How one photographer spent the longest day of the year with Snapdragon

In celebration of the longest day of the year, and the recent release of laptops with Snapdragon® X Series processors, Snapdragon gave photographer Chris Priestley a unique challenge. Iceland enjoys over 21 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. So, equipped with a HP Omnibook X powered by Snapdragon X Elite and a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, could Chris go from sunrise to sunset, taking photos across the country all on a single charge?

Here’s how that went for him:

To learn more about how he pulled this off, we caught up with Chris to tell us about his longest day with the HP Omnibook X and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

How did you decide what to capture during the solstice? 

The aim was to try and see as much of Iceland as possible, whilst using the HP Omnibook X throughout the day, and seeing whether it would survive by the end of the 24 hours.

I arrived the day before the solstice in Reykjavik, and I didn’t have much of a plan. So, I opened up the HP OmniBook X’s HP AI Companion and I typed in: “As a photographer, what are the best sites to see in Iceland?” It gave me a long list of waterfalls and geysers and just interesting landscapes to see, as well as places within Reykjavik itself. From there, I asked it to build an itinerary for me to go and try and fit in as many of these locations as possible into one day — and it did!

What was your first stop?

At 4:30 a.m., we were up in the car in Reykjavik, and we set out onto the Golden Circle, which is one of the iconic routes to take if you go and visit Iceland. It's got loads of interesting waterfalls and landmarks to see. The first stop was a waterfall in the Thingvellir National Park. It’s where two tectonic plates meet and basically created this stunning landscape. At the waterfall, I put the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to the test, trying to capture a self-portrait using the long exposure — so easy to set up especially with the Pro Photo mode.

What came next?

We went to Strokkur, a geyser that was just a short drive down the road. At this point, it was about 6:00 a.m., and the visitor center wasn’t open. I used the HP AI Companion as a bit of a tour guide. I asked it for interesting facts about the geyser, and it mentioned that the geyser would erupt every six to 10 minutes. It was a great chance to use the Burst Mode on the Galaxy S24 Ultra to make sure that we captured the explosion of the geyser at its highest peak.

At around 9:00 a.m. the cafes were finally open, so we used this as an opportunity to call my girlfriend, and update her on what we've been able to see before she had even woken up. I think, at this point, we were about three hours outside of Reykjavik, in the middle of nowhere. Even then, I was still able to make a video call with super clear image quality on the HP Omnibook X.

Where did you go after Strokkur?

We went back to Reykjavik, and the first thing we did was climb to the top of the Church of Iceland, which gives you this 360-degree panoramic view over the city. We saw this rainbow road from the top and Alex, who was the photographer who came with me, was like, “I want to see how good this 100x zoom is on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.” So, I sent him running down the road, and I don't know how far it was, but I was able to capture him waving, which was really cool.

In between all of these locations, I was editing some of the photos that I took with the Samsung Galaxy S24 on the HP Omnibook X. And it was nice to use the HP AI Companion to create some social media captions. I'm not very good with creative writing. So it's nice to just ask the AI, and it came up with a couple of different options that were much better than what I could create.  

Where did you wrap your day of shooting?

Our last location was this plane wreck that was about a 40-minute walk down a nearby beach. By this point the rain was really chucking down, so we jumped on a bus, and I managed to actually catch up on a few emails, using the HP AI Companion. Some of these emails didn't actually need too much, but it was just nice to be able to ask the AI to give me some options as to how to reply. And it came up with some very quick responses, which was great, especially for just a 10-minute bus ride.

It was starting to get quite late by this point. There was a lot of driving to get back to Reykjavik, so Alex jumped into the driver's seat, and I edited photos all the way back home. We got back around 11 p.m., were really hungry, and the HP AI Companion was able to recommend a hot dog stand that was open late.

So, the big question: how did the battery life hold up?

Yeah, it definitely outlasted me! It was about a 20-hour day, and I managed to really put the HP Omnibook X through its paces with some heavy processing workflows: editing photos, using the HP AI Companion, doing video calls, and responding to emails. Throughout the day, almost every hour I was doing something on the laptop. And after 20 hours, there was still 30% battery left! So that was quite impressive to say the least.

We are surrounded by technology, and I think we have this thought that's drilled into us about maintaining battery life. You've got your phone on you, right? Well, you’ve got to make sure that you have a point to charge it up if it's getting low. So it was refreshing to have that HP Omnibook X with me to be able to do everything that I needed to do and not really worry that it was going to die.

What are your favorite features of the HP Omnibook X and the Samsung Galaxy 24?

The HP Omnibook X’s battery life was great. The Snapdragon processor was great as well. I was able to do all of the work that I wanted to do, and with the touchscreen, it was just a seamless extension of my arms when it came to the editing side of things. 

As a photographer trying to use a touchpad to create masks and highlight certain parts of an image is quite tricky. Being able to actually go with your finger and draw around what you want to be able to edit, and then see that feedback in real time, it's definitely a game changer. It streamlined a lot of the editing process for me.

As for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, I was really impressed with what I was able to capture with the Pro Mode. Having that ability to finely adjust the settings is great. As a photographer, one of the main ways of shooting waterfalls is to shoot at a slower shutter speed. Being able to go into Pro Mode and lower the shutter speed to how you want it was great.

Finally, out of all the places you saw, what was your favorite?

I think it has to be the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. It’s a stunning location. I don’t think there are many waterfalls you can walk behind and capture such an incredible shot. I think, in terms of what we were able to see over that 20 hours, that was, by far, my favorite. And being able to capture that iconic shot with the wide-angle lens on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and edit it on the HP OmniBook X was great.

What did you think of Chris’s adventure with the HP Omnibook X? Share your thoughts on the Snapdragon Insiders Discord.