A long time ago I created a website for my daughter to document her growth. Over time, though, it was neglected and shelved. I came across an .xml file containing a few posts but not all of them so I built a new website archive, added some images from the photo archives that didn't migrate over and boom, it's back.
I regret not keeping up with this among all of the other regrets.
So for now, her early works are back and hopefully in the future we can build a proper, modern telling of her beautiful story.
My appetite for well-written novels and articles in genres and on topics that I’m interested in, and the availability of all of those, are more than the time I have to read it. I am already staring up at the tower of books now.
These aren't counting the five books I finished already in 2024
The pile of physical and digital books I want to read grows far more rapidly than the pile I have read. The list of articles I have saved in my read-it-later app is just as extensive, but they are more easily digestible.
Well, That's Sorted
2024-03-05 12:33:07
While going through all of my files, I discovered they were all scattered across multiple hard drives, backed up multiple times. A mess. I decided to make a master file and import all data into it. Then I started to weed out all the quadruplicates. Now the master archive is backed up and synced to the external hard drives, the file server and the cloud. It only took me sixteen years.
On Civilization
2024-03-05 18:18:38
Read it and weep.
"Formerly the fewest men wrote books that were most valuable. Now anybody writes and prints anything he likes and poisons people’s minds.
It has been stated that, as men progress, they shall be able to travel in airships and reach any part of the world in a few hours. Men will not need the use of their hands and feet. They will press a button and have their clothing by their side. They will press another button and have their newspaper. A third, and a motorcar will be waiting for them. They will have a variety of delicately dished-up food. Everything will be done by machinery.
They are obliged to work, at the risk of their lives, at most dangerous occupations, for the sake of millionaires. Formerly men were made slaves under physical compulsion; now they are enslaved by the temptation of money and of the luxuries that money can buy. There are now diseases of which people never dreamed before, and an army of doctors is engaged in finding out their cures, and so hospitals have increased. This is a test of civilization.
Formerly special messengers were required and much expense was incurred in order to send letters; today anyone can abuse his fellow by means of a letter for one penny. True, at the same cost, one can send one’s thanks also. Formerly people had two or three meals consisting of homemade bread and vegetables; now they require something to eat every two hours, so that they have hardly leisure for anything else.
These are all true tests of civilization. And if anyone speaks to the contrary, know that he is ignorant. This civilization takes note neither of morality nor of religion. Its votaries calmly state that their business is not to teach religion. Some even consider it to be a superstitious growth. Others put on the cloak of religion and prate about morality.
But after twenty years’ experience, I have come to the conclusion that immorality is often taught in the name of morality. Even a child can understand that in all I have described above there can be no inducement to morality. Civilization seeks to increase bodily comforts, and it fails miserably even in doing so."
Mahatma Gandhi, Civilization 1909
Five Years Later
2024-03-06 02:33:56
After decades using Windows and Linux operating systems, I had had enough with both of them. In 2019 I decided to go all in on the Apple ecosystem and purchased a used MacBook Air from 2015.
Five years later, and I am finally looking back, thinking those are the smartest technological decisions I have made yet. Here's to another five years before I want to upgrade again.
Systems Diagnostic Check 3.3
2024-03-03 13:42:00
It is March 3 (3.3) and time for a check-in to see how I am responding to my own goals for the year so far. This year it is in a language I can understand, such as considering my body, mind, and soul as a personal operating system. So, how did I do last month? It isn’t going well.
Bug #1: Lack of physical fitness. To maximize system performance, I need to focus on the overall health of the personal operating system, and that is to stay physically fit. As of February 19th, I am no longer working, and that means I am no longer working outdoors and staying fit. And due to costs, I have dropped the Apple One Fitness+ plan as well. Two fails. Time to access the walking and yoga sub-routines. These should both be done daily. Yoga in the morning to stretch out, and purposeful walking for cardio. I may have to subscribe to a gym membership soon for inspiration and weight lifting.
Bug #2: Nutrition is a crucial component to all of this because I have not eaten well the last quarter of 2023. I should be mindful and seek healthier food options. But this hasn’t happened yet either. Some cooked meals at home, but mostly eat out. I think we are waiting on something to happen here that will assist in a lifestyle change. Frustrating.
Bug #3: Smoking pipe tobacco and drinking alcohol is inserting bad code into my system. I have not worked towards debugging those substances to enhance my personal system performance. In fact, these nasty bugs may be multiplying.
Each month, and the corresponding day, I will run a systems diagnostic and report on either the overall performance or list any bugs that may still need to be addressed.
