The Best shots from Kings Of Concrete 2012

Suddenly it was the time of the year again when the biggest and best urban sports event King's Of Concrete took place again, this time in a new location in Grand Canal Dock.

We were there to photograph the goings on and had a great weekend capturing the sports and checking out the tall ships that were also in Dublin for the weekend.

Here are some of the best shots from the festival and you can see the full album here

What we've been up to...

Ok, so it has been a long time since we've been on the blog here. This is just because we have been very busy. Since our last update about our new studio, we have in fact moved again, and so, this is kind of another new studio post.

We have been busy developing our 3D printed product range which you can check out here

A lot of our time recently has also been taken up with our client work where we are working on a number of varied projects. Sadly we cannot reveal these yet, but keep an eye out.

We have also since launched a revamped site which features Curve Creative and Curve Photo and is simply called www.curve.ie

I heart my iPad... First generation

All the talk recently is about the New iPad. All of the other talk is about how people need to upgrade from their iPad 2s. I'm sure the new retina display wielding iPad is gorgeous, especially for such a visual device. As a photographer I think it will probably be the best device around for displaying your portfolio and showing off lovely hi res shots, perhaps something from the new D800. The new processor also, I'm sure is excellent and there's nothing better than faster deceives and being able to handle content better and deal with more powerful apps such as the new iPhoto which by the way looks gorgeous. (It makes me think apple should buy adobe and have a play with photoshop and Lightroom. That auto photo recognition system that shows you all of the similar looking photos is ace!) As for the camera on the new iPad, well if you're one of those people who uses the iPad as a camera then I'm sure you'll appreciate this new lens and sensor, likewise for the 1080 video. I'd imagine there will be some feature films this year entirely shot and edited on an iPad. Watch out for them. As a photographer though I've never seen the appeal of taking photos on an iPad. I love my iPhone especially the 4s, the new 8mp camera is intense, but I think the iPad is a consumption device and Apple are just trying to change this with the new camera and 1080 video and new GarageBand apps etc. I've tried using the iPad for content creation however, and it's clumsy. It is just awkward to do things on when it would be much simpler on a Mac. I am typing this on an iPad and I think I'd be finished by now if I was on my laptop, but I'm watching the rugby and was using my iPad and thought about writing this post so here we are. I am only typing this though, I will add the pictures in later on my laptop as doing that here takes just two many steps for such a small task.

Anyway, I was talking with Alan the other day about the new iPad and made the point that if the first gen iPad was still Apple's current iPad I think it would still be the tablet marker leader. It got me thinking about the new iPad. It's lovely, so is the iPad2 but it's mostly the same as the original. I'm using the original, I got one maybe 10 months after it came out. I loved it. A groundbreaking device that was changing how we interact with digital content again! Then the iPad 2 came out and as far as I was concerned it was no different to the first one. They had put a camera on it. Big deal. It was slightly thinner, so what?!, my iPad isn't fat. What else was different? I can't remember. But I had no desire to upgrade. Now the new iPad is out. Ok, so it has that new gorgeous screen, but after that I don't know why anyone would upgrade. It's put on weight! (not that that matters, but I expected more from apple!) and yes it's faster, and so is the ipad2, faster that is than my first gen iPad. But my iPad isn't slow. To the contrary in fact. I still love how I can zip around using the multi touch gestures from app to app. I use my iPad on a daily basis for Flipboard mainly and other content consumption apps along with Dropbox, twitter and some web stuff. I can't imagine using it to edit videos on or take photos however. That's what cameras and computers are for. Like I said before, the original iPad is still better than the other tablets on the market and I'm happy for Apple that everyone wanted the newer iterations but I'm totally happy with mine. Besides, people should be taking more of a stand and using their "old" devices for longer. The 1st gen iPad was only released in 2010! But yet, it will soon be forgotten by Apple. The same went for iPhones. The iPhone 3g, only four years old is totally forgotten by way of iOS updates etc. The 3gs won't be far behind. Don't even mention the original iPhone. As an industrial designer I fully understand the need for companies to create new iterations of products to stimulate markets but that doesn't mean the older stuff is useless! 

Ok, I know I went slightly off topic there but let me rant. As far as iPads go, i love my generation 1 iPad. It is iconic, it started the tablet revolution, I love the flat edges and the curved back. Photos look amazing on it's screen and it performs perfectly in every day life. I will not be forgetting it any time soon, as long as Apple doesn't decide to stop supporting it with software, although sadly it has already started to happen. The new iPhoto iOS app is not available for iPad1, it's for iPad 2 and new iPad only. sad face :-(

Introducing the Headbuddy, a sports band for Apple headphones...

Apple's headphones are great. Stylish, iconic, there when you need them. But we like to run and our Apple headphones don't.So we went about creating a simple and affordable solution that meant we could use our existing Apple headphones in a more effective way while running.

The result was the Headbuddy. Just loop your apple headphones into the sports band and you're ready to go. The earbuds are held securely in such a way that retains the sound quality whilst providing a surprisingly comfortable fit, one that is arguably more comfortable than the traditional way of using earbud headphones.

Works great with the new Nano or shuffle. Just clip on and go.

