iPhone Feaver - Like, it was really hot!

So there we were - I wasn't one of the total fanatics who stood out there for days. I'm smarter than that. I was only out there for an hour or so. lol!

I figured the most far-flung Chandler AT&T store would be place to go and beat the crowd, but oh no - it was a carnival out there also. The store owner said people had been sitting there since 4:00 AM. Now that's just silly, but I will commend their brand loyalty.

iDay was upon us all. The excitement was as high as the heat - 115 degrees, que down the west side of the building, direct sun - yea, we were hard core.

This line had probably 120-ish people and as far as I know, we all got phones.

Initial Review:

The initial review - it totally rocks. It works as advertised in every way. I'm totally happy. The touch screen is totally intuitive. The text entry pad is very easy to use and amazingly accurate. The screen requires the very slightest contact to work smoothly - the most sensitive "touch" device I've ever experienced.

I can brag about the features all day, and unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you've seen the TV ads. Check out the iPhone guided tour at Apple's site for the real dig. You saw it there, and it delivers in actual application.

What about the service??

The whole drive home I was a bit worried it may not actually, well, you know - make phone calls. I don't exactly live right under a cell tower, and I've heard nothing but Cingular horror stories for the past few months. There was a very real chance I may have no signal at all.

Wrong.

4 out of 5 bars upstairs, 2/3 of 5 downstairs. This a full 6 miles straight line from the nearest Cingular / AT&T cell tower.

And the "Edge / G3" data network? It works very well. Maybe a tad slow, but functional, and giving my location, amazing that it works at all. I expect better service when I'm in the metro area when I'd really need to pull up those google maps and such.

The "activate it yourself" feature was also pretty sweet. It was quick and effortless, and porting my Verizon number happened seamlessly in less than an hour - even given the mass activation traffic on iDay night. I was impressed.

Justification?

The rest of you have to justify this to friends, family, significant others as a new toy. But I get to tout a legitimate business need for the cool device. lol! For the first time in years, I now have a fully functional photography portfolio in my pocket. This is huge. I can't count the number of times I'd wished an easy way to share some images with a casual contact here and there around town. Now it's possible, and convenient.

I can honestly say this is the coolest and most cleanly thought out piece of technology I've ever owned. I'm not really the type to jump on a new product from day one, but hey, live a little - right?

Anyone on the fence - go for it.

Dell Server vs. Mac Pro

We're happy to announce a new addition to the family. Sort of. Our new Mac Pro arrived yesterday. More details on that to follow. Seeing the discussions on some of the web forums, people talking about how much more expensive Macs were and all that (hey, check the archives for this blog a year ago "The true cost of the switch", I was right there too).

Apples to apples, Apples to Macs, or Macs to Windows - whatever - I got curious on our latest purchase to see just how the two really stack up cost-wise. Especially now that Macs include processors from Intel, we really can create two identical configs in the two different platforms.

For *identical* computers I was amazed to see that an equivalent Win/PC workstation is a full, are you ready for this... $1,348 MORE expensive than an equivalent Mac Pro.

I chose Dell as a comparison as they're well respected for building solid machines just as Apple. Based on the standard config (as of today) Mac Pro 2.66 Quad with 1GB Ram and a 250GB HD.

$2,499 - Mac Pro
$3,847 - Identically equipped Dell / Windows Vista


The numbers don't lie, I even print the spec pages to PDF.

Spec Sheet: Dell Precision 690 Quote (PDF)
Spec Sheet: Mac Pro Quote (PDF)

Davey Jones - The Corgi

This is "Davey" - "Davey Jones". We had a great time. Davey is the first of many four legged subjects we've got lined up. We'll be adding this sort of work in a similar style to our core session offerings later this fall.

We are currently in the works of partnering with several animal wellness groups, shelters and charities. We'd like to see a portion of each session fee go directly in the benefit of animals and those who care enough to help them. Specifically we intend to support the Arizona Humane Society as a primary benefactor, and we are considering working with several others.

