When I spoke at large software conferences back in the 90s, where 1,500 folks might pay to listen to hear me prattle on for a few hours, my preparation went like this:
- Discuss with the organizers the kind of talk to give.
- When the conference program comes out, see the actual title and description of my talk.
- Prepare a talk that exactly conformed to that advertised title and description, even if it differed from what was discussed in advance.
Even the most fantastic presentation is destined to make people feel cheated if attendees arrive expecting to hear about something else.
I know this from unfortunate first-hand experience as an attendee myself. For example, once I showed up to a presentation by Famous Computer Guy expecting to hear the talk advertised in the conference program, only to be subject to the advertised speaker inexplicably giving a different talk, apparently recycled from some earlier conference. It wasn't a last-minute schedule change; I think the speaker was just lazy.
Perhaps there was overlap between the two target audiences — those interested in the advertised talk and those interested in the delivered talk — but I was not among them and so my time and my attention was completely wasted. I felt deceived and disrespected.
This applies to most any kind of teaching/presentation situation where folks choose to attend based upon the description.... from the aerobics lesson at a gym to a college class to a presentation at a conference to a play or music performance:
I showed up at my local gym today and thought I'd give a particular aerobics class a try. It was advertised as being for beginners for whom dancing is not a strong point, so it was up my alley to get in some low-impact sweat. I think I was the only first-timer in the class because when the instructor put the music on, I was the only person who didn't launch into a complex choreographed dance (like a high-energy version of Michael Jackson's Thriller). It left me just standing there dumb, wondering what to do. Perhaps it was just a warmup? After a few embarrassing minutes of just standing there amid the flailing high-energy limbs and torsos, I eventually bothered anther student to ask when the instruction could come, to which I found out there wasn't any.
Nothing was wrong with the lesson nor the description: the problem is that they didn't match. This is fully the instructor's fault (though the gym also bears responsibility for allowing such an instructor).
Feeling absolutely stupid and deceived; I slinked out of the room and returned home, devoid of both sweat and a good mood.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Deeply Appreciative
this scene really warmed my heart
Given yesterday's post about how iPad photography looks silly (not is silly, mind you, but looks silly, to me), when I was out and about in Kyoto today with a friend visiting from The States, seeing someone taking pictures with an iPad caught my attention more than average.
The scene above, at the Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺) not long before sunset, really warmed my heart. I loved the juxtaposition of old and new... traditional and revolutionary... young and old (and young at heart)... all wrapped in the aura of understated but undeniable class and style. I was tickled pink just to witness it as I was quickly passing by on the way home.
Earlier in the day, at the Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺, the “Silver Pavilion”) in north-east Kyoto....
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pausing to Read my Blog?
( uh, no, probably not )
Other iPad-photography shots I happened across today are not worth sharing, so here's a bonus shot from the Kiyomizu Temple...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Late Afternoon Sunburst
There was probably a rainbow to my back at the time, but I didn't notice. (I did notice later, but by then I'd moved to a place where the foreground scene wasn't worth a photo.)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Why
does this look so silly?
(at the Kintai Bridge (錦帯橋), Iwakuni Japan)
What is it about taking photos with an iPad or other tablet that makes it look so stupid?
My iPad has no camera so I've never been tempted to take a photo with it, but even if I could, I'm not the kind to take advantage of its social-networking benefits (like immediate posting to Facebook or Instagram or whatever the current fad is). So I'd probably not use it for photography any more than I use my iPhone, which is to say, not at all unless it's the only camera around and my quality threshold happens to be low.
But anyway, tablet photography looks downright silly. Why? Is it that we're just not used to seeing people holding up big boards to snap a photo? We're used to small boards (phones), so that's why people taking a photo with an iPhone don't look silly?
Practically speaking the resulting photos should be similar to those taken with a phone, so I can't come up with a logical reason why I (and the rest of the Internet) has such a visceral reaction when presented with a scene like this. Any ideas?
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Crows
Lots of Crows
at the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan
After posting “The Hope Imbued in a Dull Sunset” the other day, I decided to pop on up for that evening's sunset even though I knew it would be completely dull, out of a sense of irony and because I was going to be in the neighborhood anyway.
As I walked up, there was more color than I had expected...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
As Good as it Got
Whatever flash of color was waiting for my arrival faded in the time it took to change lenses, and that was that.
The crows, however, often active at dusk, were in prime form.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/160 sec, f/5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
They accumulate in the trees near the top of the small mountain, sitting more or less quietly until all at once in a sudden cacophony caws and wings the sky erupts in crow, and they fly way out over the eastern part of the city as a big expanding mass that, if viewed on a bird-by-bird basis, has no apparent rhyme nor reason of purpose. After a minute or two, they start to trickle back until at some point you notice that the sky is bird free, or just one or two....
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
And then a few minutes later, it starts over, repeating itself perhaps half a dozen times over the course of the fading light.
Today Adobe released a release candidate for Lightroom 5.3, which I believe fixes the nasty Lr5 Publish/Selection bug I've written about. If you give 5.3RC a try, let me know whether it seems to be fixed for you as well...