How it Began

the Problem

I had known for some time that pictures could hold a description field in its metadata. There were software available on computers and smartphones to view and edit this metadata. However, they tended to be quite technical and not meant to be easy to use by the average person. If you merely wanted to record a description for your photo, it was a cumbersome experience. There was just no software out there that was easy to use and focused on describing your photos.

About Me

I picked up programming as a teenager when my father got me an imitation Apple II computer back in the 80s and ever since then, I've been fascinated with software programming. I went on to become a programmer, first at a European telecommunications company for one and a half years and then for one of the biggest American IT companies, with whom I stayed for 14 years. During this time, as my career progressed, I didn't have to do any programming in the last 10 years or so. I missed the fascination and challenges I used to have when I was a geeky teenager, just doing programming. Actually producing something I could call my own.

The Idea

So, after taking a pause from work in mid 2017 and upon some soul searching, I decided to do some programming. By this time, I was quite keen to create software on smartphones, because the smartphone has become such an intimate device in our lives.

(PangongTso Lake sitting at 4,280m / 14,000ft above sea level on the Indian side of the border with China)

My hobbies are travelling, photography and experincing the different culture and food from different countries. After a trip to Kerala and the Himalays in July and August 2017, having taken a number of lovely photos, I decided to create an app on the Android platform just for documenting the many digital photos I have from my travels.

When you are travelling, you're hit with so many different experiences. Magnificent new sights, sounds, smells, tastes and historical facts. Sure..... a picture is worth a thousands words, but over time, we tend to forget some of the details. Or when someone else is viewing your photo, they may not realise the story behind the photo or the context or peculiarities of that shot.

Not Just another beautiful Photo

Just take the picture above. Yeah, it's a beautiful scenery, but do you know that it is of the Pangong Tso Lake and do you know it is sitting so high up that I was suffering from a little altitude sickness while I was there? Did you know that 25% of the lake is in India while the rest is in China? When you take a picture such as this with your handphone, it already captures a whole heap of metadata such as the camera parameters and even the GPS location of where this shot was taken and when it was taken. Wouldn't it be great to leverage upon this inherent capability of digital photos and add your own notes?

The need for a Good Smartphone app

As the camera technology on your smarphone has advanced so much that it has started to compete with and even surpass professional SLR cameras, your photo would most likely be on your phone, all ready for you to add your words to it.
Its your words and your stories. Not even artifical intelligence knows your thoughts - you should be recording it down. At least for posterity.
When you're travelling on a flight, chances are you have a lot of time to kill. The perfect opportunity to catch up on your photos, organise and document them.
Your notes goes where the photo goes. So even when you transfer the photo out of your phone, it stays with the photo.