Part of this is my experiences. I remember traveling to Europe in early 2007 and taking hundreds if not thousands of photos. I took maybe 20 at my high school graduation. When I traveled to Japan I took hundreds more. I took maybe 100, total, in my first semester of college. I’m not sure what it is that makes travel experiences more powerful—to me, anyway—than some of these big life experiences. Maybe they’re just prettier.

But I think a bigger part of it is the limitation of technology. Until recently (with my iPhone, which I’ll talk about more in a moment), I’ve bounced between cameras. I had a point-and-shoot digital camera for a while, and used it a fair amount from 2007 through 2009. It took the vast majority of my travel pictures.

I received a Nikon DSLR for my birthday in 2010. I love it, but it’s big and bulky, and unless I’m going out somewhere with the sole purpose of taking photos, it often doesn’t make the cut for fitting into my backpack. If I’m driving it’s a little different, but my travel is most frequently by bike, so it’s a little more limited.

With my iPhone 3GS I took a fair amount of pictures, but they were never particularly good. My desire for a high quality way of capturing memories on the go was never quite fulfilled by the relatively poor camera and processing power of the 2009 generation iPhone.

With the iPhone 4S things a little different. The camera is phenomenal. It takes incredible photos, and it takes them quickly. It easily bests any photos I’ve ever taken on a point-and-shoot camera, and I’m pretty well convinced it comes decently close to the shots I’ve gotten on my DSLR. It’s changed the way I think about photos, and it’s led me—already, in only week—to take more and more photos, capturing more and more memories, and sharing those experiences and memories with others. Which is kind of the point, isn’t it?

I am a technologist, and technology plays a big part in my life. I’m not ashamed of that. But it’s interesting for me to hear people complain about the role of technology in our lives, and often make fun of the “geeky” class. I’m frequently asked, “Could you go one weekend without your phone?”

Yes. Easily. But why?

I like being connected. I love taking pictures—especially photos that are big and beautiful and can really resonate. And I love taking them quickly, without having to think about it, without having to plan in advance. My iPhone helps me do that, and I like that.

Anyway, long story short, I like taking photos and I like my iPhone. That’s all.

I love, love, love old cameras. Such a neat glimpse into the past.

You read that right. Twitter + Camping.

Now, “what stays in the woods stays in the woods” (inside joke) but I did want to give a quick overview of the trip and some of the lessons learned.

The explorers included myself (@alexpriest), @sisarina, @charswann, @swannrmonavie, @aishajcreative, and @baileycuddles. We boarded two tightly packed vehicles with enough food to feed an army, chairs for everyone including the pup, and tents to sleep 14 people (no kidding). The journey began.

After a super-fun, totally rockin’ car-ride, completely with the noxious scents of darling @baileycuddles (he was definitely feeling whatever he ate the night before–we all suffered), we arrived at our campsite, selected by @sisarina. It was perfect. We managed to be the only ones in our entire neck of the woods–literally–and it was, to say the least, a picturesque spot.

The trip was an absolute blast. We got to know each other quite well, and in my case, I know I learned a fair bit about myself too. I learned how to use my new DSLR a little better, for example (as seen in my photos in this post, and on my Flickr set page). But more than that, I learned a little about how I’m perceived by others, and began to look at my fellow travelers in a new light.

Before this trip, I’d seen my “Twitter friends,” as I affectionally call them, as great online friends and networking friends, but hadn’t always been able to look deeper and see who they really were. In some cases (not all!), I had let my age get in the way of a real friendship (despite some of my recent writing on similar issues). In recent months, particularly on this trip, I began to look deeper at these amazing, amazing friends I’ve found and realized that I have something truly special.

In a lot of ways, it feels like overcoming issues with body image. My friend @SpringMelanie has been tackling issues of body image recently on her blog and it’s gotten me thinking about the way I look at myself and my friends around me. I’ve begun looking beyond titles, jobs, ages, and locations, and looking at who exactly the person is that I’m tweeting, chatting, and spending time with at all these happy hours and networking events. People like @swannrmonavie (Rahiem Swann) and @charswann (Charlotte Swann, below), who are, without a doubt, some of the nicest, wisest, and most incredible friends I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

This post, and all my ranting and raving, can’t even begin to explain how much fun I had on this weekend trip. It was amazing to set aside the technology, the phones, and even the clocks (for an entire afternoon, we thought it was three hours later than it actually was, thanks to @sisarina misreading military time on her camera). And it was great connecting with four other people (and one adorable puppy) who I’d met entirely online in such a deep and meaningful way. Thank you all so much for a wonderful weekend, and I can’t wait for our next twamping trip. #SMCampers for the win!

