David Manning Photographers Bloggin

Alright, I had to put my two cents in on the iPad.  Since the announcement, it has received some scathing commentaries from some very short sighted people with a complete lack of creativity.  I won’t take long.  Just a few paragraphs to explain the device and how I see it.

The rumors and hype were huge!  What is Apple going to come up with to enter the tablet market?  We know they’ve played with the idea in the past (evidence of prototypes has even been found), but had abandoned the idea because they didn’t believe it was a real “game changer”.  Many of us that regard Steve Jobs as “Uncle Steve” prayed that he would reconsider.  Then, last year, the hype started again and the rumor mills were aflutter.  Every Apple yielding, gadget loving person in America had heard that Apple was going to release a new “game changing” tablet.  I knew a couple of very important factors in the product though, that allowed for the product to meet the level of my expectations.

Traditionally, the first generation of any new Apple device is “less than” what people thought it might be.  Of course though, naturally humans are very creative and came up with a million an one things that we thought the iPad “could” or “should do”.  Don’t get me wrong, the first gen iPod, the first gen PowerBook, and the first gen iPhone were all incredible devices!  Critics were harsh with short sighted reviews that slammed the products for what they lacked though.  This is to be expected, and you can bet that nobody at Apple is losing sleep over a few bloggers that feel better about themselves when they can critique instead of praise.  All of those devices have gone on to record sales and I’m not sure I know many people that have never owned an iPod.  So what is the iPad and how will it be used?

Steve Jobs and the team that developed the iPad were not short sighted and neither am I.  This device is going to revolutionize your life, whether you like it or not.  You will end up buying one.  Maybe not this year, as the “early adopter” crew will sweep them up and begin their integration into mainstream.  You will see someone using one in line at Starbucks, look over their shoulder and wonder.  Maybe not even next year, when most books, newspapers, and magazines will have a version of their publication in iPad ready format and we will be seeing the release of the 2nd Generation iPad.  By then your neighbor will most likely have one though, and you will wonder.  I will guarantee that within three years though, you will have an iPad, and so will many of the people you know.

How many times have you read the news on the computer, printed out a recipe to cook in the kitchen, finished a book on a flight and wished the thing wasn’t so large that you could have packed two?  Well how about reading that same news on the couch, pulling up the VIDEO of the recipe to watch while making in the kitchen, and books?  Well how about storing thousands for you to take along with you anywhere you are?

For you photographers out there:  How about taking out your iPad for someone you’ve just  met and showing them a video slideshow of your work?  How about getting a new clients email, inputting their info into your ShootQ, and having a proposal sent to them before you even leave the coffee shop you just met them at?

Yes, there will be next generations.  It is almost guaranteed that the second generation iPad will have a front-facing video camera and probably a USB port for more generalized accessories.  So you can wait for the 2nd Generation iPad and be one of the masses that picks one up.  Or you can be an early adopter, pave the way, and have this device incorporated into your business and life well ahead of the curve.  Which is a place that I like to be!

My point is this:  The iPad is a new multi-tool.  Be creative, think outside of the box, and imagine what you can do with this tool!  You don’t have to get one right away, you can just come hang out with me and play with mine.  Yep, DMP will for sure be sporting an iPad!

For the years that I have lived in my townhouse in Rancho Bernardo, there has been an un-fillable void on one of my walls.  With vaulted ceilings in my family room, there above my TV, stood a giant empty space.  I never knew what to do with it, but I knew something had to go there.  But what?  What could fill such a huge space?  Then I found it.  An original, one-of-a-kind, painting by an Italian artist that was large enough (102″x48″) and my favorite color, deep red!  Putting it up in four sections was a total pain in the butt to get them all perfectly level, but after an hour or so, it was done.  I stood back and reveled at how it fit the space, was a great conversation starter, and could take up a countless amount of time just staring at all the unique strokes.

Okay, okay, so it wasn’t done by some famous Italian artist, I painted it myself.  While I’m not famous, I am Italian!  So it’s fun to tell people that ask about it, “Oh yeah, that’s a one of a kind painting by an Italian artist!”  Hahaha!!!  Everything else in that first paragraph is true though.  I was baffled at what to put in that space!  Then one day, I got an idea to create a giant slit-painting on wood.  I went to Home Depot that same day, picked up all the supplies and started working on the piece.  Three weeks later and a ton of late night hours in the garage, and this is the result.  I used a ton of paint, many many layers, and not a single paint brush!  Instead, I used things like putty knives, old rags, scrap wood, and sandpaper.  Thought I would share it with you all.  Enjoy!

Imagine that space totally EMPTY!  It haunted my dreams, and bugged the heck out of my days!