Troubleshooting: Videolicious & iPhone Workarounds

Occasionally, uploading a Videolicious file can get bottlenecked using an iPhone at a large venues.  Recently, while at a bowl game in Orlando, Florida, my video did not upload until I left the stadium… after the game. Sometimes its slow at Sun Life Stadium. Connecting to the local WiFi is not always a solution due to firewalls that control incoming and outgoing network traffic. 

Here are a few workarounds when a video file in Videolicious will not upload.

• When you finalize and export your video using Videolicious a copy is saved in your camera roll. Find the file and email it. That’s what I ended up doing in Orlando and it worked.
• Sometimes WiFi interferes with your transmissions or Internet searches. Your activity gets bogged down. Try turning off your WiFi connection and rely on the phone service you have. It’s amazing how everything starts popping.
• For those of you transmitting images on your laptop, remember, just because you are connected to WiFi and surfing at super speeds, you may not be able to upload large images. When this happens, especially on the University of Miami or FIU campus, turn off the WiFi and use Personal Hotspot on your iPhone. The feature must be activated with your phone carrier and there is an extra fee.
• Finally, once you get good at using Videolicious and want more options, try using an App called Splice to edit then acquire the worked up clips in Videolicious. Works great for me.
  

Phone Photo Apps!

The Brownie & Instagram 

By Rick McCawley 
rickmccawley@gmail.com
Not since the introduction of the Kodak Brownie has the popularity of photography exploded this dramatically, this time it's times a billion. 

I'm of course talking about smart phones, but more specifically Instagram, Facebook and the iPhone. 40 Million users on Instagram, 900 million on Facebook, and the iPhone dominates Flickr as the most used device beating all other cameras combined in shear numbers of photos produced with it.

Photography as a social activity, is fueled by the simplicity, "You push the button, We do the rest" - Kodak, and by it's ability to communicate complex ideas not bound by language, "A picture is worth a thousand words…in every language". 

So why is Instagram worth $1 Billion dollars Facebook paid for it. Because it covers up the flaws of the amateur with the beauty of nostalgia, emotion and mood, enhanced by it's filters. Whether is '70's Instamatic, lens flare, Black & White, Instagram adds a layer that allows an amateur to express how they feel thru an image. 

Suddenly the overexposed photo of a building has a haunting look of a bygone era, and the blurry photo of a friend the emotion of freedom and happiness. 

So as a professional what should I make of all this? Well the first Brownie brought an appreciation of the Photograph to the masses and what followed was the Golden Age of Photography. Amateurs making tons of photos to share will quickly respect the professionals ability to make great photographs everyday.