“If you think the AI is sentient, you just failed the Turing Test from the other side.”
Chris
Cropping My Photo Gear
Just how good is the iPhone as a camera? Good enough for someone like me, a photographer for over three decades, want to sell off almost all of his gear. It is that good. I just sold off the mirrorless Sony A7 and am looking at other options to sell off the 35mm cameras and film. With film prices going up (again!) a few days ago (thanks Kodak), film developing is no longer in the budget. I am keeping Nikita, the Nikon D90 because she is one of my all time favorites. The Canon will stay here to be used by MissAdventure. The Minolta 110mm is staying because I have to have at least one film camera for nostalgia, right? Right. Shut up.
Sold: Nikon D200, Sony A7
Selling: Nikon D50, Holga 120mm, Pentax K1000 35mm, Nikon F35mm, Canon SureShot 35mm, Lomo Diana 110mm, Polaroid Instant 600 (2), Fujifilm Instax
Keeping: Nikon D90, Canon Rebel T6, Minolta 110mm
Most of the gear is listed here:
Photo Denbow – Gear
Lifestyle Photography
I need minimal gear. I’ve gone all-in on so many cameras, lenses, & accessories over the years, it makes me wonder what I could have done with all that money spent. Here is where minimalism, or essentialism kicks in: the iPhone. This device checks all of my requirement boxes.
Process
- Portable
- Anywhere
- Anything
- Built in lighting
- Minimal
- Consistent style of shooting
Photography gear
- One camera- iPhone
- Three interchangeable lenses, maximum
- Carry-case for said lenses
Set of three Moment Lenses, our Phone Case, and a Lens Pen.
Save some cash! Get a set of any three of our lenses, perfect for capturing more than you could with your phone alone, plus our Phone Case, Lens Pen and a Strap
Moment
I am eagerly awaiting my recent purchase of the Moment brand lens starter set to upgrade my iPhonetography. The wide angle, telephoto and fisheye lenses are going to be a joy to use. Check it out ^.
With forced limitations that come with minimal gear comes new chances for me to get more creative for the desired results.
Because I am cropping my gear, I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulders. Literally. I don’t need to make gear choices anymore. Everything is minimized and maximized for mobile photography.
Do you use all your gear? Could you benefit from a gear resizing too?
2023: Chapter Two
Happy 3/3 day! It is March 3, 2023- time to start the second chapter for the new year’s resolutions. In the past 10 years or so, I have attempted a variation of resolution themes in an attempt to hold myself accountable, and all of them have had limited success. The first few attempts were centered around my resolutions and a monthly check-in by way of accountability. For ten years I would focus on what I called Groundhog Day Resolutions. The kickoff would always start on February 2nd or 2/2. This was a little over a month after the western calendar of New Year’s Day on January 1st.This year I want to do a variation of a monthly accountability check-in. I mentioned the “Groundhog Day Resolutions” and its limited success. While I believe the theory behind those initiatives were sound, the practice was not. So it’s time to have a re-think about the process.
In 2023, I am writing a book on it. This year I am thinking of each month of this year as its own chapter in a book. I’ll do a chapter review on the same date that corresponds with the month.
Example: The book will start on February 2 (2/2) and will go on until March 3rd or 3/3. On 3/3 I will conduct a review of the previous month, and so on and so forth. With the chapter review, I’ll throw in some chapter highlights (in blue) of the previous month in hope that by the end of the year (11/11), I’ll have written a book I can be proud of.
Here is a quick list of things I want to do for the new year:
- Learn Spanish
- More meditation & yoga
- Organize the photo Archive as a database
- Minimalism/essentialism
- Quit smoking
- No alcohol
- Lower BP
- Lose 20 pounds
Learn Spanish
My goal of learning Spanish kicked off 63 days ago, on December 28, according to DuoLingo, my language app. Anything over a week is fairly impressive if you know me at all. I’ve had a chance to converse a few times with Spanish speakers in the field and it felt good to get back into it.
đź’¬
Chapter Two Highlight: Learning Spanish 60+ days in a row!
Meditation and yoga almost daily.
Almost daily is correct. Some days you feel alive, awake and feeling great, while other days you just hit the snooze button a couple of times. On the good days arrive, I can walk out of the house feeling even better. I must remember this the next time I am tempted to hit that snoozer again. I cannot quantify the workout this past month since losing and gaining an Apple Watch again. Now I am back on track with the fitness recording.
