Connected Conference 2015

Posted on 04 Jun 2015 in blog, paris, Tech Events | 2 comments

Connected Conference, 27 May 2015, Paris, France. Image ©Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media – http://www.heisenbergmedia.com/

Now in it’s second instalment, The Rude Baguette’s Connected Conference took place at the Carreau du Temple in the 3rd district of Paris on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of May.

Having covered the Connected Conference for Liam and his team last year, I found the venue this year to be much more suited to the number of attendees, much better located and accessible, and generally more attractive. That, and the Carreau du Temple is located in Le Marais (translated – The Marsh), one of my most favourite areas of Paris, a neighbourhood I find to have just the right balance of old world charm and new world functionality and form.

Connected Conference, 27 May 2015, Paris, France. Image ©Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media – http://www.heisenbergmedia.com/

And speaking of attractive, the Connected Conference not only presented a number of hot companies in the Internet of Things space, but did so in a real-world, practical manner. This was the very first event that I’ve ever attended that allowed participants to actually interact with and experience a connected home.

To be fair, when I first heard the news that the team was going to build a home, my imagination ran a bit wild, and I’d envisioned a two story townhouse built inside a conference venue. In hindsight, I now realise that that might have been a bit ambitious for something that was only going to be available for the next three days. Townhouse or not, the one story connected home that was constructed featured a number of connected products, a number of which I’d previously never seen.

In a similar vain, Liam managed to present us with a very attractive Jaguar R-type grand touring car, that product manager Carl Smith explained to me contained a number of connected features, all tied back to a master control centre run by Jaguar. And as with any “Big Brother’s Watching,” type product, my first question was, “But can I turn it off?” To which his reply was, “at the flip of a switch.” Fair enough.

Connected Conference, 27 May 2015, Paris, France. Image ©Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media – http://www.heisenbergmedia.com

Attendees were also able to view (but hands off), a 50,000 € 3D printed titanium bike. That’s right, a 50,000 € bicycle. Needless to say, as intrigued as I was, I kept my distance and didn’t even dare to ask to ride it. As a main sponsor, Autodesk also had a number of other high profile items on display, including a guitar that can be custom designed using their software. I actually mis-twitted during the event claiming that the guitar itself had been 3D printed. This wasn’t actually the case, as it’s a usage of one of Autodesk’s software programs that allows purchasers the ability to custom design the body of their guitar, which luthiers then craft.

On a sidenote, after a bit of research, I discovered ODD Guitar, which actually ARE 3D printed guitars. Note to organisers, I want to see/hear from Olaf Diegel at your next event. We’ve all seen 3D printers. Now show us some practical, real world, rock-and-roll sexy, applications.

I should also point out that this conference will forever hold particular significance to me as a photographer, as it was the first one that I’ve ever shot in completely manual mode on both my Nikon cameras. Previously, depending on the situation, I’d alternated between aperture priority and shutter priority modes.

As this venue was a challenging mix between tungsten based stage lighting, and natural skylights, neither modes were delivering the precise results I wanted. Thus, I had the “Fuck it…I’ll do it myself.” moment. I will admit, there are a few images that I missed that I would have liked to deliver, but having just completed a job in D.C. (this post is being written somewhere over Iceland), where I repeated the same process, albeit in a much more controlled lighting environment, I’d be hard pressed to ever go back to A or S modes again.

Shot with my Fuji X-T1 and edited on my iPhone 6.

Shot with my Fuji X-T1 and edited on an iPhone 6. Time from capture to publication, approximately 2 minutes.

Similarly, this was also the first time that I’ve covered all external events, meaning non-stage events, solely with just my Fuji X-T1, iPhone 6, and Olloclip. This small form factor means ultra lightweight portability, and I’ve received more than a few, “Wow! You did that with your phone?” comments. And speaking of iPhone and Olloclip shots, a side note…my airbnb, located just steps away from the venue was absolutely stunning. If you need a place in Paris, tell Othmane I sent you.

As a lover of Paris, it’s always a treat for me to visit one of my favourite cities, and the end of May is an absolutely beautiful time to be there. I shot, I learned, and I networked. And from what I saw and heard from other attendees, there was very much of the same happening on their end. Speaking of overheard, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on Liam’s conversation with the president of Bosch France about his ambitious goals for the conference next year. As my business is based on trust, respect, and discretion, I’m never one to let the proverbial cat out of bag, I’ll only say that if he can pull it off, Liam will have successfully cleared some airspace above Paris. Stay tuned!

Enjoy, and until the next shoot – Dan