London Mood Board

I plan on visiting London this year. Before I embark on my trip, I thought I'd look for inspiration before going. One planning tool I have been anxious to try is creating inspiration Mood Boards of places I plan to travel to. I picked up the idea to create mood boards from Pat Kay and Benjamin Lee. It's almost similar to creating a shot list but mostly it's to get gain inspiration. Below is my London mood board for this year.

London Mood Board: Photo Inspriation

Alex Cornell

Alex Cornell is another photographer who I have been looking at for inspiration. His Instagram includes great photography from stunning locations.

Alixe Lay

Alixe Lay has taken some amazing images of London. I first became aware of her instagram through the Matador Networks page. However, it was her photos of Bath, Somerset that caught my attention.

Onder Turkmen

Onder Turkmen has many great gems of London and Europe in general on his Instagram page. In addition to photographing a great city, his creative use of reflections in his photos is inspiring.

Summary

In conclusion, creating this London mood board before traveling to a destination is exciting. In the past, I always played things by ear before taking a trip. Usually, this was because I didn't want to over think a trip. However, I have found that having a plan is extremely helpful and encouraging creatively.

Mobile App UI Design

Briefbox is a website that creates challenges and briefs for designers to attempt and build their skills. One of their challenges, "Quick Fire: Plant care app", was a brief that I decided to take on. Below is my take on a Mobile App UI Design for a Plant Care App called Cac.tus.

Workflow

For my workflow in this project, I used several tools. In general, I'm flexible on what tools I choose to use. I'm always in favor of whichever tool will get the work the best is the right tool for the job. Here is a quick summary of my workflow:

• Balsamq: Create Sitemap and Wireframes
• Sketch: Build Screens
• InvisionApp: Prototype build and Navigation

Sitemap and Wireframes

I started the Plant Care UI design by creating a Sitemap and Wireframes. I began by using the software Balasamq, which is a sketch style design app. The Sitemap was made to have a point of reference and create a loose guide of how the navigation would behave.After the Sitemap was created, I moved on to the Wireframes. These were helpful in developing the look and rhythm of how each page would look.

Sketch: Building Screens

From the wireframes above I decided to pursue the last set from the bottom row. I thought this set had rhythm and the better design compared to the rest. For colors, I stuck with green as it generally symbolizes plants. I choose Cactus as a plant of choice.[gallery columns="4" ids="1901,1902,1903,1904"]

Invision: Building the Prototype

Invision is great for building design prototypes. It integrates with both Sketch and Photoshop to easily allow transitioning your designs into prototypes. Invision is cloud base and if you're working with a team allows you to gather feedback from your designs. Using Invision, I was able to create hotspots in the screens I created in Sketch and link each page to each other. I have added the completed Mobile App UI Design below.

Summary:Mobile App UI Design

In conclusion, I had fun working on the Mobile App UI Design project. I'm looking to do more Mobile App UI design work and I think tools like Balsamq, Sketch, and Invision will help in the process. I think I would like to expand on this project in the future. Perhaps incorporating additional plants. I like the idea of starting off with a simple project and then leaving room to push it further in the future.

Review of the Nikon D850

[sc name="affiliate disclosure"]After trying out several Canon and Sony cameras, I wanted to photograph with more Nikon cameras. Late in 2017, Nikon released the successor of the Nikon D810, the Nikon D850. Since it's release in 2017, the Nikon D850 has been getting rave reviews in the photography community. Below is my Review of the Nikon D850. In this review of the Nikon D850, I will be looking at the price, strengths, and disadvantages, of this camera.

Who This Product is For?

The Nikon D850 is a professional level camera most likely suited for individuals who want to upgrade from their mid-level cameras. It may be a little too advanced for the beginner photographer that's looking to get started in the field. The D850's features make the camera ideal for photojournalists to portrait, event, and wedding photographers.

Price

At the time of this writing the Nikon D850 currently retails for $3,296.95. Other full frame cameras that the D850 competes with are the Canon 5D Mark IV and the Sony a7R III.

Sample Photos

[gallery ids="1780,1782,1783,1784,1787,1790"]

What You Get

Below are some of the list of features in the Nikon D850:

• 2 Storage Slots
• 4K - 3840 x 2160 video resolution
• 46MP Full Frame Sensor
• 153 Focus Points
• 7.0 fps continuous shooting
• 8k/4K Timelapse
• Battery Life: 1840 shots
• Built-in Wireless
• Face Detection Focusing
• Illuminated Buttons
• NFC Connectivity
• SnapBridge App
• Tilting Screen
• Weather Sealed Body

StrenthsI did not cover this in my review of the Nikon D500, but one thing I love is the AF/M switch on newer Nikon bodies. The AF/M is used to switch between the Autofocus and Manual Focus mode. Normally this switch is found on the camera lenses. I have found that I sometimes forget to switch the lens back to the AF side after switching from Manual. Having it on the AF/M switch on the body ensures you just have one place to keep track of for this setting.Another strength of this camera is the long battery life. A single charge lasted nearly four days on the Nikon D850's battery. This was mostly using the Nikon D850 for photography purposes.

