My first computer that I received, was before Freshmen year of college, a base spec-ed Mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Pro. 4 GB of RAM (random access memory), 500 GB SATA hard drive (storage), etc. Nothing spectacular. It was just meant to do basic tasks, homework, and Netflix. It did a great job with that. After learning more about computers from working at the Mac Shack in Boulder, I soon upgraded my unit. My RAM went from 4 GB to 16 GB, and changed out my 500 SATA hard drive for a Samsung 850 PRO 512 GB solid state drive (super fast storage hard drive). In short, for those who don’t understand, my Mac went from booting up and ready to go in about a minute and a half to boot in full force in 15 seconds. I can film it if you want to see it.

I bought my iMac in 2016. It’s a used Late-2013 27" iMac. It’s fantastic. I upgraded it to 24 GB of RAM but it’s still using a 3.5 inch SATA hard drive, which is plenty fine. Editing in Final Cut Pro (video editing) and Lightroom (photo editing) have become a lot more enjoyable since working on a bigger display. Everything is in higher resolution, allowing you to see things more clearer, which helps with edits. I have since boot camped it with Windows so I can play OverWatch. I’m not good, but I’m not terrible. Add me.

Before my family’s trip to India in 2008, my dad purchased the Nikon D200, a pretty great camera for 2008. That was the first time I really got to use a DSLR (professional like camera). Playing with the settings, learning how to use it, it became an overall pretty good camera for our family. It ended up being my camera that I would use for a Digital Photography and Imaging class I took sophomore year of high school. In that Digital Photography class, I took and edited one of my favorite photos I have shot (seen below). My teacher called it professional looking and it was hung up and framed in the library of my high school back in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In the fall of 2015, my family purchased the Sony A6000, with the kit 16–50mm lens, and a 55–200 mm telephoto lens. Our Nikon D200, after the years it lived, it wouldn’t take the high quality photos we demanded. The Sony A6000 has taken us on a journey into the Mirrorless realm…

For those who don’t know what Mirrorless means, it means, there are no mirrors in front of the sensor in the camera, hence, mirrorless. They are capable of taking comparable, if not better, photos than a normal DSLR. They are more compact and lighter, which makes traveling a lot easier. My over the shoulder carrying case that is capable of carrying all three of my lenses, extra batteries and SD cards, as well as an external battery pack for my phone, is about the size of a fanny pack. It’s an amazing camera. Wanting to take better photos and portraits, I purchased my nifty fifty, I got a sweet deal at Best Buy. A Sony FE f1.8, 50mm E-Mount lens. This lens works wonders. The quality is insane. The difference between my portraits on the kit/telephoto lenses compared the nifty fifty is mind-blowing. Remember, lenses make a difference in the shot, so think about which one to use when shooting.

Cell phones. My first phone ever, the Motorola Rokr E8 (seen below). It was the coolest phone because there were no physical buttons but the “buttons” on it changed. It had a 2 MP camera. Not so great quality for pictures. I moved onto the Samsung Gravity Txt, also had a terrible camera. I then got an iPhone 4. Wasn’t the best camera, but worked. My next phone was an iPhone 5C, which a lot of my time lapses from 2015–2016 were shot on it. It takes great video and pictures, and most of the time, it surprised me.

The September Apple Event of 2016. The iPhone 7 Plus was announced. Dual Lens, wide angle and telephoto, 12 MP, 4K video, and OIS (optical image stabilization), sapphire crystal lens cover. I had to have it. It was a beautiful phone and the matte black finish was and still till this day, gorgeous. Matte Black everything. You hear me Apple, everything must be matte black. Purchasing it was a big step up from the iPhone 5C. I received it on September 16. Opening day for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. I felt so cool being one of the first people to own it. My iPhone 5C fit inside the display of the iPhone 7 Plus, it was huge. Nowadays, it feels too small. I need an iPad. But this iPhone never ceases to amaze me. The picture quality, the dynamic range, and everything is great. When shooting a wide angle shot, the phone uses the telephoto lens to pick up the further details in the center to have an amazing quality inside and out. Switching between the wide angle lens and the telephoto lens is seamless. No waiting, it happens instantaneously. If you are thinking about upgrading your iPhone and don’t mind losing the headphone jack, definitely pick up the 7 Plus. I love it.

