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Apple Searching for Retail Employees to Test Upcoming Photos App #1
Stuart's picture
by Stuart
July 15, 2014 - 5:22pm

Caught this via MacRumors this morning:  http://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/15/apple-retail-employees-photos-for-osx-test/ Apple is looking for retail employees that are “passionate photography enthusiasts” for bata testing. So my questions is this new Photo App going to be a Consumer or Professional editing tool? If Apple is only asking for retail store employees for testing I am now beginning to wonder about this program. Now I could be wrong here in my thinking.

Jochen H. Schmidt's picture
by Jochen H. Schmidt
July 15, 2014 - 8:25pm
Hi Stuart, I think that you are indeed wrong in your thinking. ;) Actually in at least two ways: 1) Even “retail store employees” can be capable photographers When I still was a student - one of the better jobs was retail store employee in our local Apple reseller store. I worked there for some time and several of my colleagues were very capable photographers. One even studied media design with photography as a focus. 2) No info about other testers There is absolutely no information that Apple plans to just use those people as testers. It could be quite possible that they also have some professional photographers on NDA. One thing is clear though: Photos will certainly not a product _restricted_ to a professional audience. It is a holistic solution and I’m willing to believe that it actually is possible to create something like that. – Jochen
Butch Miller's picture
by Butch Miller
July 16, 2014 - 6:06am

Apple has been known to keep at least a few top drawer shooters in the loop when bringing products to market. As I recall, they had input and examples ready to share by the likes of Chase Jarvis, Bill Frakes and Joe McNally … on the day Aperture 3 was released. So there is a track record in that respect. Those packages that were presented were not created overnight. Those guys had more than a few days to work with Aperture 3 and likely offered valuable input that helped guide and shape development.  Just wish I was on that list. ;-) If Apple is including working pros in this process … they are very likely not going to conduct a public search for participants.

We really have to get off this total speculation kick and analyzing every move Apple is making and what the Photos app will be.

First … Photos v1 is NOT going to be everything we all hoped the next iteration of Aperture would be. Quite likely, it won’t be an equivalent replacement for what Aperture can do now.

Secondly … don’t underestimate these lowly “retail employees” … many of us who have been full time (and part time) working pros had to work elsewhere to pay the bills until we could strike out on our own. We all had to start out somewhere. I doubt Apple is going to leverage everything they hope to accomplish with Photos purely on the expectations of novice iPhone photographers. They will likely try to get the widest spectrum possible for input and direction.

Thirdly … To me, the most important factor of this whole new offering from Apple is not what it’s going to be in early 2015 … but what is it going to make possible down the road beyond that date. We must also keep in mind that this industry is constantly evolving. I’m doing much more in video work than I had ever anticipated. It’s very likely our reliance on still photography image processing will be much less in future years than it is today. More change may be coming sooner than we think as markets change and we adapt to serve them.

I have a feeling this next step in image processing evolution is gearing up to set the industry on it’s ear and open up some tremendous possibilities that were once only imagined just s short time ago. This project is only the infancy of what is to mature and unfold. I wager, that evolution will be brisk, breathtaking and well worth the wait.

Bob Rockefeller's picture
by Bob Rockefeller
July 16, 2014 - 9:52pm

I agree. All this speculation is unfounded and will get us nowhere. The speculation and predictions for the “next Aperture” got us nothing but the end of Aperture.

We can now only watch and hope. Maybe Apple will create in Photos (probably not at v1)  the revolutionary photo tool we are dreaming of. Maybe they won’t even try. Let’s move on.

If Aperture does what you need now, you can keep using it for quite a while. You may be investing time into a dead end, but that may be your best choice.

Or you could jump to Lightroom or Capture One Pro (I’m trying that and blogging about it at www.bobrockefeller.com) or even DxO Optics Pro. They many not suit you either.

It’s sometimes sad that Apple is as secretive as it is. Maybe they don’t even know what Photos will be during 2015, but it would be nice if they could say something as simple “Aperture is being retired, but Photos will be developed into a tool with the professional features serious photographers want and need.” We’d all feel a lot better.

Bob
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Bob Rockefeller
Midway, GA
www.bobrockefeller.com

bjurasz's picture
by bjurasz
July 16, 2014 - 11:08pm

As a former Apple employee (Silicon Engineering Group) I can tell you that many Apple employees are very accomplished photographers, and many of them are in the retail division as well as in engineering.

Bill Jurasz
Austin Texas

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