Inputs
Other applications will be used to maintain the mental health of my personal operating system, such as:
Reading
Creative writing
Journaling
Meditation
Overall, these benchmarks for analyzing and evaluating overall performance will help maintain my personal operating system for years to come.
The next systems diagnostic check is scheduled for April 4 (4/4) and hopefully with better results.
Gunboat Park Neon
2024-03-08 11:41:32
A few more neon signs went up along Route 66 in Tulsa that I meant to capture before work travels and had forgotten. I was reminded by a recent drive-by and had to stop of course.
"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." - Mark Twain
Archived
2024-03-01 00:24:12
This website has been relegated as a repository from all of my previous published articles from 2006-2023. I am missing five years worth from 2001-2005 due to the fact that I lost the 3.5" floppy disk during a move and never copied or backed it up anywhere else. Damn. I need to do better at this.
While you are here, take a look around inside the archives. Eventually I will have category and tag searches for finding specific articles.
Yeesh.
2024-03-01 17:48:46
Just going through a few back up hard drives and re-discovering some past writings. I need to sort and get them all into one place instead of scattered. Yeesh, what a nightmare I've created.
Memex
2024-03-01 23:48:52
A better part of the day was spent looking for .xml files that contain my old blog posts. I managed to find posts from 2006-2010 and then migrate those to another website as a semi-permanent record. 2010-2023 coming as soon as I import them into the new archive database. I am missing five years worth from 2001-2005 due to the fact that I lost the 3.5″ floppy disk during a move and never copied or backed it up anywhere else.
💻
Ideally, I'd love to have everything in one place on this current website here but, the current server configuration would shit the bed and I don't want to deal with that mess right now.
The Archives can be found by clicking the Archives link in the menu above this article or here: https://cjdarchives.website
A few days ago I wrote that this was the time to minimize my iPhone usage as an experiment for a day and...it mostly worked.
Instead of a phone, I brought the Kindle to catch up on my reading while I waited to get a haircut. It was pleasant. Not so pleasant was the other people queued up had their phones out and watching videos, or talking loudly into them. How very annoying. I don't do this even with my phone on me. Rude.
I encountered two setbacks during this experiment: I needed to send Nikki off via courier, but didn't have the shipping label, nor access to the email with the label on it so I had to go back home, retrieve the phone and try again. Success, but annoyed.
The next time the phone was turned on was during Snappy Hour so I can keep my daily streak and keep my 365/2024 photo project going. I knew this going in and that was supposed to be my one exception.
Overall, I did not miss the phone nor feel compelled to reach for it out of muscle memory and that encourages me to try again soon, maybe try three days instead of one. And then five and then...
Text Is Best
2024-03-03 23:04:38
While migrating old web articles I have published in/out of databases, there are standard formats that should be universal or compatible with others. The issue I am having is that when exporting old data from a .json formatted document, I run into a long string of data objects that are not readable. Other examples or .xml data that is difficult to convert as well.
JSON viewer
All of that to say I am having difficulty migrating old writing into my Archives due to incompatible file formats. This is why I prefer .txt files that are easily readable and future-proofed. Meaning, the file will be compatible for generations after I am gone. But noooo...we have to use .json and .xml with no easy way to convert them.
So now I have to parse each article, cut/paste into the Archives one-by-one manually. There are 374 of these. Damn.
Obsession
2024-03-03 23:31:31
“Lastly, if there’s anything I can convince you of: you should build a personal site, you should obsess over it, you should meticulously document it, and you should have quite a bit of fun doing so. (It’s worth it.)”
- Justin Duke
Night + Day
2024-03-05 12:56:48
I geeked out just now watching my website switch from night mode to day mode automatically according to when the sun is scheduled to rise. Thanks to my Open Weather api script.
6:47am 6:48am
TinkerFutzNPutz
2024-03-07 09:35:52
Over the past few weeks, I have retired the silver fox website and migrated everything over from the last 23(!) years to an Archived website for posterity. I purchased a new domain name (chrisdenbow.website) that matches my own because I had allowed someone else to snatch up the old one (R.I.P. chrisdenbow.website). If you type in the old web address, it will redirect into an Icelandic online betting site. The internet is weird.
Moving on, I built this website here from the ground up. I took some old code, improved it, streamlined that code and made it sexier. It’s just like baking a cake but in this regard, you can add or take out the ingredients in whichever way or order to what makes sense to you. I then uploaded all to my test server, broke it, rewrote and tried again. Success. Then everything was migrated to the Ghost server, imported a few old posts to help get it going, and pushed send. ChrisDenbow.website was born.
