Beyond the lens: Steve Arnett

1. Tell us a little about your self?

Howdy! I’m a photog and a nerd, and the two go together really well. For my day job I consider myself a pixel pusher. I’m a photo editor, album designer, and portrait taker. The rest of my life? I have a camera in hand and I wrangle photons into submission. I shoot weddings on weekends, and I photograph entropy/landscape/travel adventures for my personal enjoyment.

2. What got you first into photography?

In junior high, I printed and framed 3 images of rustic barns I had taken for a school art and science fair and won a prize. I’ve been shooting photos and interested in entropy ever since!

3. What got you into Android?

I came from a line of Windows Mobile devices. The most recent was a Samsung Omnia running Windows Mobile 6.5 that was hacked together to run on that hardware. It was a terrible experience. No marketplace, no support at all. And it was super slow. I’ve been a long time customer with Verizon and I wasn’t interested in getting an iPhone. The Android phones caught my attention because I’ve run Linux for a while now and I love the control and freedom.

4. What was your first Android device?

My first android device was a Motorola Droid X. It was overclocked, rom’d and rooted. I just upgraded to a Droid Bionic.

5. With Google+ have you noticed your “fans/followers” have grown where people are now able to find you more?

I’m super easy to find via Google searches in general, so it’s a little hard to tell if Google+ made it easier or not. My presence on Twitter, Flickr and my blog seem to be the most influential at this point in time. We will see if G+ changes that.

6. I noticed you don’t have many public post on Google+ or pictures compared to your use on Twitter, have you seen more impact on Twitter and thats why to your work?

I personally haven’t found the advantage of selective circles yet. If something needs to be shared with a smaller group of friends, then it probably doesn’t belong on a social networking site anyway. I use twitter to update my facebook status. At this point, if I feel comfortable with it being on twitter/facebook then that is all I’m going to entrust to the internet. If G+ could be updated easily from twitter, then I’d be posting updates there too.

7. Top 5 applications you have to have on your phone after you wipe and install a new Rom?

Titanium Backup, Tasker, FolderSync, TweetDeck, Clockwork Recovery – You may notice that a lot of my choices have to do with backing up. I’m serious about losing data, so I take precautions. Titanium Backup syncs with DropBox. FolderSync uploads to DropBox and to my NAS at home. Monthly I try to remember to Nandroid via Clockwork so I have a working “save point” to return to if I goof something up.

8. You said your phone is Rooted, what originally made you do this?

I originally rooted because I wanted to remove the bloatware that came on my DX. It opened up the door for me to install custom roms, and run extremely important apps like Titanium Backup.

9. Favorite/Most hated part about Android

Favorite: Tasker. I freakin LOVE tasker. I have so many features of my phone automated. For some short descriptions, go here: http://www.stevearnett.com/2011/05/android-tasker-automation/

Hated: No USB host support, yet. This OS/phone can do anything, except see an external media source for backup/playback.

10. Being a photographer and knowing how things look, how would you change the look of Android?

I’m not sure how to answer that. There are so many themes out there that folks can pick anything in terms of visual look. The only thing I’d love to see is a better way to integrate card reader/external media support so I can upload from the field. With 4G, the possibilities are incredible. Right now I use an Eye-Fi card and copy photos to my phone with that. It’s slow and unreliable, but it gets the job done for now.

11. Do you see in the future with the ability for camera phones growing a time where you just care around your phone and not your camera any more?

Do I see a camera phone replacing my trusty point and shoot when I can’t carry my dSLR? Yes. Do I see it replacing my dSLR, bag of lenses, and flashes/triggers? No way.

12. Any last words you’d like to tell those who want to start getting into photography?

Read the book Understanding Exposure, follow the Strobist blog, and KEEP SHOOTING!!!!! Gear isn’t as important as you think. Get to know your settings inside and out. Think about how your exposure changes your shot. And again, KEEP SHOOTING!!! :)