Upon reflection

Today is the start of she who must obeyed’s weekend. Except it isn’t, because she has urgent stuff she has to do and heads off to her office. This leaves me at an unexpected loose end and I ponder how to spend my morning. I fancy pointing my camera at something and remember that one of the tech sites is running a competition for their “iPads around the world gallery”. The prize winner will be based upon a draw rather than on photographic merit, so I am in with a chance and decide to have a go.

This is what I came up with:

Given that the iPad screen is so reflective, I thought I would try capturing the reflection of a nearby temple; and I think it worked quite well. I suppose it is obvious if you think about it (although I have thought about it at length and it is still not obvious to me), but I was surprised to see that the camera’s focus was the actual distance to the temple, rather than just to the screen; with the result that the iPad itself was thrown out of focus, which I think adds to the effect.

Suitably encouraged, I tried again at the Buddha image on the mountain. Difficult to capture and the light was not quite right:

Off to the nearby Chinese temple where the ceiling made for an elegant reflection, but not at all obvious is was coming off an iPad:

Onto the roof with all the statues.

There are “Do not touch” signs everywhere; but nothing that said “do not place items of technology amongst the statues of the gods”. I did try to point this out to the attendant who was telling me to stop photographing, but he would not be swayed. Still, I managed to get these before I was apprehended:

Yay! Got a new high score on Plants vs. Zombies!

This two finger swiping is pretty cool.

All shots taken with the Panasonic GF1 with a 14-45 lens. Mr. iPad’s support was either:

A wooden stand, handcrafted in Italy by Gino Panacotti using aged African Zotto wood and Antartic Pine, retailing at $169. Or:

A plastic plate holder liberated from a plate by she who must be obeyed. Estimated value: 1 baht.

A fun photographic challenge, with an extra frisson of fear knowing that someone was likely to knock me over and steal my new toy. I don’t think I shall be doing it again with the iPad, but I am wondering what effects I could achieve with a Little Kitty mirror.

Comments 🔗

2010-04-22 | Billy says

Unless you got really lucky with a free wi-fi spot, I guess you had to wait until you got home to send your entries?

If it wasn’t a draw then you would surely win with the Buddhist two finger thing …

2010-04-22 | Barry says

I do declare that you have come close to genius with those ‘forbidden’ pictures taken on the roof. Very clever, inspired, imaginative and stuff like that.

2010-04-22 | Qon says

the reflective joints are hot!

2010-04-22 | Wentworth says

I refuse to encourage this outrageous(ly funny) behaviour.

2010-04-23 | genuinej says

Upon reflection, I have to agree with the four previous comments. Great stuff. Be careful though, you may be on the verge of being too good for your own good.

2010-04-23 | Lloyd says

Beautiful images however I like this better… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOZ8hz_StOY

2010-04-23 | Spike says

As someone who had to spent several sweaty days doing photography assignments to earn the cash to put aside for my iPad, I find it somewhat galling that some moron in America decided that the best thing he could do wit $500 of disposable income was to buy one and then immediately destroy it with a baseball bat.

Still, interesting that you find mindless destruction more enjoyable than an attempt at being creative. I suspect you enjoy watching baby seals being clubbed to death too.

2010-04-23 | Lloyd says

Comparing the slaughter and death of defenseless baby seals cubs to the destruction of an inornate piece of alloy, silicon and glass is a bit “out there”, I am sorry if I have offended you sensibilities.

2010-04-23 | Billy says

Whatever you may think about the iPad, you have to admit they build them tough .. much tougher than my HP NC6200 which fell apart last year from little more than a Fiat Punto running gently over it …

2010-04-23 | Spike says

And a Nokia phone which I inadvertently took windsurfing. Complete failure to function afterwards.

2010-04-23 | Billy says

Bingo!!! … the comments column is full up with comments on this post … where do I claim my non-functioning Nokia?

2010-04-24 | Spike says

I sold it to a passing street vendor, telling him it was not working because the battery needed charging.

2010-07-31 | Wayne Roberts says

http://v100w.info/

2010-08-01 | Spike says

Wayne has provided us with a link to a site advertising the extremely desirable HP flash drive, in sizes up to an incredible 8GB.

It’s worth a click, if only to view the YouTube review on the left hand side which has been prepared by a moron.