The Headbuddy is made from super strong, flexible, polyamide plastic. It is 3D printed in this material and each one is printed specially when ordered. The channeled design allows the cable of the Apple headphones to wrap around the frame and the earpiece slots hold the ear buds tightly. The flexible design fits overs the ears and holds snug to your head feeding the remainder of the cable down your back or over your shoulder. 

The Headbuddy is specifically designed for iPod and iPhone headphones. Others might work, we haven't tried all of them yet!

You can buy the Headbuddy here on Shapeways

Nanolet Unboxing

Hey, we just got a box of new Nanolets today in all the pretty colours! Check out our unboxing video!

EDC - Every Day Carry

A number of months ago I stumbled across a blog that featured photographs and lists of the things that people carry with them each day. Everyday Carry is simple in principle, viewers send in photographs showing what items they carry on their person on a daily basis and the photos are posted for everyone to see and discuss.

Everyday Carry or EDC, to quote the description given on their site,

Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

EDC is seemingly becoming a trend amongst some people and it is being taken very seriously with enthusiasts upgrading their carry to be prepared for any circumstance. Looking through the entries on the site I began to develop an interest in the concept and despite the affinity towards carrying guns (it is an american site) it was very interesting from a designers point of view to see what people were carrying with them on a day-to-day basis.

I thought I'd do one of my own. An industrial design student's carry. I decided to go beyond the normal format of showing your personal carry and delve deeper into what I have in my bag as a designer. This moves onto another trend of "What's in your bag" or WIMB where people show the contents of their bag and often the bag and the owner. This allows a very interesting insight into what people all over the world use every day. WIMB is a growing trend also and is very relevant on flickr with groups dedicated to it here and here along with a very specific group for users showing what they keep in their camera bags which is especially interesting to me as a photographer and a photography equipment nerd.

I did the photo above around the time when I originally discovered the Everyday Carry blog and I blogged about it at the time albeit on my own blog (which is suffering now since I am updating the Curve blog!) I am including some of the write up from my last blog after the jump. . .

iPod is ten

The iPod. A device that has changed the world, created cultures, defined a generation, influenced a new society is now ten years old. Originally slated, no body thought the iPod would catch on. How wrong they were. I don't need to go on to say anymore about the success of the iPod. Everyone knows.

But now, ten years on people are moving on from the iPod with it's predecessor the iPhone. It's kind of sad really. The original iPod, which became the iPod classic, is exactly that, a classic. A design icon. I was just old enough to experience and remember the beginning of the iPod revolution. I can't imagine being a kid today and not having been around for the first iPod. Kids today are coming in at iPod 6th gen or more and have no idea where the iPhone came from.

Lytro - The Impossible Camera

We are intrigued by the new Lytro Camera. Lytro suggests a radical change to the way we will take pictures from now on. No longer will we need to assure our pictures are in focus before we snap the shutter. Lytro allows you to adjust the focus afterwards. The idea of never having blurry photos again is tempting but at the same time will this take away an essential element from photography. Will this change the art in a way that it truly won't matter what you capture at the time, you can just fix it later? Despite the sleek design we are dubious about this new direction for digital photography. We love photography at Curve and although this is an incredible advancement in photography tech we don't really hope that it catches on too much. This kind of technology will probably be great in your mobile phone for snapping pictures of friends or on a night out when you don't want to spend time focusing and making sure the picture worked, but for pros we're not sure if this will be desirable in cameras. The idea of having a level of control that means you can refocus your shots afterwards does seem like it would be super useful, kind of like the level of control brought about by the introduction of shooting in RAW, however...

Dublin Web Summit Oct 27-28th

Dublin Web Summit is one of the biggest tech events in Europe. Founded by Paddy Cosgrave the Dublin Web Summit has grown at a fast rate over the last year and the upcoming event is to be the biggest yet. Featuring over 100 speakers and 1500 guests with speakers from Skype, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Google and many, many more it is shaping up to be an action packed event. We have been doing some work with the DWS team leading up to this event and we are looking forward to seeing it all coming together. For more information check out www.dublinwebsummit.com

Jonas Pfeil's Ball-Camera

At Curve we love photography and we've always loved the idea of being able to create our own panoramas using something similar to the google street view cameras. This ball-cam student project does exactly this. Designed by Jonas Pfeil the design requires the user to throw the cameras in the air. The ball-cam then snaps pictures on an array of mobile phone cameras at the highest point in its path. These can then be stitched to create a 360 x 360 degree panorama just like street view. The ingenious idea of putting this is a ball also gets around the problem of needing the camera to be high enough to get a good view. We'd love to try one of these out. It would be great to throw around at a big event. Imagine throwing this around the crowd in a football stadium! Hopefully Jonas can gather some interest in this and bring it to market.

You can see more information on his site here and see a video of it in action after the jump. 

Steve Jobs

As a designer I can't remember when I didn't know who Steve Jobs was, for a lot of other people they may not of know who he was but they may well have been using products he was responsible for. After the last few weeks of media saturated with images and articles about Steve Jobs I think the world is much more aware of who he was and what he did. Anyone who uses an Apple product now will have heard the story of the genius behind it.

I have read a lot about Steve over the last couple of weeks. A lot about how he has changed the world, how he was a visionary, an Einstein of our time and other stories of how he was an incredibly hard person to work with. We've heard the good and bad sides to him but that doesn't change the fact that he has had a profound and lasting affect on life as we know it.