I’ve always found myself staying up late even if I was tired or had to get up early because I wanted more me time. It’s called revenge bedtime procrastination and people who do it gain a sense of control back in their life. This is especially true on Sunday nights before the next work day or the night before I travel.
Chris
Where Did The Photographer Go?
When I was starting out using my first DSLR cameraI I took it with me everywhere and shot anything of interest. One, to break the camera in and two, to explore what my interests were. I didn’t have a genre yet and was figuring out what I liked to shoot. I believe I captured at least 2,000 images in a few months. Traveling to new places helped. Exploring a city I had just moved to did as well. Finally, I settled in on portrait photography as my focus.
Lately, I have been shooting less. The pandemic hasn’t helped and neither has switching genres. I am done with portraits for a while to look at other areas again. But inspiration has been lacking.
My cameras have been acquiring dust because my primary camera nowadays is also a phone. Handy.
I’ve walked by potential photo subjects recently because I have made similar images in the past. Culling decades of images on the hard drive recently has helped me realize most of those I thought important at the time really wasn’t.
I am hoping this road trip back to Texas next week will help inspire new passion for my chosen hobby.
Training Session
Feel sore tomorrow. Or feel sorry.
Now What?
1 month after giving up portrait photography for landscape, urban photography and I am uninspired. Doesn’t help that there is a pandemic in a boring city/state.
The Hipstamatic
I’ve been enjoying the Hipstamatic camera app for almost 10 years now and in my opinion, this is one of the most fun film emulators you can use.
Digital photography has never looked so analog. You can swipe and choose over 100 lenses, film stocks, camera bodies and flashes to get that beautiful film look.
I wouldn’t call it a replacement for my film cameras by any means, but you also won’t have to wait hours or days to enjoy the results either.
Hipstamatic has made it even more fun by adding a built in Passport that rewards you for taking daily snaps and gently reminds you to go out and take some pics during “Snappy Hour.”
Currently Reading 3/16/2021
As usual, the library has my desired titles on hold for weeks, and then seems to release them all at once. If I don’t check them out promptly, they’ll go to the next patron and I’ll need to wait for even more weeks.
This week, there are four titles that I am reading all at once. I just finished one so make it three more to go.
Side note: I’m enjoying the Book Buddy iOS app that allows me to log what I am reading and have read. More on this later.
A New Focus
After almost twenty years of portrait photography I have decided to switch to a new challenge in landscape photography. I’ll also throw in some street photography as well.
Photographing nature and cityscapes will be a difficult new genre to learn but I know I’ll have fun doing it.
See more on the Photo Denbow website.
Connectile Dysfunction
All my home and mobile connectivity goes through one provider, T-Mobile. So when the closest tower has maintenance issues, it is crucial to have it resolved quickly.
For a communications provider they really haven’t been communicative which adds more frustration.
The technical issues are getting better slowly but the support is as intermittent as the signals.
iPad Upgrades
Just grabbed a new Apple Smart Keyboard for the iPad as well as a SIM card to make it truly mobile this week.
The Smart Keyboard Folio for iPad Pro and iPad Air is a full-size keyboard when I need one, and provides elegant front and back protection when I don’t. With two viewing angles and no charging or pairing required, it’s simple to just attach the magnetic keyboard and start typing. My only gripes are the stiff keys and no backlit keys. There is no need to connect wires or Bluetooth. Smart!
I also decided to grab some unlimited mobile data with a SIM card from T-Mobile and take it on the road. The idea being to upload images and text from the upcoming road trip planned for next month.
3-3 Groundhog Resolutions Check-In
Wow! Is it check-in time already? That was fast and apparently I was not as mentally prepared as I wanted to be. So here’s a recap of February’s resolutions:
Failure.
Physical
Did I mention I was on the Keto diet last month? Funny how that was completely ignored and did just the opposite. Bring on the carbs and sugar this past month. In fact, as a way of public accountability, I enjoyed an evening at the pub, then stopped off at the convenience store for some doughnuts and milk before bed. Disgusting.
Nutrition was just thrown out the window. How about fitness? HA! Another complete breakdown. I was logging 30m of exercise daily for two months straight and then- nothing or the bare minimum. Pathetic.
Creative
Music
If you look closely at the ukulele, you can see my fingerprints underneath dust.
Photography
I took some portrait work this past month. I’ve decided once again that I am done with portraits. Making the mental switch to urban and outdoor photography instead.
Writing
This past month? You’re looking at it. Disappointing.
