After organizing decades and terabytes worth of images recently, I realized that I rarely take time to appreciate these images. I have thousands of images of my daughter, but I never look at them. They are stored in the dark, collecting digital dust. I want the best camera I can afford, so I can create photos that are forgotten. That doesn’t make sense.
Some of these photos will come in handy when old age catches up and my memories fail me. I prefer not to wait that long.
Despite their neglect, these digital memories mean everything to me and to anyone else, they would mean nothing. Sure, they represent my photography skills that grew along as much as my daughter has grown, but they are not award-winning compositions either. But they mean the world to me. If my home catches fire, the iPad and the hard drives are coming with me. Everything else can be replaced.
These precious digital files captured moments that will never happen again. They tell stories of where we were, how we were doing, and remind us of how blessed we are.
Despite all this realization, I will still take photos, knowing they may never again be viewed unless I re-organize them. I will continue to purchase external hard drives and upgrade my iCloud storage to fill them up.
One of these days, I will have them displayed out in the open in a paper format, be it in a book or a frame. They mean everything to me.
I’ve always been fascinated with design, especially design that invokes an audible “ooh.” My first, impressionable experience was watching a Lamborghini Countach rocket past a highway patrol car in the movie “Cannonball Run.”
Here are some examples of next-level design, engineering, aerodynamics, technology, magnificent and minimalism: Apple, Tesla, Lamborghini, Nike, Ferrari. All these brands represent the best in the industry by utilizing great design and materials.
Electric engines that go from 0-60 in 1.9 seconds? A superconductor hybrid V-12 engine? Autonomous driving? 32-Core GPU, & 32GB Unified Memory? Hell yes.
Monotone, grey, silver, black, navy, chrome, white are my signature colors. Clean, goes with everything and minimal.
I cannot afford the best in all situations. But I do when and where I can. It makes me appreciate what I have just as well as I can appreciate the best from afar. And yes, I used “maximal” in the header.
I just published Photo Denbow Zine volume 2, Neon Nights. It is now available for download in a 1.2MB sized .pdf format. For best viewing, I suggest opening in Apple Books or a PDF reader.
If I stopped to think about it, and I have, most of my money is digital. My paycheck is directly deposited to my account. My transactions are digital. I frequently pay for goods and services with the flick of the Apple Watch and the built-in Apple Pay. These are tied into my bank accounts. If the point of sale terminal does not accept Apple Pay, well then out come the plastic cards tied into the same banks. Transactions made online do not use paper currency. Rare is the moment when I use folding or metal currency.
My state is partnering with Apple Wallet to include digitized driver’s license. Same with my health/auto insurance providers, passport, TSA approval, transit pass, vaccination card, etc. No more physical wallet for me to lose. This is just how I like it. Minimalism at its best.
The Apple Wallet
Again, most of our money is digital. Are we all leaning towards cryptocurrency? Why not expect and embrace a transition into the digital future present?
PSA: Do have access to paper money for emergencies and/or power loss.
I missed out on Bitcoin and not investing early. One BTC currently equals $59,263.01. Same with Ethereum. 1 ETH currently = $4,543.21.
Current values as of 11/25/2021
So, I will slowly invest in lower, more affordable tokens instead. To be honest, the money I invest in these digital currencies will be treated as if I were going to a casino. Only take what you don’t mind losing and have fun with it. Very little will be invested, but it will be fun to watch and learn how the process works.
The plan for me is to start small, start slow, and then eventually convert to and purchase Ethereum. Why ETH? Because that is the currency that is driving the digital art market, known as NFT (non-fungible token.)
I want to mint some of my photographic work to explore how the digital art work evolves. I’ll go into this with low expectations, of course. Do I really expect that my work will fetch 2 ETH worth $9,000? Not at all, but, it CAN be possible. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the going rate for The Invisible Man by Brainsky.
A few months ago I wrote about my own publishing house and how much fun I was having. Even more recently I mentioned that I wanted to branch out by creating digital photo zines. After jumping on a Black Friday deal, I finally decided on Affinity Publisher over Adobe InDesign.
