Germain Amphitheater /  by Ron Olds

Germain Amphitheater

Back in October I wondered out to the now deserted Germain Amphitheater to take some pictures. Here is some information about the venue. 

The Germain Amphitheater was originally named Polaris Amphitheater but was renamed after a sponsorship deal with Germain motor company. Billy Ray Cyrus was the first artist to open the 20,000 seat venue in 1994. The venue hosted Ozzfest, Lilith Fair, and other great artists. Toby Keith played the final show in September of 2007. Since then the venue has sat empty in ruins. As you can see from the photographs the venue has been stripped by vandals for any valuable metal, and littered with graffiti.

The original owners, Los Angeles based entertainment company Live Nation, was asking $17 Million for the property in 2007. In January of this year a Polaris based developer NP Limited purchased the property for a little more than $5 million. NP Limited has plans of demolishing what is left of the amphitheater and ultimately developing the land.

Old Camera's /  by Ron Olds

So last night I decided to get out my mini collection of film cameras. It is kind of amazing how things have changed for the industry in the last 100 years. These were taking with my Canon T2i, a sigma 30mm 1.4f lens, and a one light strobist off camera flash setup. Here were my results. I think they turned out fairly decent. I need to take some time and clean all of these camera's up a little. All of the camera's except the Brownie have came from my Grandma estate.

 

 

 

Top iPhone apps for new iPhone users /  by Ron Olds

Since the iPhone 4s recently released I have receive quite a few questions about my favorite apps. All of these apps are free. This list is in no order.

 

1. Shazam

  • If your like me and not the best with song names, or just would like to bookmark songs you hear on the radio to download when your not driving this app is for you.
  • Currently is the 4th most downloaded app on iTunes at the moment. 

2. Pandora

  • Personalized Radio based on your favorite songs, artists, or genre.

3. Instagram

  • A great way to share and edit photos. 
  • The best camera is the one you have with you.

4. Facebook

  • I am not sure this app needs much of an explanation.

5. Words With Friends

  • Scrabble with friends.
  • Available on every major smart-phone. 

iOS 5 Battery life issues /  by Ron Olds

If you have recently upgraded to iOS 5 or purchased a new iPhone 4s, you may want to keep reading. Quite a few iOS 5 users have noticed that their battery life isn't quite as good as it was on iOS 4. It seems that location services may be to blame. Here are a few changes you can make to location services that helped me regain control of my battery. All settings for location services can be found by . . Tapping settings, then tap Location Services.

1. Disable location based reminders.

  • While this is a cool new feature of iOS 5, it requires a direct connection to your local nuclear reactor to sustain your battery life.

2. Disable Location based time zone switching.

  • There seems to be a bug with this service. I am guessing this will be resolved with a update in the near future.
  • This service can be disabled under Settings, Location Services, System Services.
           

I hope these settings will help, they seemed to help my iPhone 4s. If you have any other suggestions please feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the Contact Me button.