canon 550D body Canon lenses: 15-85mm,  17-85mm, 70-300mm, 10-22mm (The 550D and 17-85 were basically “spares”, although both got a small amount of use.) Panasonic GX7  Continue reading →
				
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				While my memory works tolerably well, and as I suspect I’m about to enter one of my periodic phases of camera replacement, I thought it would be interesting to write up a list of the cameras I have owned and  Continue reading →
				Tuesday, December 3, 2013 in 
Micro Four Thirds, 
Photography 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				As a tail piece to my Morocco blog, and as a service to anyone else considering a photo trip there, here are a few notes on what worked, what didn’t, and how you might increase your own chance of a  Continue reading →
				
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				I’ve tried processing my star trail shots from Morocco, and the results are better than I expected. The above is from my first night in the Erg Chebbi. With a full moon the foreground is perhaps a bit overexposed, but  Continue reading →
				Wednesday, November 27, 2013 in 
Morocco Travel Blog, 
Photography, 
Travel 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				The final day of the trip was mainly a long, hot drive over the two mountain ranges between N’Kob and Marrakech. Unfortunately I was on the left side of the minibus, and the sun carefully matched the gentle rotation of  Continue reading →
				Thursday, November 21, 2013 in 
Morocco Travel Blog, 
Travel 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				After a very cold start (see previous post) we had an early start and trekked the short distance across the remainder of the Erg Chebbi. At the edge we said goodbye to the camels and transferred to a couple of  Continue reading →
				
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				It may be the middle (OK, edge) of the Sahara, but it’s bloody freezing. I’m currently lying in all my clothes, in my sleeping bag, under a heavy Berber blanket, with my cheche on my head, but it’s so cold  Continue reading →
				Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in 
Morocco Travel Blog, 
Travel 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				The “entertainment” last night is best glossed over – lots of drumming but no real way to distinguish any part from any other – a 10s repeating loop would be much the same. We woke up to quite a strong  Continue reading →
				
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				We had a dawn start to photograph the town of Tineghir from a panoramic overlook. It’s suddenly very cold – not much above freezing first thing. The angle of the light was again a challenge, but I got some good  Continue reading →
				Saturday, November 16, 2013 in 
Morocco Travel Blog, 
Travel 
	 
  
  
  	
		
        				We started the day with a short drive to Ouarzazate (pronounced “was is at”) which turned out to have very uncooperative banks: none would cash a travellers cheque, and one even refused to change sterling and dollars into dirhams despite  Continue reading →
				Friday, November 15, 2013 in 
Uncategorized