For storage on external drives, I use WD Passports. I have a 1 TB for backing up my MacBook Pro, a 3 TB that houses all my photo files and more, and my 4 TB which is used for Final Cut Pro storage. I have had one issue with the 3 TB drive but WD took care of it with no issue. Always, ALWAYS, remember to back up your files. The amount of times I have seen people lose their files because they didn’t back up is way too many times. I have a ton of more accessories to bore you with but I won’t write about each one. Go check me out at on Kit and you can see all my gear there.

I believe the top of the line gear isn’t always necessary to pull off the best shot. Most of my accessories are budget, under $100. I think some of the pricier tech and accessories helps, but as long as you have a passion and the work ethic to pull something great together, you could have a potato of a camera and still create something beautiful. Always remember that. It’s the content that matters. Don’t let the gear define you.

all photos taken and edited by Jevan A. Dass

I love you. I really do. You’ve done everything amazing and I love everything you have given to me, but…

Apple. WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) is 2 days away. Rumors and speculations have been buzzing around the internet for some time now. The rumor of a 5K Retina Display with built-in GPU (graphics processing unit) had me super excited until, well, Rene Ritchie, Canadian blogger for iMore, ruined that excitement. On June 2nd 2016, he tweets, “basically, for WWDC 2016, think software.” This broke my heart. I have a mid-2013 MacBook Pro that I got for college, not knowing what my future would hold. I have made some improvements to it by adding a solid state drive (hard drive on which data is electronically stored) and 16GB of RAM, but the GPU is lacking for video editing, which is really disappointing. The monitor would have been the absolute best answer for my issues if it were true. I wouldn’t have to buy a new laptop, just the monitor with the beautiful Apple logo on it. But now that we have to think software, there’s no easy solution for me. After working in the “repairing older vintage and obsolete Apple units” field, I started to wonder why Apple wasn’t pushing their units to the best of their abilities. Now I understand the whole “coach arrives the same time as first class” (Steve Jobs, 2015), releasing a dumbed down version with top of the line. I get it. But you can do better with your top of the line Apple. Start making your own GPUs. Your computers are one of the top leading video editing devices and you offer one of the best video editing programs, make your own GPU to make it even better. Offer better battery life. Give us the actual RAM specs instead of what you think is okay. Or at least make the units expandable and quit soldering the RAM to the logic board. Let us change things (unfortunately, that will never happen). Also, add some flair to the units. Silver is great, color would be nice. I’m tired of walking around a library and the only difference between computers is stickers or cases. Add more rose gold, gold or even different colors to the set. Use the same polycarbonate color scheme that you did for the iPhone 5C and make those cheaper laptops. Or change the light color of the Apple logo. Make it customizable. Do a retro limited edition set of units. That would sell in a heartbeat. Give us an OLED panel where we can see a menu bar by the keyboard. Bring back flair that the old Apple had that seems to be dissipating.

Think different.

It’s getting really frustrating when you see companies like Samsung and Google putting out new hardware that looks beautiful and you definitely have given it a second thought. Except VR. I don’t like VR. The displays on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge looks beautiful. Apple, I’m ready for something outstanding. I am ready for something as revolutionary as the iPod. It doesn’t have to be a brand new device. You can stuff all that excitement into multiple products. Different color MacBook Pros with insane specs like 32–64 GB in a top of the line 15” Retina. Wireless charging for iPhones that can be charged within a 2 foot radius. Doesn’t need to be lying on a charging pad. Do something dramatic with the way the products look. Just do something different instead of giving us new software updates. Also, putting Siri on OS X or MacOS or whatever you are going to call it in the next update isn’t going to cut it. That one is expected considering Cortona and all the stupid commercials I see on TV for it. But keep putting out those “Shot on an iPhone” commercials. I like those. You can do better.