Now I think I stop the futzing and putzing after these past few weeks and enjoy.
For the past twenty+ years, I have bounced in/out of different platforms and formats, tried my hand at coding and designing something that made me happy. Because if you are going to invest decades into something you enjoy, it damn well needs a decent platform to showcase it. Those decades were all a learning experience, and it brought me here.
All that to say that this website will be my own small slice of the WWW for a long time.
It’s about time.
Apple ID
2024-03-08 15:10:13
I am about to merge, consolidate and liquidate older IDs in favor of a new, more permanent Apple ID. I've made a mess of things these past few months. I hope for minimal damage and quick recovery process if it does happen.
Almost There
2024-03-09 04:48:48
I have successfully switched my Apple ID to the current email address, signed out of most of my devices from old ID and logged in properly. There are some residual issues with the old ID on some devices that I need to sort out soon but not now.
Polaroid
2024-03-10 17:20:02
When you see two packs of expensive Polaroid film discounted, you pick them up every time. 2 for $12 instead of $36? Yep.
Finally.
2024-03-10 18:30:20
The Quiet Room (Book 2 in Rabbits series) by Terry Miles 2024-02-07 to 2024-03-10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finally. Pt 2
2024-03-12 11:29:27
It's only been two weeks since I ordered the Ricoh GR camera then I finally get this notification:
I've Lost The Way
2024-03-12 13:36:24
I can’t tell you how many times in the past ten years that there was a desire to build and maintain a map as a photo gallery of places I have been and things I have seen in all of my travels. No, it’s more than one map. I have wanted to build my own map(s) displaying all the images of hidden and discovered geocaches across the country. A separate map showcasing all the neon signs I have documented from Miami to Portland and all points in between. Another map to display all the locations of documented wall art from New Orleans to Chicago, you know, up and down the length of the Mississippi River.
🌐
"If you have no road map, you have to create your own." - Jacqueline Woods
Thanks to careful documentation in the past, I tagged GPS coordinates on to images to look them up later. Then, with incoming new technology, GPS coordinates were built in to the EXIF data of every image, making it so much easier to locate. But what does one do with that information? Build a map to document your travels, of course.
Previously, I relied on Google’s “My Maps” which allows you to enter these in and attach photos to them, but I do not like Google. Unfortunately, they are one of the best, free sources (free as in they will hoover all of your data for their use, of course.) But I’ve always known there exists open-source mapping programs to help me build one myself. After all of this time, this may be a good opportunity to build and ship one out, allowing me to lovingly document these locations. You know, as a photo diary.
Just a few of my neon images attached inside Google My Maps
So, I downloaded Visual Studio Code, an IDE, installed Python inside and went to work creating a photo gallery that works with ArcGIS, a mapping software tool. Then created an account on GitHub to keep all of my code in the cloud and act as a virtual server, ready for me to pull requests down when needed. Well, I discovered that the costs to maintain these wouldn’t be a solution, especially ArcGIS (Geographic Information System.) Enter QGIS, an open-source tool that allows me to do this at zero cost.
Python code inside an integrated development environment
Then I went to work in Python, coding out the framework and processes to make these maps a reality…and then hit a brick wall. Do I really want to do this? I do, yes, but currently I can’t be arsed. It isn’t laziness, it is restlessness. What else could I be doing instead? But wait, I have the time to do this now because in the near future I may not.
So frustrating is this internal debate that I upload what little code I had to GitHub and then decide what to do with all of this…later. Maybe the reason is I just spent the last few weeks in code building this website and the Archive website and writing articles on here, and creating newsletters and podcasts and and and I just need a break. I've lost my way and my desire.
Speaking of breaks, I am going to relax and finish listening to this album that was playing in the background while typing this up:
Delta Kream by The Black Keys
ugh
2024-03-12 15:59:51
Parsing an exported .json file into something readable like a plain .txt format is proving troublesome. These are old posts that need to be translated and then migrated over to the Archives site since they were not imported due to these .json errors.
Unfortunately, there has been no easy solution. It is all copy/paste and manually removing the gratuitous code, then format it properly and then copy/paste and date manually into the Archives.
ugharghSuccess.
Tulsa At 6am
2024-03-12 16:12:27
I decided to go for a walk and capture a view of downtown Tulsa this morning. I set the iPhone shutter to open for 3 seconds to capture light streaks and capture it in RAW. Then I decided to go without light streaks, for a straight scenic view:
24mm @ f/1.78 looking northwest from Peoria Ave and Hwy 51
Photo Archive Site
2024-03-13 04:49:10
This new website has been designated as a repository for a small set of images to be stored online instead of an expensive third-party photo hosting site (see ya, Flickr!). The actual photo archives are numbered to almost 50,000 images, so only a select few are chosen to be represented on this site. While you are there, take a look around inside the archives!