Now, time to get some rest. Check out all the rest of my photos from the trip on my Flickr set page.

So not only are my parents hella cool anyway, but they surprised me with THIS for my birthday, a Nikon D3000!

Although the snow did cause a little bit of delay (well, a week), it was totally worth it. Although we’d talked about it before, my plan had simply been to wait and get a nice DSLR for myself in a year or two once I’d saved up the money for it. Well, evidently they decided this was a good deal now.

I’m thrilled! I’ve really been wanting to get more into photography and always felt a little limited by technology (although I have to admit, I kind of like this photo, despite the fact that I took it with my iPhone!). This little camera just has some fantastic technology behind it that should let me be a lot more creative and get some great shots–hopefully! It’s not quite the fanciest one out there, but God knows it’s already more than I know what to do with and it’s perfect for what I want to do! And who knows, a couple years down the road (once I’m an expert ::wink::) maybe I’ll splurge for a super-duper one.

I’ve already killed a lot of time tonight playing with it, but as soon as the stresses of school calm down a bit (hell, only a few weeks ’til Spring Break!) I’m really looking forward to reading up on some photography stuff and starting to practice. Rest assured, I’ll be sharing my photos here, on my Flickr account, and naturally, via Twitter.

Luckily, I already know of at least four really amazing photographers–all super-nice. Here’s hoping they’ll be kind enough to give me some tips and advice along the way!

Anyway, back to my point… my parents are awesome. Thanks so much to both of them for being the best parents a kid could ask for. Not just for the presents, but for all the help, support, and motivation along the way so far in my life. Miss you both!

First, D.C. Media Makers! I attended my first event on Wednesday evening at NPR’s headquarters here in Washington, and it was fantastic! Got to see some very cool people I’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks, and got to hear the amazing Jen Consalvo (@noreaster on Twitter) speak about her photography work, how to get into photography, and some tips on how to get better shots–even on an iPhone (for what it’s worth, she recommended CameraBag as excellent filter app, pretty cool!).

As a side note on DCMM, this semester I’ve obviously been trying to get out in the city and meet people, go to events, hear speakers, get involved in unconferences, etc. It’s already paying off, and in a big, big way. I’ve met some absolutely amazing people and developed some good friendships already. I feel like I can go to any event now and usually see someone I know. This city is huge, but the community is smaller than it seems, and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming! I can’t encourage my fellow students, and professionals, enough: get out there and take advantage of this amazing city. Meet some of the incredible professionals out here and say hi, get to know them. I know I’ve learned so much just in the past few weeks from these people, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve taught me, even indirectly, and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

Now, in a more general life update, things have been pretty crazy for me lately. School is piling on the work and the reading, and unfortunately that still has to be pretty much priority number one. However, there’s a couple cool things happening in my life:

• Soon I will be contributing my first post (of many, hopefully) to shamable.com. Seeking to be the no-B.S. guide to social media, it’s a new Web site being developed by some of the best people in the business. I’m seriously honored to be a part of it and I’m hoping I can make some valuable contributions from my perspective as a student here in D.C. during this social media revolution.
• I’m hard at work on my communications honors capstone. The first of two (I’ll do my business honors capstone next year), I’m really excited about the project and overjoyed that I have an absolutely amazing professor advising me with it. The project will ultimately be a social media case study in digital form, and will be appended to this Web site. Expect plenty of updates on that throughout the semester, especially towards the latter end of it.
• Internships, scholarships, awards, oh my! Yes indeed, it’s already that time and applications are littering my desk. This weekend I hope to make a fair bit of headway into scholarship applications for my senior year (gasp, can’t believe it’s almost here already) and internship applications for the summer. Speaking of which–do you know of any opportunities (preferably paid) for a young communications professional to work over the summer? Location not a factor, let me know! All tips are sincerely appreciated!
• It looks like it’s going to be a busy Saturday for me, as I’ve already got several things on the docket. In the morning I’m hoping to get down to the Washington Auto Show, especially since it’s garnered so much buzz this year. At 1:00pm I’ll be heading over to Politics & Prose bookstore here in northwest Washington for an event with one of my former professors, Robert Lehrman. He just had his book on speechwriting published (it’s amazing, by the way) and I’m eager to say hi again! Finally, Saturday night at 5pm the AU PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) will be holding a networking event at American University. If you’re a communications professional in the area and would be interested and coming to network with some eager public communications students, please let me know! We’d love to have you (and there will be free food).

And alas, I think that’s all I have time for this morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic day!