Chris “…to be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be
capable of being in uncertainty and mystery. And one does not get lost
but loses oneself, with the implication that it is a conscious choice, a
chosen surrender, a psychic state achievable through geography.”
– A Field Guide To Getting Lost
After several free trials, beta tests and tribulations I have chosen iA Writer as my tool to help me create stories I want to tell (not calling myself a writer or author yet).
The software for me had to pass several standards such as:
Cross-platform (Windows, iOS)
Inexpensive
Clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing.
No overwhelming amount of tools that I’ll never use
Mission accomplished.
When I noticed recently that the total number of photos stored
on my computer is almost 40,000, it seemed time to do some organizing and pruning. No problem right? Just get rid of the images I don’t want and look for the keepers.
So, what to do with pictures like
the one above? It’s probably not worth saving for the fact that it snows in Houston Texas once every ten years. Or that we only had enough snow to make this cute little guy on the top of our car. Look how cute that baby carrot nose is.
The photo features a brilliant blend of colors and an excellent bokeh and was shot three days before my birthday in 2009 at f/5.6 at 1/500 seconds on my old Nikon D90 with no flash.
Yes, I’ll keep it.
One down, 39,999 to go…
When I noticed recently that the total number of photos stored
on my computer is almost 40,000, it seemed time to do some organizing
and pruning. No problem right? Just get rid of the images I don’t want
and look for the keepers.
So, what to do with pictures like
the one above? It’s probably not worth saving for the fact that it snows
in Houston Texas once every ten years. Or that we only had enough snow
to make this cute little guy on the top of our car. Look how cute that
baby carrot nose is.
The photo features a brilliant blend of
colors and an excellent bokeh and was shot three days before my birthday
in 2009 at f/5.6 at 1/500 seconds on my old Nikon D90 with no flash.
Yes, I’ll keep it.
One down, 39,999 to go…
After several free trials, beta tests and tribulations of desktop writing software I have finally decided on my tool of choice. iA Writer helps me take notes and create the stories I want to tell (not
calling myself a writer or author yet).
The criteria I needed:
Mission accomplished.
on the desktop ^
on the iPad ^
Ever since I snapped my first digital photograph
I was hooked. Sure, it is fun and there is almost instant gratification
but what else? Why else does someone pick up a camera and invest a lot
of time, money and effort?
I have known a lot of creative
people over the years. They don’t have all the best gear, in fact they
bought it second hand and have worked wonders with what they have. And
then there are the gung-ho, all-in technical photographers.
These people are very clinical, technical and deliberate. Everything has to be perfect before they depress that shutter button.
I’d
like to think of myself as a good mixture of the technical and the
creative. And this is a very good reason why we choose photography.
Because it offers us both.
Most photographers are lone
wolves. Others enjoy shooting with others in packs. And this adds to the
question, why photography? It can be as social or solitary as you like.
Truly something for everyone. For me, again, I enjoy both. I love
roaming and exploring alone. I have my camera with me to document these
unique spots and save them for future use. Other times, I thrive on meeting with others to share what we know and learn together.
Once
you get past your initial investment of your gear, photography is an
inexpensive hobby. This can be a source of endless enjoyment for years
so why not photography?
Photography may be the best example of
flexibility. If you are stuck inside and cannot go shooting outdoors,
then no problem. Time to get creative and capture something inside your
makeshift studio. Take this time to study your craft, or play with
existing work on your computer. When the weather is better, grab your
gear and go shoot some more. Photography can be both an indoor and
outdoor project.
Photography is therapeutic in that if you
have your gear, a great location and subjects your day can be relaxing
and rewarding. These are a few of the reasons why I do photography.
That is the amount of photos discovered in the archives I am sorted and am backing up. This is most of it so far but I just discovered others from other hard drives. To say nothing about the images from 2013-2018.
Estimated time to completion is 11.5 hours to transfer 236 GB. It is 1:41am.
Time to get serious and disciplined regarding digital asset management (DAM). As I type, I am transferring files off of the various external hard drives to a master file on my computer. Then I will use Lightroom to remove the duplicates, sort the wheat from the chaff, sort by year/month, geotag, keyword and then maintain this archive. After this I will upload to my photo hosts. On backup drives, Flickr and Smugmug. Speaking of..I’ve redirected my Photo Denbow web domain to Smugmug. (above)
With my new camera, I am considering this all to be a clean slate. Way overdue.
My very first digital photograph back in November 2001.
When I was away at college I borrowed my father’s Olympus C2100. I loved the zoom and bokeh it produced. This had helped solidify my photography enthusiasm.
I discovered this when sorting through the archives and organizing the digital assets (DAM). Yeah, it’s simple, but we all start somewhere.
My very first digital photograph back in November 2001.
When
I was away at college I borrowed my father’s Olympus C2100. I loved the
zoom and bokeh it produced. This had helped solidify my photography
enthusiasm.
I discovered this when sorting through the archives
and organizing the digital assets (DAM). Yeah, it’s simple, but we all
start somewhere.
Time to get serious and disciplined regarding digital asset
management (DAM). As I type, I am transferring files off of the various
external hard drives to a master file on my computer. Then I will use
Lightroom to remove the duplicates, sort the wheat from the chaff, sort
by year/month, geotag, keyword and then maintain this archive. After
this I will upload to my photo hosts. On backup drives, Flickr and
Smugmug.
With my new camera, I am considering this all to be a clean slate. Way overdue.
Time to evaluate my progress for my Groundhog Resolutions, the 10th
annual attempt at creating life-long habits for myself. I’ve discovered
that right after the end of the year holidays I am not mentally or
physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new
year. I need a break so I take the whole month of January off to reflect
and plan and start on 2/2 instead of 1/1.
I’ll check back in on myself on 9/9
Get another tattoo: Coming soon
More camping: It’s hot y’all. And the last attempt was off asphalt and sand dunes. Fall cant get here fat enough.
Fitness-
Kickboxing: Tae Bo for the win
Yoga: Daily practice early in the morning really helps here
More 5 & 10k obstacle course racing: See above. It’s hot.
Consistent training: Dropping Planet Fitness in favor of a new gym here called Vasa. More amenities to keep my body interested in going to begin with.
Consistent nutritional training: Work
in progress. I’ve dropped soda pop and going with water, soda water and/or beer. Less eating out too. Small victories.
Hashing:
Waiting on cooler. Got called out by Tulsa Hash House Harriers Mismanagement for it too. Will be paying for it when I’m back on trail.
Hiking: Taken
more than a few hikes this year and explored familiar and new trails.
Geocaching: Discovered a couple of quick park and grabs in some interesting places.
Meditation: More and more necessary. My brain is so scattered with everything I want to do. This helps center me.
Complete my book: I discovered some very interesting facts about the Khmer empire recently that will be crucial to my understanding and telling. Also coming up with more random ideas for stories. probably short stories all of them but eh. We’ll see.
Photo essay on a topic I am passionate about: Currently shooting the Tulsa, After Dark series. Humans of Tulsa (HOT) is on hold. Haven’t been going out as much. Need to change this soon to keep the project going.
Video log every month: Fail. Lack of interesting dialogue, forgetfulness.
Leave inspirational notes everywhere: Doing this at home in sneaky places for people to find is fun. Need to go public.
Year in photos album: 2017 is just there, waiting on me. Cannot wait to see what 2018 memories I’ll have at the EOY.
Shoot more film: Buy more film. Ain’t cheap!
Find my muse: Found her. Now how to use her?
DAM: Failing. This MUST change. A new camera can help me here with different file formats. I will discipline myself with this fresh start. But the previous decades of work? Overwhelming.