This is an extension to my main portfolio website that can be clicked here or in the nav bar up top.
I have not yet begun to upload images to this photo archive site and will do so throughout the next week. Okay, maybe one or two of my favorite subject:
Ricoh GR
2024-03-16 03:03:31
I know, I know. I can hear you bringing thisup to me when I said "new year, no new gear." After weeks of waiting, I finally have a new camera in my hands. I said goodbye to my fantastic but bulky Nikon D90 DSLR and lenses and traded all of those for this compact but powerful single-lens camera. See? It is a used camera and an even trade so that really doesn't break the "no new gear" rule I set for myself now does it?
📸
The idea here is to minimize my load and workflow and I think I am there, finally.
Yes, it is an older, used camera but still younger than the Nikon. Sure, there are newer models of the Ricoh GR but those are currently $1k and I just don't think it is worth it, so here was the compromise. In my mind, this is currently the best bang-for-the-buck digital camera for street photography. I love the compact size, the superb image quality and high-ISO performance, as well as the ergonomics and handling. Looking forward to putting it through the paces soon.
The big things worth noting in the Ricoh GR:
16MP APS-C sensor (a DSLR-sized crop sensor in a compact camera)
28mm f/2.8 lens
Ability to change from 28mm to “35mm crop mode”
No anti-aliasing filter (sharp images)
Solid magnesium alloy body underneath
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is still going to be my always-carry camera of course, and I still have a gifted-to-me Canon DSLR system in reserve as well. The other cameras in the arsenal are all analog film.
I usually take photos of urban landscapes, and street portraits, so this compact, but brilliant Ricoh GR is going to be perfect.
S.
2024-03-16 03:59:12
My tsundoku keeps multiplying and I won't apologize for this self-infliction. I saw this beautiful novel titled S. in a bookstore recently and decided I had to have it knowing very little about this other than it was sealed in plastic, but well designed.
I was not disappointed. Once I removed the plastic, I then had to break the seal to slide the hardback from its cardboard-protected shell. The hardback itself is designed to mimic a novel from the 1940's from a fictional author who tells his fascinating life story. Inside, the pages are designed to appear weathered, worn and faded yellow. The story within the story within this story is not only the biography itself, but of two people who communicate through each other's marginalia (I LOVE marginalia) on these pages. But wait, there is more. Inside the pages are inserted, physical letters, postcards, notes on a cafe napkin, photographs and even a paper compass wheel.
Which do I read first? The typed novel, the novel written as margins or the inserts??
I enjoy a good story, but even more so the approach that publishers are crafting multi-dimensional books to tell a good story and keep the reader engaged. Much like the Rabbits series and my current reading of XX.
The only other book I want but not in my physical possession is The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I need to rectify that soon and increase my tsundoku.
I look forward to devouring S. as soon as possible.
The “La Flor Dominicana” Factory Tour
2024-03-17 08:29:13
Hello and thanks for subscribing to the newsletter!
Because of recent news of events on the island of Hispaniola, I've recalled a lot of memories from a few years ago when I was invited to photograph, document and serve the ongoing Christian missionary works based in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Towards the end of the trip, I had an opportunity to head north to the Caribbean coastal town of Sosua for some R&R, but in-between the two cities were mountain jungles and tobacco plantations.
Welcome to the jungle
Our gracious host and founder of the mission insisted we stopped for a cigar factory tour, and of course, this was accepted!
The La Flor factory tour follows the path of the tobacco leaves from the fields to the packaging of handmade cigars. The first thing I noticed, was the aromatic tobacco in enclosed spaces. Then I noticed, but was not allowed to photograph, the floor announcer. His job is to simply read the newspaper and magazine articles into the factory microphone to entertain the workers. Imagine a news barker with a derby cap, smoking La Flor’s finest with outstretched arms holding up the paper and talking through his cigar into the microphone.
I was then allowed to select from a stack of conditioned, classified, browned, aged leaves and then hand them off to the smiling worker. She then began the long process of turning a leaf into a freshly rolled cigar.
I followed my leaves around the various stages from station to station, watching and photographing workers as they blended, bunched, pressed, rolled, sealed and then allowed me to slide the La Flor Dominica ring around my fresh cigars. The entire process took about an hour to craft my box of the Caribbean's finest.
