Playing with Photo Grid

Recently I tried playing around with Photo Grid, the photo collage application for Android phones.  I took some pictures while the boys played outside, and also used some photographs already stored in my phone.

I don't have any experience with making photo collages, and this app is really easy to use.  It took only a few minutes to create several collages and adjust them to get the best fit.  Since these are phone photos, they aren't perfect, and the app is fairly simple and limited, but still fun to manipulate.

Once you select the pictures that you want to include, Photo Grid will create a random collage arrangement, which you can then change by shaking your phone.  That's a fun little trick, but you can also manually select which collage style you prefer to use, as well as the background.  There are options to crop and rearrange pictures, and I'm still learning how to use all the features.

Photo Grid is free, so it's definitely worth a try if you just want to have some fun with your phone camera pictures.  You can then save the collage and post, text, or email it as one photo attachment.

Have you tried Photo Grid?  Are there any apps or sites you can recommend for creating photo collages? 

My first attempt at using Photo Grid (notice James got cut in half on the right side).

My revised collage with the same pictures.

A collage of Rhys photographs.  I had to re-size some to make them fit properly, and I'm not satisfied with the final version.  I'll definitely keep trying!

Mellow Yellow

My phone camera's attempt at a trendy picture.

It's kind of like Instagram, right?  Just through some really awful yellow glasses.

Fun While It Lasted

We are not iPhone people.  This is what my husband reminds me every time I express an ounce of jealousy over something available to iPhone users, but not owners of Android phones, which describes us.  Ryan would quite literally give his life for the sake of open-source software, and I respect this belief and do my best to live with it.  Just imagine writing a master's thesis in Open Office, saving it, converting it to Word, saving it, and emailing it to ancient professors in another city, week after week, for months.

To be perfectly honest, my iPhone jealousy has very little to do with technology and a lot to do with fashion.  I really just want one of these or these, and all that's available for my phone is this.  So gross.  Don't designers realize that people with Android phones also have taste?

But last week, Instagram, the fun, instant photo editing app was made available to the Android market, and I jumped at the chance to try taking pictures and making them look cool, like I see on other blogs all the time.  I was a bit disappointed to realize that I can't post to Blogger or email my pics, once they've been made cool and 70s-looking, since you can only share via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Foursquare (what the heck is that?).  But it was still fun snapping random shots and instantly transforming them.  I felt a bit like a photographer, despite just using my Android phone in its wanna-be-cute plastic case.

Then, today, I read that Facebook is purchasing Instagram for a mere one billion dollars, so, in good conscience, I had to delete my pictures and my account.  There's no way I'm letting that squirrelly, little curly-haired guy near pictures of my boys.

You know I'm a privacy hound.  Plus, I'm pretty sure he's an iPhone user.

Too Private for Pinterest

So I've been reading and hearing a lot about Pinterest, the hot new site that lets you "catalog the things you love," according to its homepage.  In general, I like the concept of saving pictures and ideas for inspiration, and it's how I've been using the Bookmark function of my computer for years.

Now that my boys are a bit older and I'm not stuck up to my elbows in diapers and midnight feedings, I have a bit more time to explore things like decorating and, dare I say it, crafts.  So I've considered joining the site, which requires either an invite from a friend or adding your email to their waiting list.

Still, I'm the only person I know who isn't on Facebook and I'm nervous about this new site, too.  Even though I'm opinionated and not afraid to express my feelings on a public blog, for the amusement of my two or three readers, the fact is I'm extremely private in real life.

I destroyed my boys' blood samples, which you all know loud and clear; I close my blinds at dusk so the neighbors can't see into my house; and I still shut the door to the bathroom in front of my husband despite the fact that he has witnessed me give birth twice.  I have a problem sharing things with strangers, too, and I'm of the "Question Everything" mentality.

I'm not on Facebook because, honestly, the idea creeps me out and there are exactly two people from my high school with whom I wish to stay in contact.  One lives in New York City and we see each other once a year or so, and the other sleeps next to me at night.  The very thought of people from my past rising to the surface after years of anonymity literally gives me chills, and if I want to run into an old classmate I will just walk into the H-E-B near my parents' house and wait a minute.

I hate to sound crass, but we live in a true culture of sharing, the very idea that Pinterest seeks to promote, and every neighborhood in my town is bordered by Target, Ross Dress for Less, and Pier 1.  If you see something you like at a friend's house, you can stop on the way home and get one just like it.  But where's the fun in that?  What happened to being unique and finding your own style? 

I'm all for sharing creativity with the world, and I do believe art and literature are the great equalizers, but it often feels like nothing is sacred any longer and, even though I live in the suburbs with two children and a two-car garage, I'd like to keep some things private.  I'm probably over-analyzing this way too much, but that's just me.

I never went to any of my high school's football games, even though attendance was practically a graduation requirement; I almost lost a job because I refused to wear a college sports team's shirt during College Sports Week; and I was the only consultant in my unit, during my short stint as a Mary Kay saleslady, who never wore a suit.  I don't have a problem with authority, I swear, but I'm also not quick to follow trends. 

I think the idea behind Pinterest is really cool, and it will rid the world of piles and piles of pages ripped out from magazines.  I'm just not sure I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon yet.  Maybe if they allow private profiles, but probably not even then.

**Update:  So, I received my invitation to join Pinterest, and you must login through your Facebook or Twitter account, neither of which I have.  Problem solved, I guess.