Nan Palmero, MBA

At a Starbucks in North San Antonio I get an email that Samsung is looking for 25 people to be Imageloggers, people who are interested in shooting with their new smart camera, the NX300, for a few months. Who would say no?

A few weeks later, my shiny NX300 arrives. The camera came out of the gates with great reviews. I have an appreciation for large sensors in small bodies. Samsung’s latest has an APS-C sensor, similar to a Canon Rebel or a Nikon D3100 with a crossfit physique – it’s lighter and compact, but equally powerful. Your full suite of PSAM settings are there, too. The wifi feature on the camera lets you pair it with your iPhone or Android, then use the app to offload the photos wirelessly. You can also use the app on your phone to fire the shutter remotely. They’ll be your finest looking selfies EVAR! Ladies, refrain from using this in the car with your seatbelt on. Duckface? Also a no-no. If you prefer, use the apps on the camera to send photos directly to Facebook or Picasa.

In a month, I shot photos of the San Antonio Magazine White Party, the Kopecky Family Band concert, Cayucas concert and Pearl Brewery as well as our 4th Annual Beer Ice Cream meetup at Freetail Brewing. Again, an invitation arrived. Would I be interested in joining a small team of global photographers in San Francisco to shoot the sights in the city and the surrounding area. I screamed. Not like a girl. Not like when I’m being attacked by birds, but a real scream. A good one. Very manly. LOOK, I DON’T NEED TO EXPLAIN MY SCREAMS TO YOU, OK?

In San Francisco we saw some of the most breathtaking and fun shots. The planning of the event was spectacular. The accomplished photographers came from California, NYC, Italy and Korea. Samsung cruised us around all day. I mean ALL DAY. We photographed Union Square, the Ferry Building, Bay Bridge, cable cars, took a bay tour around Golden Gate and Alcatraz. I got the bejeebus scared out of me by the crazy bushman at Fisherman’s Wharf…while I was looking for him. *shakes head in shame* Were we done? Heck no! We went to the marina for America’s Cup, Lombard Street and Russian Hill, I had a chai latte as big as my oversized skull, celebrated our late 80’s excitement at the Painted Ladies made famous by the Tanner family on Full House – HAVE MERCY! Done? NOPE. *takes a deep breath* Golden Gate Bridge, Portrero Skate Park, Castro where ROY G. BIV lives, got psychedelic at Haight-Ashbury, the beach, Fort Funston for freaky flying fun with hang gliding fanatics, MOAR Golden Gate, a crazy Korean dinner with soju where I was told “I’m going to make you an atomic drink.” Is it time to rest? No way, bro. Let’s go to see Fine Arts, visit Sonoma and the raceway, stroll in Sausalito and wrap it up with a baseball game at AT&T Park with an urban UFO bubbleboat, to boot.

This team knows two speeds – sleep and turbo. It was amazing and an absolute joy to spend time with such talented, smart, funny, sharing and kind people. A gigantic thank you to the team at Samsung (proper and extended), the photographers that came from near and far who changed me for the better and the staff that put up with my goofing off. Enjoy the photos below from the adventure. If you’re interested in seeing more, look for the following hashtags on social media – #samsungnx300 #nx300 #imagelogger The other photographers are world class shooters and humans.