Photography

Post Process Photography

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Lately I have been attempting to find a more efficient workflow for my photography processing and organization. I have been an Adobe Lightroom user since 2006 to help organize and edit images. A few years ago Adobe switched to a subscription model instead of a one-time purchase. This is disappointing. To save money, I have looked for a solution that can do everything Lightroom can and own it. It hasn’t been easy and I have tried them all. I’ve gone back and forth but somehow I keep coming back to Lightroom so why fight it? Shut up and take my money. A history of the back and forth below:

  • 01/01/2018 Lightroom is the best, I’ll never leave.
  • 05/01/2018 Why am I paying Adobe every month? I wonder what Capture One will do for me?
  • 05/15/2018 C1 trial expiring, do I want to invest $200 for something I am not too happy with?
  • 03/24/2019 Converted from Windows to Macbook. Adobe? Pixelmator? Both.
  • 02/02/2022 Cancel Adobe, hello again Pixelmator and Apple Photos
  • 02/24/2022 Don’t listen to me, I’ve resubscribed to Adobe Lightroom

The whole point of this is to stick with what I know, enjoy the process, appreciate the software solutions offered and pay the monthly fee. This time I went with the 1 TB Lightroom Only plan because I do not use Photoshop. Same cost, less software but more cloud storage. Perfect.

Version 1.0

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I have had a need to simplify my websites and the expenses that come with them. Everything changed today.

A year ago I transferred this website to WordPress.com for simplicity and ease of use but I gave up too much control. Today, I transferred it back to my own web server and taking full control back. This move will save over half the expenses too. At the same time, I moved my photography website back and forth between web hosts, Adobe and my own server as well.

I signed up with a Adobe Photography plan again mostly because of their web portfolio hosting that comes with the plan. This is cheaper than hosting my portfolio on WordPress or my own web server.

Today is a fresh start for this site. I have moved all of the articles published previously to the Archives page. There was an unfortunate issue with migrating the data over resulting in the first ten years going missing or a corrupt .xml file. Now the records go back to only 2011. I’ll keep sorting that out as I don’t want to lose all those memories.

ChrisDenbow.com was rebuilt in an hour and it will take time to clean up the migration process, slap some paint on the walls and customize the site to my liking. For now, we’ll log this attempt at version 1.0

Progress

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Time to get serious and disciplined regarding digital asset
management (DAM). As I type, I am transferring files off of the various
external hard drives to a master file on my computer. Then I will use
Lightroom to remove the duplicates, sort the wheat from the chaff, sort
by year/month, geotag, keyword and then maintain this archive. After
this I will upload to my photo hosts. On backup drives, Flickr and
Smugmug.

With my new camera, I am considering this all to be a clean slate. Way overdue.

Website | VSCO | Smugmug | EyeEm | Flickr | YouTube

Photo Archeology

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My very first digital photograph back in November 2001.

When
I was away at college I borrowed my father’s Olympus C2100. I loved the
zoom and bokeh it produced. This had helped solidify my photography
enthusiasm.

I discovered this when sorting through the archives
and organizing the digital assets (DAM). Yeah, it’s simple,  but we all
start somewhere.

Website | VSCO | Smugmug | EyeEm | Flickr | YouTube

Muse

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I need a muse to help influence and inspire my photography. Someone
who understands and supports my creative vision, even if I don’t. This
muse would inspire my creative vision. Someone that will allow me
anything and everything. Fearless. No comfort zone because of the trust.
Find the limits and then cross them anyway. Every photographer needs a
muse, not just a model. A companion, my biggest fan and maybe even my
biggest critic.

This muse will help guide and instruct my creative
process with trial, error and success just by being there. The muse
will be honest, free and open with me to unleash my creative flow.

They
will fill up my photo card, drain my batteries, use up all my film
because the inspiration will not stop. You are hers and she is yours.
That connection between her, my camera and me is magic. My muse won’t
care for other’s work, just mine. And hers, because she is a work of art
herself.

Therapeutic Photography

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As I’ve stated previously, it’s been a shitty year and not a lot to show for it. In fact, I have lost so much. There are times too, that I have been bored or uninspired with my hobbies, including photography. Most of the time, however, I just pick up the camera and go. Go out, anywhere. Shoot anything to make myself feel better. The camera and the process is therapy to me. It relieves me of stress and helps me create. Photography helps me to focus (see what I did there?) on what’s in front of me and allows for a pleasant distraction. It reduces frustration and anxiety. 

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self-portrait 5m after waking

Photo Walks

I am a big fan of photo walks. No agenda, no direction. I just wander with an open eye for something, anything of personal interest and capture it. Stretch, walk, breathe and relax. 

Group Therapy

I’ve also discovered interacting with people to be therapeutic too. It sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but it works for me. I feed off their personalities and passions. Even their presence is energizing. Ever sit in a coffee shop and feel the buzz? Me too.

Getting out and talking to strangers on the street breaks down my walls and theirs. I’ve been doing quite a lot of portrait photography with my HOT project. These beautiful faces make me smile. See? Therapy. 

Communicating with like-minded people is a huge positivity boost. Photographers are isolated and protective by nature (why?) so this could be more stressful at first…but the payoff is amazing. Who else but we, can understand and support one another? I am really excited about my new photography group coming soon. 

Focus

One of the best things about photography is again, focusing on details. Distract yourself by focusing on the boring, mundane, everyday details that can deliver the best images and make for the best subjects. 

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Anything and everything all of a sudden becomes interesting. Beauty in the details. Forest through the trees. 

I lean heavily on photography when doubt, depression and frustration kick in. I give them a kick back when I grab my camera and go.