🙏🏼
Chapter Two Highlight: More mindfulness and flexibility
Photography Goals
Well this didn’t take long to fizzle out. I was looking forward to digging below the service on learning Adobe software but no. I came across a podcast with Mylio as a sponsor and was intriqued. A 30-day trial didn’t last 3 days before I decided to go all-in. When I say all-in, I mean I have discontinued my Adobe subscription. Yes, Mylio’s photo organizing tools, beat out Adobe. Â The end result will be an organized archive system where I can easily find and use any one photo on demand.
📸
Chapter Two Highlight: Photo Archives almost organized!
Minimalism and essentialism
I’ve taken some big strides in reducing my clutter and relegating stuff to a box in storage to be sorted later, or kept, to moving stuff out of the house. But as usual, there is always more. Got to keep looking and reviewing what is essential. For example- I have more than a few film and digital cameras. Each of them have their own personalities and strengths sure, but none of them are essential. I am selling Sonya, the Sony mirrorless camera. Keeping my original Nikon D50 for the kid to use if she wants to (she’s a great photographer already!) Keeping the Nikon D90 for myself as a backup because Nikki is my favorite. The Canon is reserved for Miss Adventure, when she wants to use it. All the film cameras, save for the FujiFilm Instax Square 90 is going out the door.
🗑️
Chapter Two Highlight: Throwing out the junk
Quit smoking
This goal lasted two weeks. One of the benefits I was hoping to see was to help lower my blood pressure. When I was not getting the intended results, I frustratingly wimped and lit back up. Now that the high blood pressure is lowering, slowly, it is time to extinquish the flame again.
đźš
Chapter Two Highlight: Quitting tobacco (again)!
No Alchohol
Alcohol consumption is not difficult for me, and I can refrain even while at a bar with friends. This is an easy one so I should see less weight and overall health as a result.
Lower Blood pressure
Priority one with results. I started taking BP medicine to help recuce the tension. Too soon to tell if it is having any effect but I am hoping. Less, salt. Less sugar. Less eating out. Increase my cardio with more walking, yoga. All of this should help me lower my weight and eventually those readings will come down.
❤️
Chapter Two Highlight: Lower blood pressure!
Lose 20 pounds
In the past few years, I maxed out at 217.4 pounds. That isn’t great for a 5’7″ frame. When starting this initiative last month (2/2), I was down to 204.4. Currently (3/3) I am down to 197. So glad to see some results and hope the remaining 12 pounds will not be too difficult. My goals is to get down to 185 pounds. 175 is better, but let’s be realistic. The issue here is nutrition. The job has me out in the field for 8-10 hours daily and the temptation to eat out is strong. But the job is also a physical one so I should take advantage of all that lifting and walking.
đź‘ź
Chapter Two Highlight: 12 pounds lost so far!
It’s time to get to writing a new chapter. See you on April 4th (4/4) for a review of Chapter 3.
Rage Against The Machine
My personal printing at home history has always followed the same patterns:
- Buy a printer (with scanner, copier, fax!)
- Buy the over-priced, proprietary ink.
- Use the printer.
- Enjoy a small window of time for when the printer actually works.
- Don’t use printer awhile until I need it again.
- Run an urgent print job I need immediately.
- The printer does not work.
- Waste time trying to get the printer working.
- Take the copies I need printed somewhere else and over-pay.
- Get rid of the printer.
- Buy a printer.
- Buy the over-priced, proprietary ink.
- Get rid of printer.
This planned obsolescence is maddening for almost everyone who owns one of these damned things. It isn’t one brand, it is the market and no one is willing to help you. Guess what, Hewlett Packard/Brother/Epson? Piss off enough people and they won’t buy your crappy products anymore. This printer is my last home printer.
Oh, does anyone want an Epson printer/copier/scanner/fax? Only used a few times. Free to a good home. Or a bad home, I don’t care.
Apple Watch SE
After ordering and returning the Apple Watch Ultra upgrade, I went two weeks without. I felt naked without it at first, and then made peace with the situation. Right up to the point where T-Mobile offered a huge discount on the current SE model and I jumped on it. So now I am back to tracking my workouts, closing my exercise rings, making secure payments with a flick of my wrist at the check out stand and more. But that cheap silicon band has got to be swapped out for a more attractive band.
Goodbye Adobe
After decades of relying on Adobe photography software to host, edit and organize my archive, it is time to say goodbye. Photoshop and Lightroom are second to none with one exception- a subscription. With all the competition out there in this space, I can no longer justify $120 annually for it. Yes, they’ve hosted my photography website too, but I am moving on.
