May 2020 Archive

May 2020 Archive

One Day

2020-05-05 00:06:47

Or Day One? I need to decide.

Post-Processing The Past

2020-05-08 21:30:43

A year ago, it feels like eternity now, I visited California again; this time through Route 66. I took this photograph in Joshua Tree. I never really got around to processing those images except for a few. Like most of my images they’re stuck in digital storage. I’ve been taking advantage of the pandemic to organize these images and eventually post-process and print them. It’s a small way to distract myself and a big step in organizing the archives. I need more opportunities for landscape photography capture and apply what I’ve been reading up on.

Progress

2020-05-09 17:16:18

Click the link to read up on the DAM progress

Stoic Virtues

2020-05-12 18:19:58

Marcus Aurelius, one of the more decent Roman Emperors, kept a journal on philosophical topics which is now known as the Meditations, such as how to live well and how to be a good leader. Some of the virtues he reflected on are just as relevant today. I am attempting to apply these same Stoic principles daily. Hard work is a desire, not a chore. Being polite and courteous is a recognition of how your own emotion is not any more important than anyone else’s emotions. It is a mark of equality and self-discipline. Marcus mentions the ‘Serenity of Temper’. He wants to learn to control his anger because he understands anger is an important emotion to control.Marcus could not let himself make rash and reckless decisions when overcome by anger. As the richest and most powerful man in the Roman Empire, it’s interesting he valued generosity as one of the most important virtues. He isn’t talking about material wealth. We need to be generous in our thoughts as well as our actions. Generosity is thinking the best of people, and acting accordingly. It’s giving people the chance to be the very best person possible. Instead of judging a person harshly, you judge fairly. Piety is respect and dedication towards God and religious beliefs. Piety isn’t preaching your beliefs but instead quietly living them. It’s a religious devotion. It’s the application of personal belief, which could be considered pious. Marcus was rich and powerful and knew it could corrupt. He advocates for simplicity of living ‘unlike the usual lives of the rich’. The only way to balance the extremes between riches and poverty is to live simply. Learn to live with just enough and you will always be happy. Patience is an important virtue in developing kindness because it recognizes how other people are in different stages of learning and personal development. Parents should be patient towards children, because they are still learning about the world. Others come from different backgrounds and experiences for which we should try to understand and be patient to. Marcus Aurelius mentioned other virtues but these seem like the most important in the Meditations. Learning to live like a Stoic Roman emperor can be helpful.

More thoughts on a Stoic philosophy from a Roman Emperor

2020-05-12 18:30:47

Wake Up Early and Get To Work “At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work – as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for – the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’” Take Time To Journal “The recognition that I needed to train and discipline my character. Not to be sidetracked by my interest in rhetoric. Not to write treatises on abstract questions, or deliver moralizing little sermons, or compose imaginary descriptions of The Simple Life or The Man Who Lives Only for Others. To steer clear of oratory, poetry and belles lettres. Not to dress up just to stroll around the house, or things like that. To write straightforward.” — Marcus Aurelius Prepare for the Day Ahead “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.” — Marcus Aurelius The Most Important Task First “Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.” — Marcus Aurelius Mindfulness “Anyone with a feeling for nature—a deeper sensitivity—will find it all gives pleasure. Even what seems inadvertent. He’ll find the jaws of live animals as beautiful as painted ones or sculptures. He’ll look calmly at the distinct beauty of old age in men, women, and at the loveliness of children. And other things like that will call out to him constantly—things unnoticed by others. Things seen only by those at home with Nature and its works.” — Marcus Aurelius You Will Die “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” — Marcus Aurelius The Stoic philosophy can be summed up simply: to put each breath to good use, to live virtuously, and to accept fate is either good or bad.

Minimalist Photography

2020-05-17 18:56:51

For awhile now, I have been playing with the idea of minimalist images. This means sticking with the black and white, monochrome images but using less to compose an image with. An old friend named Brandon helped create a unique emulation of the old Kodak T-Max film as a preset in Lightroom. The idea being I would recreate the film look in my images. This image was made in White Sands, New Mexico in February 2019.

Get Out

2020-05-18 07:11:23

I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately so we decided to get out of the house for another day trip- this time to the ghost town of Ingalls, Oklahoma. Even better was the fact that our destination was unknown to me until we arrived. It was so freeing to wake up, hit the road not knowing where I was going. This was a first. I’ll insist on more. Not much is left except the general store, hotel and livery but it felt great to hit the road.

Country Roads Take Me Home

2020-05-23 22:20:05

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Three Corners

2020-05-25 21:19:09

Saturday, May 23rd

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Standing in three states at once, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma

Goodbye Amazon

2020-05-30 09:55:18

As an Amazon.com charter member since it was created in 1994, it pains me to have been so frustrated and ultimately close the account. Too many missed deliveries and botched orders lately. After downloading and converting my e-books so I can use them on any device I want instead of Amazon-specific formats, I have closed my 26 year old account.

Progress

2020-05-09 18:13:38

The organization of my archives is slowly starting to look better. I’ve moved images to their proper month/years and removed the duplicates. The current process finds me removing the images I do not want. The example above shows over 15,000 photos in 2019 alone. I’ve since knocked that down to almost 1,800 instead.