Uninformed individuals would say that Cuban cigars are the best, I disagree. Cubans are only sought after because they are illegal in the USA, and I think they smell and taste like Castro’s dead feet. My clandestine incursion onto Cuban shores is a story for next time.
Oh, and because Haiti and the Dominican Republic are neighbors and both currently in the news, here is a young Haitian toddler playing in the road, on the Dominican side apparently abandoned, shortly before I snapped this photo. There are strong racial tensions between these two countries, and I found this to be the only fault I could find on the Dominican side of Hispaniola. I was blessed to see the missionaries find him shelter and food. Just look at that handsome face.
Until next week, - Chris
Document > Create
2024-03-19 11:56:33
In the early years of my photography hobby, I would venture out and search for the most creative shots I could find. Using various tips and techniques that I had read about, I would try creative angles one day. Then the next outing would creatively use monochrome shots or some other techniques after that, and so on.
I would then send the 36-exposure roll off to the developing lab and eagerly await the prints while expecting something mesmerizing and unique to return. It very rarely returned unique or mesmerizing. The average return on film investment was about 2 images out of a 36-exposure stock. Expensive! Yet somehow, someway, I was hooked enough to go out there and try again.
When I acquired my first digital camera in 2001, I would venture out and search for the most creative shots I could find. Using various tips and techniques that I had read about, I would try creative angles one day. Then the next outing would creatively use monochrome shots or some other techniques after that, and so on. I would then race home, plug in the SD card and boot up the photo software in anticipation, while expecting something mesmerizing and unique to return. It very rarely returned unique or mesmerizing. The average return was about 20 out of 100 images taken. Thank goodness digital photography is cheap! Yet somehow, someway, I was hooked enough to go out there and try again.
Over the past twenty-three years, my attitude has changed- hmm…about twenty-three times. These days I am less concerned about creativity than I am documenting travels, events, and my life around me.
📸
Nowadays, I am shooting less portrait photography, which honestly, is the only time I want to be creative. I miss both creativity and people!
So, if I focus more on documentation and less creativity, the attitude, and equipment has changed to match. I no longer own a mixture of mirrorless and DSLR cameras with about five lenses for each one just in case. I don’t have to worry if I forgot to pack the telephoto lens, just because I might use it. Now I can be content with bringing one camera and one all-purpose lens if I choose to.
Recently, technology has been a big factor in these decisions as well. Photo equipment with amazing advances inside, the minimal size and weight of these things to assist in you lightening your kit and allowing me to relax and enjoy.
Did I just spot a tender moment on the street? Snap. Ahh, a new mural to document—Snap. This is out of place and would be interesting to capture— Snap.
Now I am getting into documenting everything in photos. I’ve found I can simply relax and walk away from a photowalk knowing there are some keepers on that SD card, instead of forcing myself to shoot something that may not be there only to walk away frustrated.
Another bonus- I’ve come to realize that all of this has been documenting and creating not only a visual daily journal, but also a complete body of work to be proud of.
Breaking In The Ricoh
2024-03-19 12:02:54
I took the new Ricoh GR out for a walk yesterday to see how it performs under harsh lighting conditions. The images are just as sharp and vibrant as expected. But ugh, the scenery and subject matter is still the same so not really chuffed about them.
I crave something new and interesting to capture. I'm done documenting Tulsa.
Standard color mode and high contrast B&W mode
Mystery
2024-03-19 18:55:10
“We don't know enough about ourselves. I think it's better to know that you don't know, that way you can grow with the mystery as the mystery grows in you. But, these days, of course, everybody knows everything, that's why so many people are so lost.”
- James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk
Suspension
2024-03-20 13:31:48
Ever since voluntarily leaving my job one month ago I've done my best to keep busy but this is slowing down. I'm grateful to have some dedicated time to complete a few personal projects and work on a few more. But I am in a state of suspense right now.
I recall the Israelites wandering in the desert waiting to enter the promised land and can sympathize.
Purgatorio- part two of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, written in the early bits of the 14th century, feels familiar as I may be taking slow steps to advance myself forward to Paradiso.
The Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe.
I understand these references are over-dramatic concerning my feelings, but who can deny their own thoughts of a personal situation? I am on the outside looking in. I can seek where I want to go and again, am in a state of suspension in arriving there.
With circumstances and situations in flux, I'll just settle in and keep busy awaiting the trumpets to sound so we can march forward and into the Promised Land.
S.
2024-03-15 09:20:00
My tsundoku keeps multiplying and I won't apologize for this self-infliction. I saw this beautiful novel titled S. in a bookstore recently and decided I had to have it knowing very little about this other than it was sealed in plastic, but well designed.