In a frequent effort to manage my tools and workflow, I am in downsizing mode. Call it minimalism or essentialism. I’ve discovered Mylio, a software tool that organizes your archives quickly and more efficiently than Adobe.
đź”—
My write-up on Mylio is here: https://www.chrisdenbow.website/mylio-photo-organizer/
Last year I paid a one-time fee for Pixelmator Pro which is baked right in to the Apple ecosystem so much, I am surprised Apple hasn’t bought them out.
Last month I re-upped my Flickr photo-hosting membership. This is where my images can be discovered online as opposed to my old photography site (PhotoDenbow.com)
Apple Photos is of course, on all the iDevices that I own and synced flawlessly through iCloud. With 2TB of cloud storage, I am good for awhile there too. Besides, it is a joy to view the images in there. It reminds me of the old film contact sheets we used in the darkroom before making prints.
All of this is subject to change, without notice and usually on a whim. But for now, I am confident that this will help save money and lighten the workflow.
UPDATE 3/3 – That didn’t last long. I renewed the membership, if only to get the Adobe Portfolio web hosting that comes with it. Every other web host is $$.
Digital vs Analog
02-25-2023
Analog vs Digital
I observed my Royal Scrittore typewriter collecting dust this morn g moring and thought I would give it a go. Two sentences in and my fingers hurt. Compare this tothe keyboard on my MacBook Pro where every key stroke is effortless and does not hurt.
Do I want/need to sell this piece of ..antiquity? I love the aesthetic but it feels more annoying than. beneficial. And if it doe does not. inspire joy, then it is out the door.
Damn. Back to the Mac.
Signal Loss
I have so much to say and not enough time to say it. But to be fair, I am probably the only one listening to the Radio Denbow podcast anyway. And how the hell do I plan on making it interesting if it is just me on the broadcast? Hmm.
Mylio Photo Organizer
How the hell did this software program help organize thirty years of my photography archives in under an hour? Download, install and sign up for the 30-day free trial. And we’re off!
Import From External Drives
I plugged in my 10TB external hard drive and pointed to where I wanted the photo copies stored inside Mylio. I am ecstatic to see all those decades of images in one library. Next I added the Archive Backup hard drive and did the same thing.
Import From The Mac
Next, I started importing photos from folders on my Macbook Pro. Not much there since I send the previous month’s images to the Archives. Example: Only February 2023 is in the Photos Folder on the Mac.
Import From Apple Photos
Every image that is currently in Photos gets copied to Mylio instantly. A great addition to the 2TB iCloud storage and backup.
Import From Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Google Photos with Mylio
Ever since downloading all the photos I have posted to those social media accounts and then deleting those accounts, I have stored them away for safekeeping. The time has come where I have the ability to see them all in one place. Everything is organized by year and month. Boom.
Organize, Sync, Backup
After adding all your photos, Mylio has a variety of ways to help organize. Date, keywords, favorites, geotagging etc. Once organized, Mylio syncs to the vaults stored on all of your devices.
Editing
I haven’t played around with this too much because of the other, more professional tools I use but the capability to make basic edits is baked into Mylio.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic solution, one I wish I had discovered sooner. It is a time-saver, a life-saver and alleviates a lot of self-induced frustration at my lack of digital asset management. Once everything was imported and sorted, I then clicked “subscribe.” Yes, it is another subscription, but it ticked all the boxes for my requirements of photo archive management.
Hacking A Reading Workflow
You could say I enjoy reading. But what good is all of that time spent if I do not retain that input? I need a system for transforming reading into meaningful action and lasting insight.
Auxiliary Activity-
Other people would call this “hobby reading” but what’s the point of reading if you cannot use expand your intellect and use alternative phrases? Fine, we’ll call it “reading for fun.” I use the Libby library app to connect to the three public libraries I am a member of. Here I can borrow any book title or audiobook that is available. Once borrowed, I will send the book to my Kindle e-reader for consumption. While reading, I can highlight text and even make a digital note about anything of interest to me. Anything I highlight or make note of gets automagically exported out of the Kindle and into my personal knowledge database that I call Grey Matter. From here I can link and backlink thoughts and ideas for later reference.
