Digital

Digital Essentialism

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How is your digital life? Feeling overwhelmed by all the clutter in your inbox, hard drive and cloud service? I know I was.

Though I consider myself to be an essentialist, there does come a time when I get lazy and the discipline slides. Clutter, digital or otherwise, can get distracting over time. Now may be the perfect time to clean up your digital room, so to speak. If not daily, then weekly because a well-organized computer will yield positive results for your state of mind and your workflow productivity.

Here’s how to get started:

Backups

When was the last time you backed up your data? If you can’t remember, then it has been too long. I set a calendar reminder for once a week, then plug in the dedicated external hard drive, flip on Apple’s Time Machine and let it do its thing-creating and preserving a snapshot image of everything on the MacBook’s drive. Before all that, I suggest sorting through your Downloads folder and assign to a proper folder or delete. How are your other folders? Photos, Music, Videos, Documents all need to be sorted. Toss what you have been holding on to for some reason. After all that, then take out the Trash and delete everything in that folder.

Cloud

Just as the computer gets cleaned up, so too your Cloud backups. My Cloud mimics the desktop with everything in place. Run Time Machine again and ensure good backups.

Software

If you have dozens of software programs and apps, it is time to have a think about what you are actually using. If you haven’t used a program in say six months, then uninstall and free up space on your machine. It will thank you for it. Do you really need four calendar apps, two music players, three browsers and who else knows what? Pick the right tool for the job and stick with it. Uninstall the rest.

Desktop

A cluttered desktop can be overwhelming and distract from your focus and productivity. A messy computer desktop is akin to a messy physical desk. Nobody wants to see that. Sort that clutter into their respective folders, empty your Trash can folder and enjoy the serenity. ADD DESKTOP SCREENSHOT

Web Browser

Now, wait just a damn minute, Chris. This is sacred. If I don’t have multiple tabs open or bookmarked, I run the risk of losing and forgetting them. I might even return to them…someday. That mentality is an old way of thinking that needs to be corrected. You won’t go back to them. You don’t need it. One of these days, your browser’s memory will slow to a crawl, and you’ll be forced to reboot the thing and potentially lose all those open tabs you’ve been saving.

Inbox and RSS feeds

If you cringe every time you access your email inbox, then you are doing it wrong. Email should be assigned from an inbox to a folder, replied to or deleted. Don’t forget to take the trash out again when done. If the mail is piled up, and you are overwhelmed, most email applications have a search feature.

RSS feed readers are a remarkable resource to stay current on the websites and blogs you enjoy. Shameless plug inserted here- https://chrisdenbow.website/feed But how does your “Unread” count look? Either read the article or save it to the “Read It Later” folder. Everything else can be deleted. The same can be said for podcast episodes!

One Password To Rule Them All

I dislike passwords, and captchas and just about every modern day credential grabber. Who can keep track of them all? I used to and failed. Then I tried a third-party password manager. I only needed one password to log in to that, and every time I needed to sign in elsewhere, that application would pop up and log in for me. That was fun until their data center was hacked and everyone’s passwords were in the open. I currently use Apple’s Password manager. I’m already signed in to an Apple account, so I don’t have to remember a password there. Any website I visit, the Password app is ready to log me in, or help me create a new username/password. Once credentialed, Passwords will retain the info and be ready to use again. All it requires is my Face ID or Touch ID.

The Takeaway

Our digital usage over multiple devices can overwhelm us, and we open ourselves up to clutter. Who has the time to organize when we just want to scroll a feed or watch a video? I find that currently we need to be more mindful. Digital simplicity, essentialism, and minimalism is more important than before.

iPhone vs Camera

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The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of ditching all but one of my cameras and just use the camera built in to my iPhone.

Why?

An iPhone can untether the photographer because you have a full stack setup of a camera, a digital darkroom to process images and a publishing studio in your pocket.

You can point and shoot with your iPhone to make images, use Apple Photos to edit or a third-party app like VSCO or Snapseed to process them and then publish the keepers to your website or social media.  

Millie in downtown Chicago 2019 shot with iPhone 11 Max
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More articles about iPhoneography: https://www.chrisdenbow.website/iphoneography-tips/ https://www.chrisdenbow.website/crop-resize-my-photo-gear/ https://www.chrisdenbow.website/camera-minimalism/

The Negative:

If an iPhone has the same quality imaging as a standard digital camera what can be so bad about that?  More screen time on your phone and more distractions can be bad. You’ll experience neither of these when using a dedicated camera.

But… an iPhone is a perfect camera for almost everyone

If most of your images are uploaded to social media or just stored on your phone or in a cloud you don’t need another camera. An iPhone is perfect for this. You aren’t printing your photos and almost 50% of your images aren’t seen again until a few years later and you say “Oh yeah…I remember that” then you delete it.

When the time comes for a family portrait and you want to print archival-quality images, then you can dust off your DSLR camera.

Most of us don’t need better image quality or the largest sensor we need photo shoot ideas, imagination and creativity to make our images stand out.

