Adobe.... I hate you

This isn't about Adobe products as much as its about Adobe's horrible business tactics. I use photoshop like all photographers and i love it, but i can't wait till Apple turns out their own substitute for it. Of course in the past year my PS usage has dramatically dropped, due to Aperture. But inevitably, there are times when PS is needed.

So heres my gripe: I recently shot some stuff in RAW with a Canon G10. I normally use Aperture for RAW conversion, but i wanted to a quick test on one image to check out the G10's dymanic range and such. My CS3 which i bought less than 1.5 year ago wouldn't open it. I needed the new version of Camera RAW. Fair enough. Nothing new. So i download it off the Adobe website (for free) and installed it. All set, right? Wrong. i get a error message telling me this version of ACR will not work with CS3... please upgrade to CS4. A $350 upgrade!!!!! and therein lies the problem.

Adobe, like a few other professional software which for some time controlled the market (cough AVID cough) suspend their support for older versions of their software, forcing you to upgrade!! at a rate of once every 18 months, and in the declining and never-gonna-go-back-to-the-wasteful-ways economy, this is outrageous. ACR is not a big deal. it a free plug-in.

Apple, on the other hand, has constantly, and regularly updated and improved their products. An Apple upgrade, is a true upgrade. not just a few new features and a changed interface.

In my days as an editor, i experienced the same lack of customer care with AVID. A product that hardly improved its product since its inception (besides a nicer interface and compact hardware). These companies take advantage of their domination of the market. But i, like many editors, threw AVID to the crocks once Apple's FCP was in it's 3rd version. Apple has since had three more MAJOR, and i mean MAJOR versions. they consistently fix and patch their versions and provide outstanding support.

The same can be said for Apple's Aperture. In only its second version, Aperture has proven they are serious, professional and take customer feedback serious. I love it. 

I'll probably never buy another version of PS and i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Apple substitute.

Adobe... I hate you.

Inauguration of Barack Obama

I'll try and avoid hindsight wishes (like how i wish i could've stayed longer and not needed sleep or food and the cold was comforting, etc). Despite all that the weekend was ____________ (place a magnanimous word that makes amazing, unbelievable, incredible, etc look boring). But the day of, was something entirely unique. Imagine, 2.5 million people in a small area, horribly crowd controlled and no contingency plans.... 0 arrests!! Here's another mind-blower: I didn't get to the area i had a ticket for and ended up farther back in non-ticket area, and i didn't care, complain or even feel bad about it! SHOCKING!! 

The spirit that descended on DC for the Inauguration of Barack Obama, was unreal. I really wish (oh snap, i did it!!) i could've photographed more. But being a part of it meant being crammed somewhere in the cold for a long time. In all honesty, by the time the swear-in ceremony begun, i didn't care to photograph. I was there, i was happy. I was witnessing something special. Call it the first African-American president, call it the end of the dark Bush days, call it the rebirth of America, call it the second American revolution, call it change, call it history. It was all that and.... 

So these first photographs are of the We Are One free concert (which i didn't see and hardly despite being there and not too far away!!) It really amazing to see all these people gather in the freezing cold to not see or hear an event and be really okay about the whole thing.

If this were in NYC, they'd arrested about %50 of the crowd and all the black people, just because its NYPD!! i seriously waited for he cops to come storming into the crowd (somehow) and  pull people off trees and start handcuffing. Nope. we were allowed to enjoy this weekend.

Inauguration day, 2.5 million American ascend out of the darkness of eight years and the metro station to gather on the washington mall and witness history.

In the early morning, crowd control gave way to a peaceful and easy chaos. This crowd was tested by the elements and and logistics of the event all day. 

 A boy scout troop from Arizona spent the sub-freezing night outside the mall area. 

I couldn't get to my ticketed area, but all i cared about was being there. I fore went wasting another second and just entered the mall area much farther back that where i should have been. mostly on tip toes to cranes a look over the taller crowd in front. This was my moment. This was our moment.

And afterward the celebrating continued. some braved the ice of the reflecting pool to slide, dance and enjoy a new America. Thank god almighty. At Last.

Daily pic

As i took this picture in the freezing cold today, my iPhone froze up. this image remained on my dead iPhone.

plane crash goo omen

It seems like the plane that emergency landed into the hudson river oday, had no casualtie. I think its an omen, on the night that bush is to give his farwell speech, our problem started with a plane going into a NYC building and a plane safely landing on NYC hudson river spells the end of this shit