Reading For the Informed-
I also enjoy keeping up on the latest technology websites, photography trends, art trends and homegrown blogs like this one right here. I do that through the magic of RSS. With a website reader like Reeder or FeedBin, I can have hundreds of websites aggregate into one spot. They come to me, I don’t go to the websites themselves. From there I can read an article, then either discard or save to read it later as a reference. Notes and highlights are made in there too, and sent off to Grey Matter for when I am ready. Tom Critchlow, refers to it as “digital bricolage” or “web foraging”. Love it.
Hor
There is a running joke in my family that I consume too many Apple devices every year. Well the joke is on me because I did it again. I upgraded to the Apple Watch Ultra. Horology is the study of time and so she is appropriately named.
UPDATE – the watch has been returned because I realized I simply don’t want it.
2023: Chapter One
Today is the day! It is February, 2nd, 2023 and it is time to start a new chapter for the new year’s resolutions.
Here is a quick list of things I want to do for the new year:
- Learn Spanish
- More meditation & yoga
- Organize the photo Archive as a database
- Minimalism/essentialism
- Quit smoking
- No alcohol
- Lower BP
- Lose 20 pounds
Learn Spanish
My goal of learning Spanish kicked off 35 days ago, on December 28, according to DuoLingo, my language app. 35-day streak is fairly impressive if you know me at all. I’ve had little opportunity in applying what I’ve learned in the real world but cannot wait to have conversations with the Spanish-speaking community this year.
Meditation and yoga almost daily.
I’ve prepped for these goals by investing in a few Apple software helpers such as Apple Fitness+ and Music for guided meditation and workouts. Subscribing to specific podcasts have been helpful too. A new padded floor mat has been added and I am looking forward to more fitness, flexibility and patience.
Photography Goals
Learning Adobe photography software tools should be easy for me  after all these years but I’ve overlooked the fundamentals.
But this year I want to do a deep dive. I have all these tools but feel like I am scratching the surface and want to maximize the tools I have. Â I’ve put in a lot of work these past thirty years but there is a need for photo archive organization. The end result will be an organized archive system where I can easily find and use any one photo on demand.
Minimalism and essentialism
My brain toggles on/off when it relates to stuff. I need this or that until I get bored with it and then accumulate more stuff that I don’t use. Well this year, the toggle is in “OFF” mode. It’s time to purge down to the essentials and keep only the things I use and enjoy. Everything else is…just that.
Quit smoking
The tobacco pipe is in use as I write this on February 1 in anticipation of quitting by February 2. What tobacco remains now will be destroyed, the pipe cleaned and accessories put away in storage. I am over smoking and the removal of the tobacco pipe paraphernalia should help. This will help me lower my blood pressure and overall health.
No Alchohol
Alcohol consumption is not difficult for me, and I can refrain even while at a bar with friends. This is an easy one so I should see less weight and overall health as a result.
Lower Blood pressure
Priority one. Less, salt. Less sugar. Less eating out. Increase my cardio with more walking, yoga. More supplements and eventually the diuretic prescription again. All of this should help me lower my weight and eventually those readings will come down.
Lose 20 pounds
In the past few years, I maxed out at 217.4 pounds. That isn’t great for a 5’7″ frame. I am currently down to 204.4 pounds on February 1. My goals is to get down to 185 pounds. 175 is better, but let’s be realistic. The issue here is nutrition. The job has me out in the field for 8-10 hours daily and the temptation to eat out is strong. But the job is also a physical one so I should take advantage of all that lifting and walking.
In the past 10 years or so, I have attempted a variation of resolution themes in an attempt to hold myself accountable, and all of them have had limited success. The first few attempts were centered around my resolutions and a monthly check-in by way of accountability. For ten years I would focus on what I called Groundhog Day Resolutions. The kickoff would always start on February 2nd or 2/2. This was a little over a month after the western calendar of New Year’s Day on January 1st.
This year I want to do a variation of a monthly accountability check-in. I mentioned the “Groundhog Day Resolutions” and its limited success. While I believe the theory behind those initiatives were sound, the practice was not. So it’s time to have a re-think about the process.
In 2023, I am writing a book on it. This year I am thinking of each month of this year as its own chapter in a book. I’ll do a chapter review on the same date that corresponds with the month.
Example: The book will start on February 2 (2/2) and will go on until March 3rd or 3/3. On 3/3 I will conduct a review of the previous month, and so on and so forth. With the chapter review, I’ll throw in some highlights of the previous month in hope that by the end of the year (11/11), I’ll have written a book I can be proud of.
It’s time to get to writing that book and start a new chapter. See you on March 3rd for a review of Chapter 1.