Microsoft Pro Photo Summit
On Wednesday and Thursday I attended the 1st ever Microsoft Pro Photo summit. In attendance were some of the biggest names in the Photographic Industry, including Dennis Reggie whose last notable wedding was for Campbell Brown of NBC, Steve Fine of Sports Illustrated, Vincent Laforet of the NY Times and 350 others of similar stature.
The topics of discussion began with “Publishing in a Digital World”, “Color Management”, “Directions on RAW”, “Maximizing Metadata”, “Trends in Stock Photography”, “Photography Workflow”, and “Reliable Storage.” Generally they were panel discussions with the leaders the industry in each category specialty. After the moderator presented a series of leading questions to the panel the selected audience was allowed in depth questions.
Not to speak for Microsoft in any way, but I feel they were honestly trying to get feed back from the industry leaders in order to make software improvements that would enhance the digital photographer’s user experience. With the public’s rapid adaptation and conversion to digital photography and their upcoming release of the next Windows operating system called “Vista” this is both understandable and a good move. Both days were filled with information and at times was very entertaining.
One episode, or exchange that was absolutely hilarious involved and interchange between Vincent Laforet, and Thomas Knoll Director of Product development at Adobe. Thomas was responding to a question about the limits of number of pixels arrayed on a sensor, basically Mega pixel count, when he went to a long description regarding how quantum physics is now approaching it’s physical limits in terms of pixel density. Vincent who won Pulitzer Prize for photography, turned to Thomas and said something like “What was that?” The audience laughed, but it really dramatized how great the chasm is between the engineers creating the software and hardware ‘cameras’ and the end user, in this case a brilliant photojournalist. Adobe makes the preeminent software used by photographers today, “Photoshop”, but I suspect many users like myself, have no idea how it is actually coded or what makes it work.
I had a chance to sit and have lunch with Thomas Knoll and remarked, “Why is it that I have the pleasure to be with the two smartest guys in the room?”
One other very special encounter I had was that I got a chance to meet Dennis Reggie.
A reception was held at the Bellevue Art Museum. Dennis who is credited with the Term and style “Wedding Photojournalism” was actually a GREAT guy! I asked him the classic question, “What goes through your mind when you create a great photograph, can you actually tell at that instant?” He said, “Yes I know I have got it.” To summarize the five minute beautiful oration he gave me. All I could say was WOW I think I just met Picasso! He laughed and it really broke down all barriers.
I really learned a lot from the speakers, and Tim Grey head of their Pro Photo division and Microsoft team involved went over the top creating this once in a lifetime event!