Apple, this isn’t a “breakup” letter, this is a “there needs to be changes” letter.

Let’s go back a few years. I didn’t start out as a computer science major in the beginning of my college career. I came in open-option taking a business and an engineering class to figure out what I wanted to do. First semester, I declared business, but the second semester I declared aerospace engineering. It wasn’t until the middle of my second year in college that I decided to do computer science, which put me behind, and was stressful because college is expensive. But high school never got me ready for college.

The main goal of high school, in my opinion, is to get you ready for college. I don’t feel that way. I was mainly an A’s and B’s student (some slip ups here and there) and ended high school really well. Good GPA, good class standing. But high school didn’t teach me anything useful. Didn’t really teach me about managing my finances so I wouldn’t spend a ton of money on overpriced pizza. Didn’t teach me to discipline myself and keep a set workout schedule or how to make one. Didn’t teach me how to balance a checkbook or figure out how to fill out taxes and when to do them.

But I definitely know how to find the integral of the area under the curve of my exponentially rising anxiety.

AT LEAST TEACH ME HOW TO MANAGE MY STRESS SO I DON’T HAVE AN ANXIETY ATTACK IN THE LIBRARY AT 2AM.

College is tough. I never expected it to be this hard. Grade school and high school came easily to me. Naturally smart in a sense, but college has whooped my butt. I have never stressed over anything more in my life. You read tweets, Facebook statuses, Tumblr posts all about college students crying over papers, mid-terms, and finals, and you begin to wonder how much of it is true and not just a sad joke. Some of it must’ve happened for it to be thought of and written down. You start to wonder about the mental health of your fellow peers. I firmly believe college is a lot more difficult in comparison to generations before us. With a job market showing no promise and a diploma showing no worth, it’s hard not to think about the dead end job that you worked so hard for to get. You start to feel down, you start to feel sad, you ask yourself if it is all worth it in the end?

Sounds like thoughts before suicide…

You could easily learn all of what you’re taught in class on the internet. All the resources are there. As a computer science major, that is definitely possible. But unfortunately, a diploma is what you need to show that you are worth the company’s time or worth anything because you’ll need to show what other cards you have brought to the table. The sad truth is, you’ll never be good enough. As an Indian (India), the whole, “Are you a doctor yet?” stereotype is real. I am literally thinking about getting a Ph.D. in computer science.

I WILL BE A DOCTOR FOR YOUR COMPUTER. YOUR HARD DRIVE IS FAILING, I NEED A TRANSPLANT STAT.

Ah, but all the money that I will need and I don’t have. Loans are scary. Being good enough will make you overqualified for the positions the company has for you. Never-ending cycle but our generation will be forever criticized and labeled as the “whining” generation and the “me” generation as our elders tell us that we are not trying hard enough and the same lame comments “Get a job! I had two jobs at your age! I worked longer hours, everything has been easier for you! You have computers and iPhones!” they say as they ask your help with their iPhone. Our generation will be stuck in debt for a very long time even though working part or full time during college because their dead end jobs they worked so hard for don’t pay as well as anticipated. And since they’ll be in thousands of dollars of debt, they won’t spend as much and the economy will go down because no one is putting money into it and it’ll be a big mess. Spending an extra $289 a year (stats checked) doesn’t sound bad. Giving everyone a chance to pursue a dream they may not have tried BUT this article is not about politics. Please don’t stop reading, I have more to say. You’ve made it this far, why stop? Just a little more! Just because we don’t agree politically? Come on, let’s be civil. Back to it! College is tough.

With working at a job that is physically or emotionally tasking because no one respects the jobs that college students work at (restaurants, retail, etc.) while being a full-time student, when is there time for us? I keep being told by all of my elders that this is the best time of my life, but here I am, sitting in a library, studying, writing this for you to read, stressing out about my future knowing I will never be good enough or figuring out if this is something I want to do. Our generation is not ready for this world.

And it’s not our fault.