Finally
And there you have it: disgusting, pathetic, disappointing.
Here’s hoping I get off my ass and do the things I know are better for me as opposed to sloth and convenience. Either way, I’ll check back in here on 4/4 for the next review of how I do!
RSS, Read It Later and Newsletters
This is the sixteenth year I have had the internet deliver me updates using the website feed aggregation protocol and it just keeps getting better. RDF Site Summary, or Real Simple Syndication, helps me stay up to date with my favorite websites, blogs, podcasts and some social media channels. Instead of visiting a hundred different websites to find new articles, or posts, I subscribe to their RSS feed which is then aggregated into an RSS reader.
This is old school internet technology, much like the e-mail client. They’re still around because they are the best, most secure way of getting information (the internet’s first function.)
I am in control of the content I want to see, not a publisher force feeding me anything I don’t want. I choose topics of my interests and nothing more. Unless, I am forced to go to a website for a news piece or weather, sports etc, I can’t be bothered.
Throughout the years, I’ve tried most of the RSS feed aggregators and currently I have settled on Reeder. Yes, it was $10 for the Mac and another $5 for iOS, but I am getting what I am paying for- features, privacy, security and the convenience. Thanks to the iCloud, all my feeds and articles are synchronized across all my devices. There is also a built-in read-it-later service that allows you to save an article for future reading or reference. No more web clippings or bookmarks on your desktop all over the place. For me, I’ll save the articles and then have the option to share outside the reader with a share extension. In my world, it’s either being shared via text or to my stand alone read-it-later app, Goodlinks. More on that one later.
For a clutter-free reading experience, I’ll usually have the web article render in Reader View. No advertisements bombarding your screen, no privacy violating trackers watching your every move. Gone. It’s just you and your text and images. I have never, ever clicked on an advertisement from the web. I do not want Google or Facebook or 40 other trackers knowing my interests. They don’t get to do that anymore. I don’t care if that is how they get paid. I won’t pay it anymore and you don’t have to either. (please tell me you use content blockers and reader view on all your websites you visit.)
Back to the RSS reader. Some websites will generate their feeds in truncated mode, which means they’ll give you a snippet of the article, then force you to press “More” which promptly takes you to their website and to the aforementioned ads, trackers and sponsorship links. Well, thanks to the built in Reader View, 95% of the articles are pulled up in the app instead, again with only text, photos and no bullshit. That’s a win.
YouTube
I like the idea, hate the advertisements and trackers. I’ve left Google awhile back and it has been such a relief to be out of that evil ecosystem. I digress. Thanks to a recent update, I can watch YT videos from creator’s channels. No advertisements, no algorithms, no suggested videos. Just content I want and no more all inside the feed reader. Brilliant.
Read-It-Later
Again, I can save the articles I want to keep for future reference inside the app, but I always like to have a dedicated RIL app. For years I used Instapaper, but they moved to a subscription service. No thanks. I went with GoodLinks as a one time purchase of $5 instead.
Using the share extension tool in Reeder, I’ll just pass my saved article to Goodlinks, ideally tagging it under a category for organized reference and it’ll be there waiting for me when needed. I say ideally tagged because saving articles can stack up quickly. It started off organized but…yeah, I haven’t kept up. Goodlinks is also accessing iCloud so I can enjoy my articles on all devices.
Requested feature
I tried another RSS reader called FeedBin and I loved it because it gave you a generic e-mail address where you can subscribe to newsletters. Newsletters are created by bloggers, thinkers that will create articles of interest all in one letter and push it out to your e-mail inbox. I like my inbox uncluttered and am very protective of it. My subscriptions would be redirected into the FeedBin app alongside the other blog posts, articles and YT videos. A perfect all-in-one solution but at $50 annually, I balked because those same subscriptions were delivered to my inbox for $0. I’ve already invested one time purchases equalling $20 for Reeder and Goodlinks and I am pretty pleased with this setup. I’d like to see more feed readers incorporate this feature and make it standard as opposed to an add-on.
Finally, do yourself a favor and get an RSS reader. Subscribe to all your favorite news sources and make them come to you instead of scrolling through their websites. Say no to advertisements, cross-website trackers and privacy invasion. Say yes instead to a more pleasant reading experience that you control.
When you do, be sure to add this humble little website’s RSS feed and enjoy
@ https://chrisdenbow.website/feed/
Worn Out
“We must all either wear out or rust out, everyone of us. My choice is to wear out”
Theodore Roosevelt