October 31, 2004, Sedona, AZ - When I landed in Phoenix from chilly Toronto early Sunday afternoon, the hot sun raised my hopes that the upcoming week in Sedona would be full of summer-like weather. It wasn’t to be. Sedona’s elevation of 4,500 feet in the high southwestern desert under the rim of the Colorado Plateau leads to temperatures 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix, although there is plenty of clean air and, usually, sunshine. While we didn’t hit the jackpot during the summit – the middle of the week was a little dismal with relentless rain – this depressing patch of weather was bookmarked with cloudless sunny days, and most of us took the opportunity at the end of the week to get out there and enjoy it via jeep and helicopter tours.More than 80 attendees and speakers congregated for three full days of seminars followed by two days of hands-on workshops. Members flew in from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Malaysia to attend the third annual IQTVRA Summit and a little of what’s called Red Rock Fever.
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Located two hours north of Phoenix, the Sedona area is located in the middle of a canyon surrounded by red rock formations, often in strange shapes with evocative names such as Snoopy (lying on his doghouse), Cathedral and Courthouse. Sometimes erroneously referred to as mountains, the formations are actually the edges of the canyon. The light is clear and strong; sunsets are glorious when the sun’s last rays set the rocks on fire. Not a bad setting for a horde of photographers.
A mixer was held after the seminars Monday evening, the first real chance I had to meet, mingle and chat with all the people I’ve heard and written about over the past couple years. Names and faces became a blur that night (possibly due to the open bar) but throughout the week there were many opportunities to get better acquainted over dinner, drinks and cigarette breaks, the latter mostly with the ‘European contingent’. (Agreed, it’s not the best reason for smoking, but smokers regularly congregate in small groups, forming connections that might otherwise not happen.) During breaks and at the end of the day, people gathered in informal groups to discuss the seminars they'd attended.
Keynote Address
Bob Goldstein, co-author of the upcoming book ‘Going Visual: Using Images to Enhance Productivity, Decision-Making and Profits’ and Ken Turkowski, well-known QuickTime VR engineer and Kinoma VR software designer, made a keynote presentation. Dennis Biela of LightSpeed Media also talked about the latest developments in VR.
The IQTVRA is offering a streaming video of the keynote address to encourage discussion of where VR technology stands and where it is headed. (Special thanks to Bob Fisher (camera), and John Wren of U/Massachusetts, Lowell for making this streaming video possible.
Two cameras were used to record the presentation, including close-ups of handheld devices. Total time is 60 minutes. The videos are available at:
http://riverhawk.uml.edu:8080/ramgen/inet/vr/sedonakey1.rm
http://riverhawk.uml.edu:8080/ramgen/inet/vr/sedonakey2.rm
Seminars
Both Jook Leung and Scott Highton’s seminars were popular, as was Pat St. Clair’s ‘VR 101’, Lee Varis’ ‘Luminosity Blending & Sky Replacement Techniques’, Bob Connelly’s ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About PDF But Were Afraid to Try’ and Bob Goldstein and Ken Turkowski’s ‘Mobile Imaging Devices & The Future With Kinoma’, to mention just a few.
By far the most talked about development at the Summit was Aldo Hoeben’s SPi-V Engine. The Summit marks the second time (the recent Photokina in Cologne was the first) the engine has been shown to a large audience and Aldo’s seminars and workshops were jam packed with attendees. SPi-V is a panoramic viewer based on Macromedia’s Shockwave technology and the only QuickTime alternative for cubic VRs. Initial feedback has been extremely positive and the multi-talented Aldo has generated a great deal of chatter.
People
As a first time attendee at the IQTVRA Summit, and one who has attended many impersonal investment industry conferences in the past, everyone’s friendliness, passion for photography and the general spirit of camaraderie left an impression. As one veteran photographer remarked, there was no one merely ‘taking up space’. Amateurs were there to learn from the seasoned professionals, and the pros were there to impart their wisdom and learn from their colleagues.
Loren Price and his lovely wife Jo put in a monumental effort to keep things flowing smoothly and making sure that everyone had their needs met. Loren picked up attendees at the Phoenix airport and took them on the two-hour plus drive to Sedona, only to turn around and repeat the process for the next group arriving. The indefatigable Jo was in constant motion, dropping people off at the Tlaquepaque shopping gallery, picking others up from spiritual readings, organizing groups for dinner and generally ensuring that the family members of attendees were making the most of their surroundings.
I finally got to meet Dennis Biela and see the QuickTime Bug, which Cliff Van Meter drove to the event from Chicago. Dennis is quite the jovial guy; he told a hilarious story one night about his misadventure in China that kept the dinner table in stitches (tossed off a ship deck by an errant cable, he busted his knee and elbow, leading to a long line of bureaucratic and medical mix-ups). Greg Downing, who is as articulate and impressive as his work would suggest, regaled me with a tale of an afternoon hike gone awry that turned into a two day ordeal with a fire, arranged hastily in darkness, later discovered to be composed of poison oak.
Don Bain, who is a true gentleman blessed with a steel trap mind housing an encyclopedic knowledge of American west geography, history and vegetation, took a small group of us on an unplanned excursion to the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon and Chapel of the Holy Cross, pointing out the distinctive southwest style of architecture, mountain biking trails, prickly pear cactus and cottonwood trees along the way.
One of the best aspects of the Summit is the opportunity to meet passionate informed panographers from all over the globe with different interests, all willing to share their particular expertise and spend extra time with ‘newbies’, often giving one-on-one advice after seminars. Jen Siow, a commercial photographer specializing in the advertising field, told me he met Dennis Biela three years ago in Kuala Lumpur at one of Dennis’s VR seminars. It was Jen’s first exposure to VR photography and he quickly became hooked. Now on his second IQTVRA Summit, Jen said he especially appreciated the opportunity to receive critical feedback on his work and improve his postproduction skills from the top VR photographers in the world.
Summit Sponsors
Thanks and appreciation go to summit sponsors Kaidan, VR Toolbox, FujiFilm, iPix, Panoscan, Kinoma, Manfrotto and Realviz, many of whom had their wares on hand for demonstration.
Summit Organziers
Conference organizers Dennis Biela, Loren Price and Michael Quan did a terrific job at putting this event together. You have to attend one of these events to really appreciate the amount of time, planning and energy that goes into it, and when everything runs smoothly, it seems effortless. If there were any glitches, I didn’t notice them. I hope the three get some well-deserved R & R.
Special Offer for Summit 2004 Alumni
The IQTVRA is extending a special offer of $545 for the 2005 summit, to be held somewhere on the East coast. This special offer covers five full days of seminars and workshops but must be booked before November 20, 2004.
Register at: http://lightspeedmedia.bigstep.com/item.html?PRID=1417086
Summit Photos and Panos:
- Here’s a great object movie by Robert C. Fischer that aptly shows how everyone on the sunset jeep tour was trying to capture a pano (approx. 110 frames).
- Don Bain’s panorama of Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, near Sedona, Arizona
- James Neiss' Adventures in Sedona and Arizona
- More Summit photos from:
- Greg Downing
- Jook Leung
- Landis Bennett
- Daniel Maurer
- Pat St. Clair
- Patrick Cheatham
- Edward Huff
What happens when a bunch of VR folk walk into a hotel and realize that there is a statue that is perfectly set up for an object shot? View Jim Galvin's Sedona Hilton object VR.