"I could see photojournalists and sports photographers often using the silent shutter feature for their assignments"

Silent PhotographySimilar to many mirrorless cameras, the Nikon D850 has a silent shutter feature. I took advantage of the silent shutter feature when I took photos in downtown Monterey. This feature is terrific and truly allows you to be a fly on the wall when taking photos in public. With this feature, I could see photojournalist and sports photographers often using the silent shutter feature for their assignments.

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages that I noticed when trying out the Nikon D850 were:

• Heavy Camera Body: 1015g
• No "PASM" Dial

I noticed that the Nikon D850 doesn't feel that heavy when taking photos. However, you do feel the weight of the camera when carrying it in your bag. Depending on the lens you choose to pair this camera with, long days carrying the camera will be strenuous.Similar to the Nikon D500, the Nikon D850 has replaced the traditional "PASM" Dial with a "Mode" dial.The problem with this "Mode" dial is that now you need to use two hands to switch between Priority, Aperture, Shutter, and Manual modes.There is no in body image stabilization in the Nikon D850, but that is pretty common for most Nikon and Canon bodies. This is something that Sony has an advantage over both Nikon and Canon.

Grade: A+

I enjoyed my time using the Nikon D850. I was extremely pleased with the photos that the D850 produced. The only issue that I had was autofocus seemed to miss some shots. This may be the case of just using a new camera. I think with all the features the Nikon D850 has it will be the top camera among Photojournalist and Sports photographers.

Summary: Review of the Nikon D850

In conclusion, I think the Nikon D850 is technologically the best modern DSLR on the market today. I think the Nikon D850 is the perfect example of where Camera manufacturers should take their DSLRs in the future. Combining both features from Mirrorless and DSLRs are the future for way camera tech should go. I highly recommend this camera. Among semi-pro full frame DSLR cameras, the Nikon D850 reigns supreme.[tg_divider style="normal"]

What I Spend the Most Time on as a Freelancer?

When I decided to become a freelancer, I thought my most of my time would be spent working on projects. I think there is a misconception that once you create a website, traffic will automatically flood to you. In college, I remember we were told as students to just focus on our portfolio. Looking back, I think as design students more attention should have been given to business aspects such as marketing. Outside of project work, what I spend the most time on as a freelancer are:

• Marketing
• Research
• Outreach and Processes

Marketing

To my surprise, I found the bulk of my time was spent developing marketing strategies. As a mentioned above, a common misconception in freelancing is you think traffic will automatically come to you. You must constantly make sure your website is updated in order to promote it. Because of this, I use blog posts as a way of updating my website. One of my goals for 2018 is to write two blog post once a week.Aside from blogging, I have to make sure my website has great SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Having great SEO helps your website become ranked higher in search engines, making your services easier for potential clients to find. I wrote a blog post on how to use YoastSEO to write better blog posts.I also found that for marketing and promotion I needed to embrace Social Media. This meant making sure my website was featured on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I also need to make sure I embrace other Social Media outlets such as LinkedIn and Medium.Lastly, I have discovered how important Google Analytics is to developing marketing strategies. For instance, Google Analytics measures where your traffic is coming to your website. If the bulk of your traffic comes from Facebook and Instagram but not Twitter, than I need to devote time in the next few weeks to establishing more of a presence on Twitter.

"To my surprise, I found the bulk of my time was spent developing marketing strategies"

Research

Another focus of my time is spent doing research. This can range from researching a hosting platform or testing new technology. I want to make sure that the experience is great when people visit my website. So if my website is slow, or heaven forbid crashes, visitors are not getting the right experience that I want them to have. I found the r/web_design community on Reddit to be a great tool when researching hosting platforms.As a designer/photographer Adobe programs are your typical tools. However in the case of Project Management, I needed to research tools to keep myself organized. I recently began using Trello, a project management tool. Trello has been amazing as it has helped organzine projects and blogging ideas to use in the future.

Outreach and Processes

Lastly I spend most of my time on outreach and having processes in place for my services. In the case of outreach I want to make sure that I don't just focus on client outreach, but also reaching out to fellow freelancers as well. I think it is helpful to have a network of colleagues to run ideas by or to even refer clients to incase my schedule is full.I found that having processes in place help in making projects go smoothly. For instance, if I am designing a website, having a process outlined for the client to send me files makes it easier for the client and myself. Or creating forms that identify questions that highlight what a client is looking for in terms of their project.

Summary

In conclusion, although focusing on these other aspects can appear overwhelming, I find part of the process fun to learn. Going forward, I think the best way to approach this side of the business is to schedule. For instance, I found scheduling one week to focus on writing a months worth a blog posts. That way, it free's my time for other projects to tackle.