Chris

Dark Mode

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Home office redesign is 85% complete. Need to paint window, door & closet frames, remove blinds & hang the curtains.

“Welcome to Dark Mode”

Consolidation

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I am working toward keeping all of my web properties here under a single domain.

New long-form posts will be here. Previous posts (2022-2002) are now in the Archive. I don’t do social media anymore but I do like to fire off some quick posts, mostly to myself and they are now in the Micro page of this website.

The only web property not hosted on my web server is the photography website. I’m okay with that because I prefer the free hosting there and the way it displays images better.

Is this the perfect solution? I don’t know yet but the tinkering has been fun.

As of now, not everyone can see this website due to my domain name chrisdenbow.website being transferred from one domain registrar to another. 5-7 days they say, which is an eternity in tech time.

Archived

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I have created this page to host all previous articles on my website.

In other words, nothing new to see here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view previous articles over the years. Or, while you are down there, utilize the search button and the tag cloud.

If you’d like to enjoy the new updates, click here or the Blog button up top.

If you’d like to enjoy some decent photography, click here to the portfolio page or the button up top.

Thanks for reading and your support.

Post Process Photography

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Lately I have been attempting to find a more efficient workflow for my photography processing and organization. I have been an Adobe Lightroom user since 2006 to help organize and edit images. A few years ago Adobe switched to a subscription model instead of a one-time purchase. This is disappointing. To save money, I have looked for a solution that can do everything Lightroom can and own it. It hasn’t been easy and I have tried them all. I’ve gone back and forth but somehow I keep coming back to Lightroom so why fight it? Shut up and take my money. A history of the back and forth below:

  • 01/01/2018 Lightroom is the best, I’ll never leave.
  • 05/01/2018 Why am I paying Adobe every month? I wonder what Capture One will do for me?
  • 05/15/2018 C1 trial expiring, do I want to invest $200 for something I am not too happy with?
  • 03/24/2019 Converted from Windows to Macbook. Adobe? Pixelmator? Both.
  • 02/02/2022 Cancel Adobe, hello again Pixelmator and Apple Photos
  • 02/24/2022 Don’t listen to me, I’ve resubscribed to Adobe Lightroom

The whole point of this is to stick with what I know, enjoy the process, appreciate the software solutions offered and pay the monthly fee. This time I went with the 1 TB Lightroom Only plan because I do not use Photoshop. Same cost, less software but more cloud storage. Perfect.

Version 1.0

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I have had a need to simplify my websites and the expenses that come with them. Everything changed today.

A year ago I transferred this website to WordPress.com for simplicity and ease of use but I gave up too much control. Today, I transferred it back to my own web server and taking full control back. This move will save over half the expenses too. At the same time, I moved my photography website back and forth between web hosts, Adobe and my own server as well.

I signed up with a Adobe Photography plan again mostly because of their web portfolio hosting that comes with the plan. This is cheaper than hosting my portfolio on WordPress or my own web server.

Today is a fresh start for this site. I have moved all of the articles published previously to the Archives page. There was an unfortunate issue with migrating the data over resulting in the first ten years going missing or a corrupt .xml file. Now the records go back to only 2011. I’ll keep sorting that out as I don’t want to lose all those memories.

ChrisDenbow.com was rebuilt in an hour and it will take time to clean up the migration process, slap some paint on the walls and customize the site to my liking. For now, we’ll log this attempt at version 1.0

Minnie

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I just acquired the 1976 Minolta AutoPak 110mm film camera and I am loving the simplicity. Add one AA battery for exposure and flash, then load my Lomography Metropolis 110 film and I am off to capture 36 exposures in all it’s retro glory.

Lightweight, fits in my pocket and I love the minimal design.

Goodbye Medium

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We’re writing today to notify you that the Medium account associated with this email address is at risk of being removed from the Partner Program. As outlined here, Medium has created new eligibility and activity requirements for writers to maintain their enrollment in the Partner Program. If you have fewer than 100 followers you may be removed from the Partner Program.

Currently, your Medium account does not meet this requirement. You will have until February 23, 2022 to reach the 100-follower requirement, or your account will be removed from the Partner Program. Your existing metered posts will be un-metered and you’ll no longer be eligible to earn on them.

Medium was a great platform to publish articles and get paid based on views. But then they changed the algorithms and buried posts for those without a huge following such as myself.

Not a problem. Medium doesn’t care, I don’t care and it is one more platform I get to delete.

Zen Tech

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Over the years I have come to the realization where I don’t want my devices to make me more productive, I want them to have zen. That is no effort synchronization, minimal design and high function.

Minimalist iPhone

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I’ve been looking for an everyday minimal carry and to reduce dependency from an iPhone for some time. I want to limit distractions, I don’t want to carry my iPhone with me everywhere, until I do. But I want the freedom of choice sometimes to leave it at home but still be able to communicate if needed. Then I realized, I have a perfect, minimalist iPhone on my wrist- the Apple Watch series 7 with cellular capability.

With the Watch I can make/receive phone calls, text, e-mail and receive notifications from employees all while leaving the iPhone behind.

I can leave my wallet behind and simply scan my Watch over a pay terminal for transactions via Apple Wallet. Eventually, my state’s drivers license will be digital so no more wallet and physical cards to keep up with. Availability sometime in 2022. Not holding my breath.

Music and podcasts stream well thanks to the AirPods connectivity.

What does a photography enthusiast do without the use of his powerful iPhone camera? Bring a physical camera instead. Duh.

Now that I have this realization, I cannot wait to test it out. Sure, I’ll take my license while driving about, but when I am on a walk, a hike or a photo walk? No more phone weight or distractions. Watch me.