Vincent Blake | May 06, 2008
FOR most of us, working a 12-hour day means we are overworked.
David Taylor with models Lars Weidemann (left) and Frey Mudd Picture: Lindsay Moller
But not for David Taylor.
Thanks to technology, keeping the business side of life down to half a day confirms to him that he is organised.
Taylor has two careers running simultaneously - one in IT and one in photography. His technology hat helps him juggle the demands on his time.
Working as the principal of Imagetaylor had him photographing models at Australian Fashion Week in Sydney. Between shows, he pulled out his notebook and logged on as engineering manager of D2 Networks - a company he cofounded and co-owns.
"I've kind of got it down pat now, just how to manage everything," he says of his split careers.
"I'm one of those people that has had about four careers. I generally get to where I wanted to be in one career (and find) it is not going where I want to. I then start building up a new one.
"So, IT is what I do now and I have a small photography business on the side which goes through phases of being busy and of not being so busy."
The ebb and flow of the photography business gives him some respite.
"I don't think any sensible human being ... could actually hold down two full-time jobs - not with any level of commitment," he says.
His weapon of choice in dealing with the demands on his time is an i-mate Ultimate 9502. It is a 3.5G wireless broadband handset with high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA).
"I have my laptop and I have my mobile phone," he says. "If I want to do anything serious, I whip the laptop out and I plug the phone in (as a wireless modem).
"We used to have iBurst (wireless broadband) but we've ditched it now because we have Windows Mobile. It works perfectly and the coverage is better and the speed is at least as good.
"We are running Clevo laptops - a generic Taiwanese brand. They have a good price point and they work really well. I get good service for them."
The most appealing aspect of the i-mate for him is its Secure i-Q package, which puts telco-level security features in the hands of end users.
"I-mate have the whole security thing sorted. You can lock it, wipe it, or set it to alarm based on the IMEI (the handset's unique 15-digit identifying number) It's great. The thing is to me the moment a few people have that sort of (security) thing kicking in, suddenly the whole market for stolen phones is going to disappear.
"I think it (mobile security) is reaching a level of maturity that makes it a valid option now."
Taylor says he was never confident that the telco service desk person at the end of the phone had blocked a phone's IMEI. "With the i-mate, you can take the SIM (card) out and see if it alarms ... That gave me a stronger level of confidence."
Taylor revels in both the artistic side of photography and the technical side - the camera and image processing.
He uses a Nikon D200.
"When I started (shooting at Australian Fashion Week) about three years ago, it was probably 85 per cent Canon, because they had the technology lead at the time they were faster, and they were great.
"Both cameras have problems. Nikon have now taken the lead because they have such low noise, and in terms of adverse shooting conditions they have the edge now, so there are a lot of (Nikon) D3s appearing.
"I love Nikon. I'm having a bit of a drool over the latest D3 camera. I've got to buy one but I just have not been able to justify $7000 for a body.
"It is a beautiful body. There has been an exponential leap in the (light-sensor) chip technology. The latest ones are CMOS.
"The chips have so little noise (aberrant image information).
"I'm shooting upwards of 2500 to 3000 images a day here at Fashion Week. I'll fill a (8GB CompactFlash) card every show.
"I'm shooting jpegs for this because I'm filling up the buffer on the camera too fast.
"You need to shoot fast for fashion. Models are marching towards you down the catwalk really fast, you just have to have spare buffer space."
"The new D3s are continuous shooting - as long as you have fast enough cards. They run dual cards. They can write to two cards consecutively: one file to one card, one file to the other, and you can set them in different configurations depending on what your requirements are."
After the show, he downloads the card into his Clevo notebook using Adobe Lightroom.
"The web export feature has a few options, but the one I use is a Flash gallery called Simple Viewer. It allows me to put up light boxes for my clients straight away."