It didn’t take long to work out the basics of the software app, so I combined some images and text, hit “publish”, converted to the PDF format and done. I then uploaded it to Apple Books for easier, more enjoyable reading. Assuming there are any interested parties, the download link is a .pdf. Enjoy!
Ten years ago was the last time I reviewed my top ten phone apps, and so much has changed over the past decade. The most significant change for me was switching from Android to Apple. I dropped all Google products and software a while back and have zero regrets. I am anti-tracking and advertising in my face constantly. Taking a look back at some of the best apps of the day is a mixture of pride and shame to determine which stood the test of time.
We’ve come a long way, baby. Currently, I own the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Because geeks like to show off what they have and to document their tools, I’ll write about my home screens too. It’ll be fun to look back on the past and compare to the present.
Wallpaper- The wallpaper continues to be Black Sheep. I love to modify and customize my devices, but this wallpaper has been the only one to stick with me over the past ten years. Simple, minimal, black wool/felt appearance. Goes perfectly with all my devices.
Home screen apps-
The iPhone 13 Pro Max home screen 11/2021
Mail- I prefer the stock Apple applications where I can. One, they are baked into the operating system and works more smoothly. Two, to limit third-party software from accessing my personal info in emails, contacts etc.
Safari- With Apple’s new privacy initiatives built into their browser, this is a no-brainer for me. The fact that I can sync my browser reading on any device is another win.
Files- I have numerous data in the cloud that I need on-demand access to. Apple’s app, again, wins out thanks to iCloud sync to every device.
Reminders- Pre-installed, simple, free. Why pay $40 a year for a 3rd party to-do list app? Yes, they exist.
Feedbin- My current RSS feed aggregator. Brings the news I want to read from the sites I want to read from. No ads, no BS.
Tweetbot- As a charter member of TWTTR, now known as Twitter, it is a great tool for checking up on updates from brilliant people. I will rarely post anything nowadays. Tweetbot is a third-party app that hides advertising, whereas Twitter is laced with ads. This is my only social media outlet.
Medium- A web journal where writers go to publish their work and get paid. Readers pay a small annual fee to discover articles they want. I do both. Again, no advertising.
GoodLinks- Want to save an article and read it later? Send it here. I’m done with Instapaper and Pocket where they want to charge subscription fees. One time purchase, no ads.
Bear notes- Currently the best, most customizable note-taking app out there. One thing missing is note collaboration with someone else.
Notes- Apple Notes is good, very good but non-customizable and you can collaborate. Which is why it remains on the Home Screen.
Outlook- Not for me because, like Google, I don’t want Microsoft anything. No, this is for work communication and I hate the fact it is on my personal device.
Teams- Same as Outlook. To supervise and communicate with my team, this stays on the Home Screen.
Camera- Apple’s stock app is still one of the best there is. A close second, and not on the Home Screen, would be Halide.
Photos- Well organized, good for quick edits, sharing, syncs to all devices and a great workflow.
Lightroom- For more detailed photo processing, editing, and organization on the go. Syncs to all devices.
VSCO- I’ve enjoyed this photo filter, and sharing app for almost 10 years. Their photo community beats Flickr and Instagram easily. This app deserves its article. Coming soon.
On The Dock-
Settings- got to keep it close by for system changes
Maps- For navigating on those weekend road trips
Messages- Why use a 3rd party app?
Phone- For the occasional phone call. I consider the iPhone to be a camera with calling capabilities.
Everything else gets relegated to the next screen and in folders for easier organization. Apple Music and Podcasts app are well-used and running in the background. Photo apps, reading, writing, finance apps, utilities are all important but not used as much.
Like I said, numerous changes in the past ten years. It’s amazing to me what has lasted the test of time and what goes.
By comparison, here is the list from ten years ago:
Snapseed- Simply the best mobile photo editor out there.
