Your Laptop Can't Replace My iPad / July 21, 2017 by Adrian Galli

I use my iPad more than any other device I own. On a day to day bases, my iPad Pro is my primary computer. I also have an iPhone 7 and MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. I use my iPhone a lot while out to lunch, taking pictures, reading news, messaging etc. I use my MacBook Pro for editing (Final Cut Pro X), some work on my websites, sometimes some other productivity items such as Pages or Numbers, Billings, and a few others.

I use my iPad all the time for reading news, curating a couple of Flipboard magazine, writing for my website, research, design, referencing Evernote, web browsing, photo editing, playing games, productivity, taking notes, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.), and so much more.

I do all of those things on all of my devices but no doubt my iPad Pro receives the majority of the attention. It has the ergonomics to be held, the screen size to view almost any content, a touch screen, a beautiful screen, plenty of storage, Apple Pencil support, and with iOS 11 (beta at the moment this entry was written), takes my iPad experience to a new level.

There seems to be an obsession within the tech industry to tell you what your device can't do or can’t be. "iPad Pro won't replace your laptop," says The Verge. They then go onto list a bunch of red herrings, false assumptions, personal insecurities, and other myopic presumptions to reenforce their lack of vision.

A lot of their points are valid except for one thing: they are wrong.

Articles, like the one from The Verge, all have the same sanctimonious undertone with the assumption, one might even say the ordinance, that all people use or need their computer the same way by virtue of an ancient definition of what a computer is or should be. Or somehow tech pundits think they know exactly what your computer use already is; that all roads lead to a notebook. If an iPad was a laptop replacement, it would be a laptop.

In other words, they aren't arguing the point they believe, they are arguing a point of definition concerning computers. If one has, in fact, replaced their daily computer, be it a notebook or desktop, with an iPad, it must, therefore, be able to replace a laptop or desktop.

The beauty of all these devices is they operate like a vin diagram, overlapping in so many areas but all having their unique talents. Using such services as iCloud gives one the opportunity to access data from any many different devices. They all work in concert.

Technology is like the clothing industry. Not because some things are fashionable and others not, although that may be a facet, but technology for personal use is like buying shoes; one person will need more arch support, another will buy shoes just because they look cool, some will need a size 12 running shoe, while others prefer a size 7.5 minimalist shoe.

If your needs do not put you in the marketplace for a MacBook Pro, then don’t get one. If you want a touchscreen computer, productivity, design, photography, Netflix/YouTube/iTunes playing, super portable, Apple Pencil supporting device, the iPad Pro is going to be a great choice.

People have similar sentiments about taking photos with your a mobile phone. “A real photographer doesn’t take pictures with a phone,” they fired off. But then, 2010, I left my Nikon at home taking my iPhone 4 to London and proved them wrong. National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson, left his Nikon behind taking his iPhone 5s to Ireland and proved them wrong. ESPN shot the cover of their 9th annual 'Body Issue' magazine with iPhone 7 Plus and proved them wrong.

Technology history is riddled with pedestrian opinions, visionless jibber, and pundits and CEO’s who said ‘can’t,’ ‘won’t,’ ‘couldn’t,’ 'don't,' and more negatives, simply revealing, from the beginning, they never understood the industry they were discussing.

Get the device that works for you. Don’t worry about what people think YOU can or can not do with something. Go out and make it happen with whatever you have or whatever you want.

But, at the end of the day, your laptop can't replace my iPad Pro.

P.S. Apple Pencil is not a stylus. Accuracy Matters.™

RED Hydrogen One / July 7, 2017 by Adrian Galli

Red Hydrogen One, Image courtesy RED.com Inc.

RED, founded in 2005, took the digital cinema camera industry by storm releasing a relatively affordable 4K system in 2007; the RED One. Having used many of their cameras for cinema, I can attest they have made some very powerful devices over the past decade. Today they are major players in the camera industry with their Dragon, Epic, Scarlet, and other cameras but a few days ago they announced a smartphone, powered by Android, made from aluminum or titanium, and will feature an industry first holographic display. I don’t know exactly what that means or how it will look but very interesting nonetheless.

