Photography

Cropped

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The tools used to create my photography has been minimized, cropped. Since Adobe is no longer a part of my workflow, I am all-in for the Apple products. Before, Apple Photos was just a catch-all and now it is organized. The tools inside have come a long way to industry standard and I wonder what took them so long. I wonder what took me so long to realize that Photos and Adobe Lightroom are very similar. Of course, the monthly subscription to Adobe had to go in favor of software built right into my devices.

This isn’t a big deal to most people, but coming from a guy who loved photo gear and software this is a revelation. In fact, I have reduced my main camera to the very capable iPhone. Paired with Photos, and my minimalistic goals have been met.

Apple Photos on the MacBook looks amazing and those image controls!
Fine. I did hang on to Pixelmator Pro on the MacBook. But it was paid for and not a subscription.

Not Hip

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The Hipstamatic camera system has been a source of photographic joy for me in the previous ten years. However they, like other developers, have chosen to scrap all previous agreements and go to the subscription-based model for revenue. I say go for it, but leave me out. I knew this was a possibility last year and in a few weeks, there will be a prompt to subscribe.

I have just completed my 365 photo-a-day goal wherein only the Hipstamatic was used. I took advantage of its unique blend of lenses, film, and flashes to create odd, macro images all in the square 1:1 format. The entire project has been uploaded to Flickr.

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Hotel Art Critic

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This idea was inspired by our recent road trip and will be included in the Explore More book, brought to you by the Denbow Modern Classics publishing house.

  • Tip: Stop at any hotel, small motels, inns, BnBs, etc, and critique the strange, bland, or hilariously bad art that often graces the walls.
  • Task: Make up elaborate backstories for each piece, imagining who the artist was, their emotional state, and what profound meaning they were trying to convey. Share your critiques in an ironic blog post or social media series titled something like “Art from Room 204.”
Rothko Wannabe
Requests of Independence
Contemplation Of Distorted Flame Beach
Stained Depression

Nature’s Neon

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Thanks to another coronal mass ejection from our star, the aurora borealis made another appearance further south than usual. I was blessed to witness this event back in May and blessed again for being further north in Oklahoma to see it again.

The light show started just as a small thunderstorm passed to my south but partly cloudy to the north. Thankfully, the clouds dissipated enough for these results!

Nebulae

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Upon further inspection of the Orion constellation image I took the other morning1 I noticed multiple nebulae. Had I remembered or even noticed, I would have broken out the tripod and opened up the shutter longer for a better shot. Here, the Horsehead and Flame nebulas are quite visible, as is the Orion Nebula to the lower right. I’ll try again on the return trip home.

  1. what day is it, I am evacuating Milton ↩︎

Pentax ME Super

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I just received a gift in the form of this fantastic 35mm film camera. I already own its brother, the Pentax K1000, and am familiar with the settings. I’m wondering what differences in the two could be.

It came preloaded with film but I’m not sure what film stock is in it. As always, it will be a treat to discover once it is developed.

For my part, I plan to use for my first stock choice either the lovely Lomography Metrochrome color or the Ilford HP5 black and white film.

Now it’s time to shoot those 36 exposures!