I was not disappointed. Once I removed the plastic, I then had to break the seal to slide the hardback from its cardboard-protected shell. The hardback itself is designed to mimic a novel from the 1940's from a fictional author who tells his fascinating life story. Inside, the pages are designed to appear weathered, worn and faded yellow. The story within the story within this story is not only the biography itself, but of two people who communicate through each other's marginalia (I LOVE marginalia) on these pages. But wait, there is more. Inside the pages are inserted, physical letters, postcards, notes on a cafe napkin, photographs and even a paper compass wheel.
I enjoy a good story, but even more so the approach that publishers are crafting multi-dimensional books to tell a good story and keep the reader engaged. Much like the Rabbits series and my current reading of XX.
The only other book I want but not in my physical possession is The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I need to rectify that soon and increase my tsundoku.
I look forward to devouring S. as soon as possible.
Mystery
2024-03-19 19:54:00
“We don't know enough about ourselves. I think it's better to know that you don't know, that way you can grow with the mystery as the mystery grows in you. But, these days, of course, everybody knows everything, that's why so many people are so lost.”
- James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk
Breaking In The Ricoh
2024-03-19 20:11:00
I took the new Ricoh GR out for a walk yesterday to see how it performs under harsh lighting conditions. The images are just as sharp and vibrant as expected. But ugh, the scenery and subject matter is still the same so not really chuffed about them.
I crave something new and interesting to capture. I'm done documenting Tulsa.
Standard color mode and high contrast B&W mode
Document > Create
2024-03-19 20:14:00
In the early years of my photography hobby, I would venture out and search for the most creative shots I could find. Using various tips and techniques that I had read about, I would try creative angles one day. Then the next outing would creatively use monochrome shots or some other techniques after that, and so on.
I would then send the 36-exposure roll off to the developing lab and eagerly await the prints while expecting something mesmerizing and unique to return. It very rarely returned unique or mesmerizing. The average return on film investment was about 2 images out of a 36-exposure stock. Expensive! Yet somehow, someway, I was hooked enough to go out there and try again.
When I acquired my first digital camera in 2001, I would venture out and search for the most creative shots I could find. Using various tips and techniques that I had read about, I would try creative angles one day. Then the next outing would creatively use monochrome shots or some other techniques after that, and so on. I would then race home, plug in the SD card and boot up the photo software in anticipation, while expecting something mesmerizing and unique to return. It very rarely returned unique or mesmerizing. The average return was about 20 out of 100 images taken. Thank goodness digital photography is cheap! Yet somehow, someway, I was hooked enough to go out there and try again.
Over the past twenty-three years, my attitude has changed- hmm…about twenty-three times. These days I am less concerned about creativity than I am documenting travels, events, and my life around me.
📸
Nowadays, I am shooting less portrait photography, which honestly, is the only time I want to be creative. I miss both creativity and people!
So, if I focus more on documentation and less creativity, the attitude, and equipment has changed to match. I no longer own a mixture of mirrorless and DSLR cameras with about five lenses for each one just in case. I don’t have to worry if I forgot to pack the telephoto lens, just because I might use it. Now I can be content with bringing one camera and one all-purpose lens if I choose to.
Recently, technology has been a big factor in these decisions as well. Photo equipment with amazing advances inside, the minimal size and weight of these things to assist in you lightening your kit and allowing me to relax and enjoy.
Did I just spot a tender moment on the street? Snap. Ahh, a new mural to document—Snap. This is out of place and would be interesting to capture— Snap.
Now I am getting into documenting everything in photos. I’ve found I can simply relax and walk away from a photowalk knowing there are some keepers on that SD card, instead of forcing myself to shoot something that may not be there only to walk away frustrated.
Another bonus- I’ve come to realize that all of this has been documenting and creating not only a visual daily journal, but also a complete body of work to be proud of.
Microblogging
2024-03-09 02:23:47
Microblogging is a combination of blogging and instant messaging that allows users to create short messages to be posted and shared with an audience online. Social platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have become extremely popular forms of this type of blogging. These short messages can come in a variety of content formats including text, images, video, audio, and hyperlinks.
Formerly known as a "Quickie" tag here, I've re-assigned a "Micro" tag to every microblogging post I published. Again, think Twitter but without the algorithm and adverts. If you only want to see these quick snippets then, I have generated a "Micro" page at the top of this website. Or, click on the two lines in the upper right hand corner on your mobile. This will display a collection of Micro posts to date.