Digital and Film

I love shooting film photography because every frame costs money and I need to take my time to enjoy the process as opposed to shooting thousands of digital shots and hope for the best. I try to find the best of both worlds by creating my own film emulations. For the past ten years I’ve developed my own film aethestic to try and duplicate my favorite film stock (see below.)

Left: Carlie on Ilford HP5+ black and white film Right: Carlie on Fujifilm Velvia 100 both created in my digital darkroom

The issue with digital photos is that almost all of them will die in the darkness of your hard drive. They won’t die alone because there are thousands of images that will never see the light of day again.

Left: Ilford HP5+ black and white roll of 36 exposures Right: Contact sheet of digital negatives from that same roll

All of that to say this: I think I’ve found my photo mojo again with a new project. I am going to blend the film and digital concept starting this weekend. I will go out for a photo walk with the iPhone and limit myself to only 36 shots, the same as a roll of 35mm film. I will then develop them in my digital darkroom using only one film stock aethestic and finally, pick my favorites and have them printed on archive paper. I’m looking forward to the hybrid process and now the weekend cannot come soon enough.

Oh, and I can’t wait to buy the iPhone 14 Pro Max later this year so I can use my iPhone 13 Pro Max as a camera only and not worry about dropping my new phone when shooting.

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.

Photo Archive & Curation

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2023 is the year I finally go RAID (redundant array of independent disks).

After that, a dedicated photo file server.

Then organize images with tags, keywords, geotags, faces. Easily searchable.

Convert to the Digital Negative format and use as backup

One Lightroom catalog per yearly archive as backup.

Make yearbook prints out of the top 24 images per year, two per month.

Apple Photos for cloud storage. Maybe even Flickr.

Overorganized & Underused

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Over-organizing is a great way to procrastinate.

Am I doing something useful or am I avoiding something that is intellectually more difficult?

I am not an archivist.
But I want to curate my notes and articles.

I am not making notes for legal documents.
Just for me.

For 99.99% of my notes, lists, notebooks, drafts, files… done is better than perfect.

If I can reliably find my notes and figure out later on what I meant when I wrote it, that’s all I need.

Light Reading

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Not too many things can beat a free public library card paired with the Libby e-reader app. I’ve downloaded and read so many e-books from there this year that I’ve beaten my goal of twenty two books for 2022. I knocked out that goal by March and I am still going. I do want to try my luck and download the audio book to listen to during the day, and finish the day with the digital form as well but I haven’t been that lucky to get both at the same time so far.

Since cancelling my Apple One subscription, I’ve lost out on the News app which includes magazines. Well, thankfully they are available through the library/Libby app as well. Huzzah!

And here is another plug for book titles in the public domain. Project Gutenberg and Standard E-Books help fill in the gap on classic literature reading. My digital bookshelf is stocked.

This Week

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It’s been about a solid week since re-using iA Writer exclusively, instead of Ulysses and I’m thrilled to be back. I’ve never stuck with iA Writer except for editing Markdown files but now I am using it exclusively to publish here.

I’m thinking I have too many cameras and one has to go. Eek!

After reading about the latest iPhone, Watch and AirPods I think I will…pass on upgrading this year. I’ve finally arrived to the point where I am content and this is a unique experience for me. That Apple Ultra Watch though…

Must. Resist. The. Temptation.

The idea of using a manual typewriter is a nice one but I almost never use it because it is very loud. Satisfying but loud. (::::::)

I have stacks of notebooks with virgin paper to fill but I’ve been too lazy. This has got to change or they go out the door.

I’ve decided I am going to do one more portrait session with the film cameras and then I’m going all-digital for awhile. Film prices are outrageous right now. Ten years from now when the film market is abandoned, I’ll dust off the 35mm cameras and be a hipster photographer.

How To Become The Great Urban Photographer

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If you loosely apply Lomography’s ten golden rules, you’ll do just fine.

  1. Take your camera with you everywhere you go.
  2. Use your camera any time, day, or night.
  3. Photography is not an interference of your life but a part of it
  4. Shoot from the hip
  5. Approach as closely as possible
  6. Don’t think
  7. Be fast
  8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured
  9. Or afterwords either
  10. Don’t worry about any rules.

Number 10 may be the most important. Don’t listen to others, stay true to yourself and your artistic endeavor. There are plenty of rules that can and should be broken.

To those 10, I’ll remind you of another 10.

  1. Luck, coincidence emergency and surprise are your friends.
  2. Experimentation is exciting. Expect the unexpected. Or don’t!
  3. Embrace the sensory effects of the street. Light, shadow, smells & sounds
  4. Leave the grind behind. Focus on you and your subjects.
  5. Street photos look better when printed. I prefer black and white.
  6. Look again. If something spots your eye, but you pass on it…go back. Your first instinct is usually correct.
  7. Let loose. Have fun.
  8. Analog or film photography is making a comeback. Buy a cheap film camera.
  9. Analog will seldom disappoint because it is unique and challenging.
  10. Trust your senses over an LCD screen and electric sensors.

Urban, or street photography, combines what I love best. Walking, working with people, courage, risk-worthy opportunities and timing. Now grab your camera and start shooting!