Those that know me know that I am pretty much old fashioned. Most of my equipment is between 15 and 20 years old. Heck, I’m even writing the initial draft of this article with pen and paper.
When I purchased my iPad about a month ago, I was greeted with expressions of disbelief and amazement by most of my friends.
I made my purchase for two main reasons. The first was so that I would be able to give presentations with Apple’s Keynote app [App Store link]. I use Keynote extensively on the computer but I wanted to be able to utilize more compact hardware.
The second reason was to be able to have a better platform to show samples of my work. I ALWAYS carry a portfolio of some sort… ALWAYS! Before the iPad, I kept my 5×7 leather portfolio, which held 24 images, with me at all times. This portfolio was small and stylish enough that it was never an intrusion. However, it did lack in a couple ways. It only held 24 images and when viewing it in darker, quaint venues, the images just didn’t pop.
Currently, there is only one decent portfolio app for iPad. It is FolioBook [App Store link]. It allows me to have several galleries, displays in both landscape and portrait modes, and has a very smooth slideshow. Also, Foliobook is under active development so it keeps getting better.
It goes without saying that the iPad is a display unit. This solves shortcoming number two. It doesn’t matter how dark the quaint little coffee shops are, the XGA screen is crystal clear as well as nice and bright.
So, are these real benefits or perceived benefits? After all, we are constantly bombarded with marketing and advertising that is designed to make us desire the latest and greatest thing. For me, the benefits are the real deal. This unit does exactly what I was looking for.
In my first weeks with my new iPad I brought on two new clients (one for a sportrait and one for corporate head shots) simply because they noticed the tablet while I was having coffee. Let’s face it, it is a conversation piece. Showing off my portfolios with the crystal clear display sealed the deals!
This is a guest post by Vancouver Washington photographer Dave Scott. Follow Dave on Twitter as @davescottphoto.
