Steve

I just wanted to write something about Steve, and why I am so bummed out about it.

I haven't been an Apple user for that long in the grand scheme of things. Had my first iPod in 2003 (a third generation brought back from LA before the UK release. That made me awesome.). In 2007 I had my first Hackintosh after being forced to use a Quad Core MacPro with 30” cinema display at work, only to come home to my POS Dell Inspiron laptop. The install on to te Dell was ropey as hell, but still an order of magnitude more satisfying than XP. I was given an old Mac Mini by my Brother shortly after the Inspiron inevitably fell to bits, and as soon as I was able in 2008 I picked up a MacBook Pro which I am still typing on today.

I have a background in design, I have a degree in Computer Aided Product Design and a Masters in Rapid Product Development. This is where my inevitable hero worship of Steve and Jonathan Ive comes from. Somewhere along the lines I got disillusioned with design and it became a spectators sport for me (I found Photography and Video much more satisfying creatively). Whilst studying design I watched as many Stevenotes and read as many articles as I could about what Apple were doing, as from a process standpoint they were doing EVERYTHING that was being taught in my Masters, and it was a hell of a lot more fun to read about than my course material. So I started watching the Stevenotes quite religiously.

Somewhere along the line my buddy Ben got just as hooked as I did, on Apple announcement days we would go to the pub and ignore the internet so we could watch the Stevenote spoiler free (an email with a direct link from MacRumors usually around 11pm would tell us it was safe to peak). We would be sat beer in hand, hoping steve would drop a ‘Boom’ or an ‘Insanely Great’.

It got me thinking though, and you will have to bear with me on this one. We spend our entire adult lives making decisions. Its what defines the difference between adult hood and childhood. Decisions on what we are going to eat, where to live, how to earn money. There is no spectacle. If I need something, It shows up in the post the day after . Definitely no ‘Boom’.

When was the last time you felt excited about something? (don’t say childbirth, yawn...) Not excited about seeing a new woman or going somewhere new, but a genuine surprise? Something completely out of your control?

I’ve heard many say why are so many people this attached to a Tech CEO? Sure he has achieved an impossible amount, this doesn't explain the emotional attachment so many felt to a guy they had never met. I think its because a Stevenote gives me back that sense of childlike wonder, like a kid on Christmas morning. It isn't a materialistic thing, its an opportunistic thing. I get genuinely excited as Steve is going to enable me to do something I couldn't do before, and Ive got no idea what so ever what its going to be, but but just as a child has faith in Christmas, I knew it was going to incredible.

I will dearly miss the tech Pantomime that is a Stevenote. Steve on stage, just as excited as we are, waiting for the big reveal.

My Veiw!

This is the view from the studio I'm building on broad quay. How awesome is that! This is about 10 images stitched together in photoshop.

Want to view moderately large?

clicky for big

Want to view obnoxiously huge? In all its 36 megapixel 9200 pixel wide glory? of course you do...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4349405183_7fc827a57e_o.jpg

Watch this space in the next few weeks for fun studio shots:)

www.paulhobbsphotography.com

Fact O' the year...

Apparently, the first bomb dropped by the allied forces during second world war over Berlin killed the city's only Elephant...

View from my Office

Here is a quick panorama from my office window, over snowy Bedminster. Four images stitched together, taking a whopping 4 minutes from shooting to stitched final image:)

Diy Bokeh

Who would have thunk that you could make a card board aperture for the front of your lens and change the shape of your Bokeh?

Random Facts, Part 2

All Polar Bears are left handed.

A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy. I will from now on refer to shutter speed in units of jiffy.

At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an oddball scientist. When he first developed his scale, he made freezing 100 degrees and boiling 0 degrees, or upside down. No one dared point this out to him, so fellow scientists waited until Celsius died to change the scale.

In 1980, Namco released PAC-MAN, the most popular video game (or arcade game) of all time. The original name was going to be PUCK MAN, but executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the P in the games marquee and labeling.

The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. If there was a bathtub large enough to hold it, Saturn would float.

Since 1313, it is illegal for an MP to enter the House of Commons wearing a full suit of armour.

1/3 of Taiwanese funeral processions include a stripper.

“LEGO is the world’s No. 1 tire manufacturer.” They produce 306 million tiny tires a year


In Dutch vader means father, so star wars is a little predictable.

The IKEA Catalog is the 3rd most printed publication in the world after the Bible and Harry Potter

Semi Airbrushing

I've always had a bit of a problem with airbrushing, not just because it looks naff, but I hate the impossible body images burned in to the minds of women by excessive photo shoping used in the media.

But... I've found a happy medium... Semi Airbrushing

Semi Airbrushing is the act of removing just enough information to improve a subject, but no so much the skin tone becomes unbelievable. I don't like to go beyond what a normal individuals skin is capable off. So, what you do, is clean up the pores etc, but leave in key texture areas to keep the photo realistic. Like so...

Non Airbrushed

Semi Airbrushed