Angelo in Computers & Internet Ben posted a link to this incredible timelapse movie on NSOP earlier today, and I remain blown away by it. Wow.
Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.
Check out more at timescapes.org (where you can get it at 1080p).
Angelo in Computers & Internet I installed the latest Intel display driver via Windows Update on my Lenovo Thinkpad X200 notebook the other day, and twice yesterday I got this strange garbled-vertical-column pattern when I open the lid of the notebook and wake it from sleep. Altering the angle of the lid does nothing, but moving the mouse cursor makes the garbled pattern change a little bit.
I took a screen capture of the desktop and it looks normal, so it seems that this happens somewhere between the GPU and display -- hopefully it's not a hardware issue.
I now rolled back to the earlier driver via System Restore to see if that fixes anything. So far, everything seems normal again, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the system for the next little while. I'll update later on if anything comes up.
Has anyone else noticed this with the latest Intel 4-series display driver?
Angelo in Photography 
On Saturday, I drove out to the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec to meet up with Saad and Caitlyn of MeriJaan Photography. They’re a photography team, specializing primarily in weddings, with whom I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate.
Our first meeting, of course, was just a meet-and-greet-and-shoot-and-share type of affair, and we did exactly that. It also gave me a chance to put some new gear through its paces in a variety of settings and lighting conditions. This is, of course, very important, as you never want to learn how to use your gear on a client’s time. A selection of photos from the day is available here.
Angelo in Random Thoughts As I watched the embedded video above, an advertisement for Pedigree dogfood, I have to ask myself a chicken-or-the-egg kind of question: does creative vision beget technological advancement? Or does technological advancement give rise to creative vision?
The video above was shot with a Phantom high-speed camera, capable of shooting one thousand frames per second. If we take it at its core, this is really just a video of dogs catching treats in midair -- hardly something worth mentioning. But when you take something trite, and express it in a way that's never been seen before, it can become a thing of beauty. It can become a showcase for technological capabilities.
It can become art.
But which drives which?
Angelo in Photography I've been a little quiet as I've been kind of swamped with work. One fun little announcement: I upgraded my old Canon 20D (rest well, old friend) to a Canon 5D Mark II. Good Lord, so many pixels!
I took the opportunity to test out the movie functionality. Below is a short sample I shot today from outside the video processing lab's window.
Canon 5D Mark II - Test Video from Angelo Stavrow on Vimeo.
Sorry for the cheesy editing -- I have a lot to learn. This was shot in 1080p/30fps at ISO 200, 1/30th @ f/5.6 on manual mode, through a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens. No tripod, sorry about the slight wobbling. Converted down to 720p in iMovie.
I have to say, I'm positively loving this camera and lens combination. So sharp, such lovely colours, contrast, and saturation, and having a full-frame sensor means significantly thinner depth of field than the 20D's crop sensor could provide -- and far better high-ISO capabilities, too.
There are myriad reviews available around the Internet for the camera, so I won't waste your time, but I will check in a little later with an update on my thoughts on it.
