Mini-Monday (belated): Unloading a Year’s Worth of Cell Phone Snaps

Index: 3 Sisters Bakery | Sushi Umi | Canvas Resto-Bar

There was a time when cellular phones were just that, phones. If you were a “road warrior” who wanted mobile computing power, there were personal digital assistants (PDA) and laptops (sometimes with swivel touch screens). Cameras stood alone or were excessively expensive and proprietary add-ons for PDAs.

Today, everything has converged with the smartphone, amazing multipurpose devices that sometimes irk those of us who remember when tasks required more specialized gadgetry.

After a year’s use, I find myself addicted to my Android smartphone. And this new year, I discovered the sheer volume of snapshots I amassed on the device. Already trigger-happy when it comes to shooting food with my DSLR, I carried my smartphone with me everywhere.

Here are some snaps I pulled off my phone and sorted on New Year’s Day. Most of the better snaps were queued for release in our 365 Project on Tumblr.

A quick walk-through of 3 Sisters Bakery (1791 Kiborn Ave)
3 Sisters Bakery is a bakery and fine food shop in suburban Ottawa South. The day Jenn and I visited, we picked up boxes of bakery, Christmas gifts for her colleagues.

Baked Goods, Everything Made In-House, but Offsite

Jams on Sale, including some House Jams

Dining Area

According to one of the sisters, a group of pregnant women finished a class at the nearby community center before coming to the shop. They “decimated” the display of Art-Is-In Bakery bread, which regularly sells out.

For a review of 3 Sisters as an eatery, click here for fellow Ottawa food blogger Shari Goodman’s thoughts.

Newly Licensed Sushi Umi
Shortly before December, our neighbourhood sushi purveyor, Sushi Umi (1311 Wellington Street W.) applied for and received their liquor license, now selling sake, beer, and wine.

Already fans of their regular menu, new items were added.

Regular Menu Combos

Clockwise from Signage: “sushi special” ($10) with added dynamite rolls, “special for two” ($25) with added sashimi, “special for two” ($25)

New Appetizers – tuna tataki $9.95 and robata shrimp $5.95

Bridgehead Treats
Loyal readers likely already know a large portion of foodiePrints content was produced with Bridgehead coffee, mostly consumed in a coffee house.

Bridgehead bakery is baked daily. It makes a pretty good snack in a pinch.

Bridgehead Treats

Aside: These days foodiePrints’ content is produced with Bytowne Beanery coffee.

Farmers’ Markets
We at foodiePrints frequented many a farmers’ market when they were open this past summer.

Marché Vieux Hull in Gatineau

Parkdale Market and the Field House

Parkdale Market Stalls

Christmas at Canvas Resto-Bar
This Christmas, my office colleagues chose Canvas (65 Holland Avenue) to host our annual lunch.

Fixed Menu Christmas Lunch

Top to Bottom: Thai Yellow Curry Soup of the Day ($6) and Steak Sandwich with “sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, red wine, honey garlic cream sauce; and bistro fries” ($12)

The soup was wonderfully warm to the palate and rich. The steak sandwich was somewhat unwieldy to eat, requiring knife and fork, but it was a very generous portion. We all left stuffed!

Food for Thought
While my Google Nexus S (yesterday’s Android flagship phone) produced some limited snapshots, the latest wave of smartphones is not so limited.

In fact, with traditional news media working to reduce “time to publish”, the tools of photojournalism are changing. It’s all about getting the shot. In difficult situations, journalists have turned to compact point and shoot (P&S) cameras for the iconic stills that provide context to support narratives. In extreme situations, when flexibility is key, journalists turn to smartphones.

Smartphones are even making inroads in high definition (HD) motion capture. If you think you need a DSLR to shoot 1080p footage, an Apple iPhone 4S happily disagrees.

In an interesting twist, media outlets routinely mine Twitter photo or video hosting websites like Twitpic for content to accompany stories. There is a reason “photo-sharing” sites reserve the right to “distribute” user uploaded snaps or vids. They sell them.

So, where are things headed? In the world of food, better food porn, of course!

Particulars:
3 Sisters Bakery
1791 Kilborn Avenue
(613) 695-9122.

Sushi Umi
1311 Wellington Street W
(613) 724-2488

Canvas Resto-Bar
65 Holland Avenue
(613) 729-1991