Journal

Just For The Hell Of It

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I’ve been thinking a lot about what I do, what I want to do and understanding my motivations. Not sure if this is because I just turned 50 and may be having some kind of crisis. Doesn’t feel like it. I am learning how to prioritize activities and being more intentional with my time.

I enjoy writing, not just for my website, but also for my personal knowledge database. Whether it be manual scribbles or typing on a keyboard, I love writing. And for the past twenty-two years, there has always been a nagging question: “Why are you doing this?” The question always exists of “what is it for”. I wrote about this recently in fact.

Sure, Chris, you write because you enjoy writing. True.

I don’t do this for attention, money, clicks or internet fame. I’ve had all of that in the past but no longer need them.

No, my interest and motivation is solely internal. If I wanted to write to an audience, I am going to have to step up my game with relevant content and frequency. If you are still reading or have stayed with me through the years, bless you.

These thoughts give reason behind simply enjoying the process of writing instead of the results. I love writing out my thoughts and that is enough motivation to do it. Although enough of it takes place in private that hitting publish barely seems worth it at all, the process could be enough. Although it is a joy to hit “PUBLISH” and send out to the WWW.

Besides, haven’t you ever done something just for the hell of it?

Cropping My Photo Gear

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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
Photo Denbow

The iPhone 13 Pro Max

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
MomentMoment

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

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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.

💬
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
Yoga & Meditation programs with Apple Fitness+ 

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.  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.

Black Sheep is smokin’
🚭
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.

👟
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

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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

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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

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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.

🔗
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

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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.

Mylio Photo Organizer

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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.

Mylio breaks down all the file types, the quantity and the size. That’s a lot of data!
Which camera or lens did I use the most? It rhymes with “chapel.”
Where are all those photos of Boca chica beach? Well, just click and discover.

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.