Vignette- This camera app has so many shooting options and filters, it would take another blog post to list.
EyeEm- As soon as Facebook bought Instagram, I looked elsewhere. Social photography is excellent.
Google+ Again, the Anti-Facebook social experience.
Drive- Sync my documents between my computer and phone? Yes, please.
Any.DO- My to-do list goes with me and sends me timely reminders too
Currents- A great too to catch up on news, blogs for my tablet.
Pocket- Want to read it later? Right click and put it in your web pocket.
Google Now- Instant information no matter where I am at.
Spotify- web-based music and radio. I will never buy music again.
None of these are on my devices. I am constantly amazed at how well the Apple ecosystem works. Everything is cooked in and plays nice with all Apple devices. Makes me wish I had gone all-in a lot sooner.
The iPad home screen is a bit more organized thanks to the screen space. Widgets are added, the apps are almost all the same as the iPhone with a few exceptions like streaming media, games, video editing apps like iMovie and Vimeo.
What was I thinking ten years ago? What’s funny to me is I now have a deconstructed iPhone 4 mounted on the wall on display. This makes me wonder what else I am currently wrong about and what to change.
The author after purchasing his first iPhone (6) released in 2014 just three years later
SIMPLIFY YOUR PHOTO WORKFLOW WITH THESE SUGGESTIONS.
.jpg for daily snapshots, .dng for the keepers. Take it from someone who has been shooting RAW images, these files take up a lot of hard drive space. RAW files are slow to transfer from one location to another. Do yourself a favor and shoot in jpg format whenever possible.
SIMPLIFY YOUR PHOTO WORKFLOW
Apple Photos is a stock app on every Apple device. Photos is a basic processing and organizing application that is great for quick and simple photo edits. Free, and your photos sync to your devices automatically thanks to iCloud. Save the heavy edits and large files for Adobe Lightroom.
GET OUT
I intend to travel more in 2022 with road trips and quick turnaround weekend flights. This is possible now that I am finally content with my camera gear. Want to buy a new camera or lens? Be content with what you have and save the money on experiences like travel instead. Photographers love to capture new experiences and explore new photo opportunities.
TAKE A HIKE
I am a big fan of hiking and photography. The fresh air, the thrill of discovering what is around the corner or over that hill gives us a new perspective. Photo walks around town can be included here. Plus, you want to get increase your daily step count as exercise, right?
After self-hosting my website for a decade, I decided to simplify and host on WordPress.com. I can publish images or text to my site on the go thanks to Ulysses, Lightroom, and WordPress from my phone or iPad. I am really enjoying this mobile darkroom and publishing setup. Forget social media and stake your own claim to the World Wide Web.
My creativity and imagination for starting a novel or short story is stifled now. I can’t write unless I have thought it through and can see the whole story in my mind.
I need to sum up the whole in three paragraphs until I can see the story. Then I can finally turn those paragraphs into an outline or a rough draft.
Long-form writing is becoming a lost art during these days of short attention spans. With all the media content available to us, our time feels limited, so we want to maximize our consumption time. Blogs have been taken over in favor of quick social media posts. Twitter limits a tweet to 140 characters. Tik-Tok and Instagram promote short video clips, etc.
Microfiction is the natural progression of all this. It is considered to be even shorter than the short story genre. Much like a haiku, it forces concise wording to tell a story. There is no set word limit, but the general guideline is 100-101 words to tell your story. The trick is to make it meaningful enough to make an impact, as opposed to having your reader hop on to the next nano story.
How to start: Come up with an idea, create a rough draft, check your work count and revise to fit. Ulysses writing app is brilliant for this.
Where to publish: On your website first, of course. Then, save your work as a PDF and distribute to your interested followers, either for free or fee. Thereafter, use the same social media platforms if you must. There are even publishing houses looking for microfiction authors.
Finally: Microfiction is a tiny sub-genre (see what I did there?) in the writing/reading world. You won’t earn a lot of money from it, but the challenge itself can be very rewarding.