Hot
2024-03-21 06:27:39
After three years of owning this MacBook Pro with the M1 silicon chip, I got to hear the internal fan for the very first time. This machine can take quite a lot, but while I was importing images into Lightroom from an external hard drive, I was also uploading other images to the photo archive site all while typing up some notes. Impressive.
I hear the phrase "Don't Care. Didn't Ask." quite a bit and only recently realized it hits harder than expected.
Strict Tolerance
2024-03-23 20:39:35
Be strict with yourself and tolerant of others. Your standards are for you.
Self Care
2024-03-25 13:55:14
After months of traveling on the road for work, poor nutrition habits and then stop working, my body has had enough. I've crammed the 15 pounds lost last year back inside. My blood pressure has suffered. The clothes are tighter. I feel like crap.
I resubscribed to Apple Fitness+ because gym membership is not viable right now. Meal plans are being made.
It's time to eat lean, train mean and get lean.
Be Curious
2024-03-25 16:15:56
"Be curious, not judgmental" - someone (not Walt Whitman)
The Book Finds You
2024-03-26 12:20:27
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami
Picture yourself walking through the halls and shelves of a vast library. Among the endless rows of books, one catches your eye. You reach out, and as your fingers graze its spine, there's a moment of connection, a spark of recognition. It's as though fate has guided your hand to this particular book, at this precise moment.
Once you start reading, it feels like you're embarking on a journey with this book. Its words lead you down paths of discovery, challenging your perspectives and opening new horizons. You find yourself nodding in agreement, pausing to think, and sometimes even disagreeing with it.
As you read, you realize that this book isn't just something you're consuming; it's becoming a part of you. Its characters, its ideas, it’s prose.
Sometimes books seem to find us by chance. You might stumble upon a forgotten book on a dusty shelf, find a book left behind on public transportation, or receive one as a gift unexpectedly. In the novel, Rabbits, one of the recurring themes of playing the game is…the game chooses you to play, not the other way around.
The older I get, the more cynical I become. Nationwide chain bookstores are all the same by design, so if you can make it past the coffeeshop, past the rows of tiny trinkets designed for you to grab while waiting to purchase, past the Bestsellers(!) that everyone else is pushing, past the toy section that is there for no explicable reason besides another money grab and past the music/collectible culture sections, then and only then you may come to the bookshelves and hope to discover a unique book, one that resonates with you.
I prefer the used bookstore. Each store is unique and forces you to hunt on every shelf. Because every shelf has treasure on it waiting to be discovered. The books there seem almost tangentially organized, like they were arranged according to conversation rather than by category. There's a loose structure, a rough outline, the topics, and genres move seamlessly from one to another, and sometimes off shoot to unintended places, places where one has lost their train of thought, when one must pause to reflect and wonder how they even got there. This isn't the kind of book store you go to looking for something specific. If you do, you'll, more than likely, leave disappointed and unimpressed. If you're searching for specificity, you probably won't find it here. This is not the kind of book store you go to seek out "a book". This is the kind of book store in which the books start to seek you.
“Somewhere, there is a book written just for you. It will fit your mind like a glove fits your hand.” — Neil Gaiman
One of my favorite books is titled A Gentle Madness by Nicolas Basbanes, wherein the author describes perfectly how a bibliophile gets caught up in their passion for books, libraries, and knowledge. I used to be a bibliophile, but thankfully not drawn completely into madness. Having said all that, to say:
The right book chooses you as much as you choose it. It's a meeting of minds and souls, a serendipitous encounter that can enrich your life and leave you grateful for the magic of literature.
Risk
2024-03-29 04:58:21
"Take the risk or lose the chance." - Someone
Follow
2024-03-31 13:26:26
"The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can."
– Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit
Follow
2024-03-31 19:02:00
"The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can."
– Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit
Risk
2024-03-29 19:06:00
"Take the risk or lose the chance." - Someone
The Book Finds You
2024-03-26 19:11:00
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami
Picture yourself walking through the halls and shelves of a vast library. Among the endless rows of books, one catches your eye. You reach out, and as your fingers graze its spine, there's a moment of connection, a spark of recognition. It's as though fate has guided your hand to this particular book, at this precise moment.
Once you start reading, it feels like you're embarking on a journey with this book. Its words lead you down paths of discovery, challenging your perspectives and opening new horizons. You find yourself nodding in agreement, pausing to think, and sometimes even disagreeing with it.
As you read, you realize that this book isn't just something you're consuming; it's becoming a part of you. Its characters, its ideas, it’s prose.
