June and no art in site!

I’m going to have to start this post off with a MASSIVE rant at O2. I’m not an early adopter by nature but I was quick off the mark with my Iphone first gen. I lost it on a Bus in Barcelona. I `amazingly` had it insured so got another in three days and a week later promptly upgraded to the Iphone 3G and have had a fantastic year with it (11 months). So, I wait with baited breath about how to upgrade to the new Iphone 3GS on the 19th of June and I am now faced with having to buy out my contract to the tune of £180+ and then buy the Iphone for £180 and then increase my monthly contract fee as well. What is going on! They clearly do not want current Iphone users to have the new unit. Maybe because we got a discount on our 3G units but believe me this has knocked my confidence so much I will not now get one until the Iphone 4.0 which will no doubt be June 19th 2010. The fact that there is no form factor change either (not even an S on the back I read) means I wouldn't really want the 3GS anyway (Sounds like a bitter man taklking here right!!!). All the real goodies are in the 3.0 update not the new hardware and yes, faster would be good but I care not one fig about the camera. Enough said.

My new Sanyo Xacti performed well in Egypt this month. I shot about 3 gig of High Def video underwater including three wrecks which is a new thing for me only having dived reefs before this. I am spending the month do some editing and improving my shooting skills. It turns out I have a really bad habit of swinging the camera around too much and it makes the viewer sick. I’ve always been more of a 2D artist than a camera operator. Actually, I’m rubbish at photography and videography it seems but hey, you can’t have it all. I do think I need to look into a decent lighting rig before entering the water with the Xacti again. Whilst the footage was ok there is a definite loss of color when you go deeper than 10 meters.

So I’ve been back from Egypt for a week and I have not managed to draw or model a single thing. As I said in my Blog update about creative highs and lows I don’t do that much work in the summer months. I do think that a break from art re-charges my creative batteries and I leap back into projects with renewed vigour after the summer. I have 6 week now before I leave on my Med cruise and I’m going to focus on losing weight and getting in shape and spending a great deal of time with the kids and Pam. I’ll get some drawing and modeling done this month but it will be the bare minimum I think.

Tweet deck for the Iphone came out today. If you haven’t seen it go grab it. And later this evening the Iphone 3.0 software update is due to be released. At least that will make up for my lack of a new 3GS! O2 you stink!

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