Yesterday I picked up a brand spanking new iPhone 3GS. Kendra and I made our way down to the Apple store in Soho where we spent all of 10 minutes standing in line. Before I knew it my original non-3g phone was converted into an iPod Touch and my new baby way taking calls and receiving emails.

Later, while eating sushi, I set up my email, took a few pics and started playing around with the cool new compass feature! Kendra laughed for quite a while as I followed the almost "candid-camera-esque" instructions for calibrating the compass...

So, my favorite new feature about this phone is obviously the camera. Auto-focus, macro capability and a bigger file! Once I got home I downloaded and configured Pixelpipe, which is now set to upload pics and vids to Flickr and Facebook ( how cool is that ) and of course Camerabag, which was recommended to me by the editors over at MacCreate.com.

Next month I will be attending the wedding of a close friend of mine. It's sure to be a blast and while they have hired a pro to cover the event, I really want to take some great pictures. Normally, I would probably cover a wedding using a pretty typical equipment kit. Two DSLR bodies, three or four lenses and a couple of TTL strobes would probably do the trick. But, for this event I have decided to try and do something a little different. First of all, I plan to shoot the entire event in black and white. Second, I plan to use only available light. That's right, no flash whatsoever.

I think I have a few options here. The ideal digital tool for the job would be something along the lines of a Canon 5D MKII, or some other small DSLR that does really great in low light and high ISO. This camera coupled with a fixed, fast lens like the 24 f/1.4 or 35 f/1.4 would be just about all I'd need.

Of course I don't currently have any of this equipment, so I would have to either borrow or rent.

Alternatively, I could try and shoot this event on film using Tmax p3200.  I have used this film plenty of times in the past, and it's really great stuff. The grain is HUGE, but smooth and pleasant, and you can even push it a stop or two if you really need to. Of course, I'd need to acquire a bunch of it ( please tell me Kodak still makes this stuff ) and, I'd need to set up a processing line to get at the images.

I recently ran across a blog posting on a website I helped to put together while living in Dominica. The website, RossPHR.org was originally constructed as a way to dispense news and information about the local chapter of the Physicians For Human Rights organization at Ross University in Dominica. This organization does great things like fund raising for locals and international aid campaigns.

In their latest post titled "Grange Video, Mitchel Dubois" someone has put together a slideshow based campaign to raise funds for this individual in Dominica. It's a great idea and hopefully their campaign will help to get this guy the care he needs. However, the author chose to use the hit single, "We Are The World" which was originally the title song for the famous USA for Africa campaign. It was written by musical giants Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones in 1985.-- Anyone who's anyone has heard the tune!

My question is, how did RossPHR secure the license to use this song in their slideshow. Well, I'm sure they did no such thing. In fact, I would take an educated guess and say they simply downloaded the song off the Internet and used it without ever once considering whether or not they were doing something wrong.

But blogs do this all the time. There are literally hundreds of thousands of instances of illegally used material on the web right now, perhaps more. Just take a look at YouTube. These days when I want to listen to a song, YouTube is usually my first stop--It's absolutely incredible. YouTube has made an honest effort to stop this, but really, it's nearly an impossible task.

In case you have been wondering... I've been a little bit busy. I do apologize fore the lack of recent blog posts, and I plan to get back on the ball here over the next few days. Fortunately, for me, the main reason I haven't been able to post much has been... I've been working!

I recently acquired a  new client, and have been hard at work on a number of other projects that have taken up most of my time. But, it has been fun. 

So stay tuned for a few new articles coming in the next few days. Part II of "My Virtual Office" is nearly finished, and I will have a follow up essay about the new Olympus EP-1 coming as well.

Thanks for all your patience!