If you know of any animal welfare groups that may benefit, please contact us with the details. We'd be happy to chat with them!

Digital Painting - Take One

I've seen this effect in other areas and always wanted to give it a shot. I've seen the super impressionist oil painting effects which look more like a painting than a photograph. But I wanted to go the other way - keep the "photo" intact while adding elements of oil paint.

These two girls are daughters of some friends. We actually shot this on a whim at sunset in the grass field next to my house.

Expect to see more of this in the future. I've got some other visuals in mind, so we'll see where the effect goes.



And some closer crops to see the brush detail...








And the original...



It really is amazing you can pull so much out of an image. This was my favorite composition and expression between 50+ shots. Unfortunatley to get the back lit sun we had a huge flare to deal with. No time to setup fill lights - we got what we got.

Most of this image is actually touched with a brush - very few photoshop effects here. This is mostly accomplished with the photoshop smudge tool. I never realized the power locked up in this tool until I began to experiment a bit. Using the right brushes, it really is quite powerful.

The trip has just begun!

For those of you catching the feed via news reader - hold on because the blog is about to heat up!

Many already know, but we have made some huge changes around here and all for the better. The past year has been extremely exciting for myself, my wife, and our new baby boy. It’s also been an extremely challenging year. Since our son was born last July, I’ve been a stay at home daddy - bouncing a laptop and running a company on one knee while bouncing a very curious baby on the other.

Ever tried to use the pen tool in photoshop while an 8 month old is crawling off with your trackball? You feel me on this?

I say it’s been a challenge, but I wouldn’t trade the last ten months with my son for anything. Every dad should have a chance to see their new kid grow in that way - I can say I’ve truly been blessed to have had the opportunity to spend so much time with him.

Mom has been an auditor with U.S. Airways for five years now, and in that time our company has flourished from an ambitious twenty-something with a camera and a vision (that would be me) - into the success story it is today. There’s only so much time and we’re now limited by the number of hours I can contribute and the amount of juggling I can handle.

I realized creativity can never grow being spread so thin, and neither could the company for that matter.

We made the family decision a couple months ago for Mom to leave her nice secure job and join the photography operations full time! This allows her to be a stay at home mommy which she’s always dreamed of. She’ll also take over much of the ‘business side’ and process work of running a booming company. This allows me to once again focus my total attention back to experiencing life through the camera lens.

I’ve been a photographer for over fifteen years now, five of which full time and I can honestly say I’ve never been more excited about my work than I am right now.

We’ll be rolling out some exciting new products and new directions for our work. I absolutely love weddings and they will continue to be the main force of our efforts, but we plan to get a little more picky with the events we accept for booking.

We’re looking for fun couples searching for “something a little different”. We’ve worked with so many wonderful people in the last few years and it seems we just hit it off so perfectly. Maybe “nontraditional” is a good description.

At any rate, as a photographic artist, I’ve began to dabble in other areas just for fun and these areas too have begun to show great promise. I love kids and animals, as well as the occasional commercial client who is looking for something totally outside the box. We’ll begin adding these other fields to the core of our offerings.

It occurred to me somewhere along the way that punchy creative imagery is really subject independent.

So in this period of rediscovery, sit back and enjoy. I promise for those who constantly ask - I’ll finally keep the blog updated regularly. If I shoot it, you’ll probably see bits of it here.

I think it’s safe to say our best work is yet to come. Art is always at its peak when it’s changing and growing. There’s more passion to this process in our own lives than ever before, and I count it a constant blessing to share the continued vision with our clients who somehow seem to become friends along the way.

Thanks to all who have contributed to where we are today. Thank you to all who have encouraged and driven me over the past few years. I don’t think I could have scripted it to be any sweeter than it is right now. This is as much your success story as it is my own.

Now let’s continue the trip together...