However, that I am not writing about the phone and specifications really. I'm writing about the tech blogging industry.

BGR.com, a.k.a. Boy Genius Report, a long standing tech blog I have followed for years, like so many others, are frequently so overtly negative and catty about their reviews and discussion of new technology that one might consider them luddites. They so quickly cast judgement or make unwarranted claims about technology that it is no surprise that many people aren't excited about new technology but complain, scold, judge, or ever fear it.

To be fair, BGR has some really great tech articles. Some writers simply miss the mark too frequently.

'Lead with negativity' must be the new mantra of tech editorials. Christ Smith of BGR.com on the RED Hydrogen One: "PSA: Do not preorder this $1,200 holographic Android phone."

And more headlines from Chris Smith:

The iPhone 8 design everyone hates just reappeared, and it’s somehow even uglier
Don’t get too excited about the latest Galaxy Note 8 leak
We might’ve finally figured out why the iPhone 8 is delayed

Number three is especially funny because the next generation iPhone hasn't even been announced so I'm not sure how it has been delayed but lets focus on "PSA: Do not preorder this $1,200 holographic Android phone."

“Yes, RED is an established name in the camera business. It is, however, not a smartphone maker. And just because it can make great cameras, it doesn’t mean it can also create great phones. Especially considering it has no history in the phone making business.”

— Chris Smith, BGR.com

In 2007, similar sentiments were said about Apple and iPhone. While I generally agree that the RED Hydrogen One is likely to a speciality smartphone, especially with a starting price of $1200/$1500 (at least purchased outright at that price), I admonish technology blogs for their lack of research, vision, and precision. And as my life rule #29 goes: Accuracy Matters.™

Everything everyone has ever done had to be done for the first time. When the RED One came out, they had no experience making anything and they changed the digital cinema camera industry over night. Don't write off the potential of others so easily.

Learn more about RED Hydrogen One.

June — A Year in Photographs / July 2, 2017 by Adrian Galli

Light, shadow, lines, structure.

Chicago is one of the architectural capitols of the world. With not only a long history but also famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago has a rich landscape of buildings both old and new.

Architecture is by far one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I love symmetry, geometry, patterns, and the interplay between different materials. There is no shortage of buildings in Chicago.

While May was a challenging month from the standpoint of executing on a daily basis, I chose this month to focus on a strength.

Commonly, architecture photography is about an interior or entire exterior of a building. While I certainly have many photographs of entire buildings, I am very drawn to the details of the building. So much so that sometimes one may never know what building I photographed even if famous.

Arch, for example, is a building that people come from miles around to visit. It is a famous building as part of the worldwide brand. Using my technique for photographing Geometry Series, Arch is much more minimal but one favorite from this month.

Much Architecture was captured using my Olympus E-M5 with a 45mm (90mm on 35) lens allowing for me to focus on the details of buildings. The Olympus 45mm f1.8 is a favorite lens of mine. While some use wide angle or perspective control lenses for architectural photography, I lean toward longer focal lengths. Wide angle lenses are a favorite of mine but in Chicago, wide angle lenses rarely only give a field of view for one building. Chances are two or three will show up in the image. But, as with all tools, using it the right way, one will achieve the desired results.

The month itself wasn't a challenge as many in the past but I enjoyed it immensely. A Year in Photographs launched as an endeavor into uncharted photographic territory but entering into the half-way mark, I wanted to included one of my favorite subjects.

July is upon us and with that I starts a new subject. As focusing on building details, I will be focusing on urban and cultural details. Some things are so common and seen so frequently, they are effectively rendered invisible.

I once argued that photographers are those who define objects that otherwise would not exist because language or commonality ignores said objects. These things are that which are completely obvious but ironically are not seen. The Blue of the Universe shares my theory of how one can define the ordinary making it extraordinary. July surely will be an exercise in photography's supernatural abilities.

Up next: July – Signs and Symbols