Sometimes books seem to find us by chance. You might stumble upon a forgotten book on a dusty shelf, find a book left behind on public transportation, or receive one as a gift unexpectedly. In the novel, Rabbits, one of the recurring themes of playing the game is…the game chooses you to play, not the other way around.
The older I get, the more cynical I become. Nationwide chain bookstores are all the same by design, so if you can make it past the coffeeshop, past the rows of tiny trinkets designed for you to grab while waiting to purchase, past the Bestsellers(!) that everyone else is pushing, past the toy section that is there for no explicable reason besides another money grab and past the music/collectible culture sections, then and only then you may come to the bookshelves and hope to discover a unique book, one that resonates with you.
I prefer the used bookstore. Each store is unique and forces you to hunt on every shelf. Because every shelf has treasure on it waiting to be discovered. The books there seem almost tangentially organized, like they were arranged according to conversation rather than by category. There's a loose structure, a rough outline, the topics, and genres move seamlessly from one to another, and sometimes off shoot to unintended places, places where one has lost their train of thought, when one must pause to reflect and wonder how they even got there. This isn't the kind of book store you go to looking for something specific. If you do, you'll, more than likely, leave disappointed and unimpressed. If you're searching for specificity, you probably won't find it here. This is not the kind of book store you go to seek out "a book". This is the kind of book store in which the books start to seek you.
“Somewhere, there is a book written just for you. It will fit your mind like a glove fits your hand.” — Neil Gaiman
One of my favorite books is titled A Gentle Madness by Nicolas Basbanes, wherein the author describes perfectly how a bibliophile gets caught up in their passion for books, libraries, and knowledge. I used to be a bibliophile, but thankfully not drawn completely into madness. Having said all that, to say:
The right book chooses you as much as you choose it. It's a meeting of minds and souls, a serendipitous encounter that can enrich your life and leave you grateful for the magic of literature.
Be Curious
2024-03-25 19:24:00
”Be curious, not judgmental.”
Someone, (not Walt Whitman)
Self Care
2024-03-25 19:29:00
After months of traveling on the road for work, poor nutrition habits and then stop working, my body has had enough. I've crammed the 15 pounds lost last year back inside. My blood pressure has suffered. The clothes are tighter. I feel like crap.
I resubscribed to Apple Fitness+ because gym membership is not viable right now. Meal plans are being made.
It's time to eat lean, train mean and get lean.
Strict
2024-03-23 19:44:00
Be strict with yourself and tolerant of others. Your standards are for you.
Unintended Consequences
2024-03-22 19:46:00
I hear the phrase "Don't Care. Didn't Ask." quite a bit and only recently realized it hits harder than expected.
Hot
2024-03-21 19:48:00
After three years of owning this MacBook Pro with the M1 silicon chip, I got to hear the internal fan for the very first time. This machine can take quite a lot, but while I was importing images into Lightroom from an external hard drive, I was also uploading other images to the photo archive site all while typing up some notes. Impressive.
Suspension
2024-03-20 19:51:00
Ever since voluntarily leaving my job one month ago I've done my best to keep busy but this is slowing down. I'm grateful to have some dedicated time to complete a few personal projects and work on a few more. But I am in a state of suspense right now.
I recall the Israelites wandering in the desert waiting to enter the promised land and can sympathize.
Purgatorio- part two of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, written in the early bits of the 14th century, feels familiar as I may be taking slow steps to advance myself forward to Paradiso.
The Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe.
I understand these references are over-dramatic concerning my feelings, but who can deny their own thoughts of a personal situation? I am on the outside looking in. I can seek where I want to go and again, am in a state of suspension in arriving there.
With circumstances and situations in flux, I'll just settle in and keep busy awaiting the trumpets to sound so we can march forward and into the Promised Land.
Time Travel
2024-03-24 20:07:00
Shooting landscape photography forces you to get outside and find the beauty around you. Sometimes this means discovering places right in front of your eyes that you just never noticed were beautiful before. Other times this means exploring new places and getting out on a hike or nature walk. For today's newsletter, I wanted to share a few of my favorite landscape photos from sun up to sundown.
Rare is the opportunity to visit the places I want to go but when I do, the area is scouted and explored beforehand only then does the camera and tripod come out.
How do I make these rare, beautiful images? There is an app called Photo Pils that assists photographers in knowing when and where the sun/moon are at any point and time. By using a that tripod to steady the camera, and then attach a neutral-density filter to the camera lens to block UV rays and glare. In post-processing the images, I'll fire up the software and reduce the highlights, then boost the contrast accordingly.
“This is one corner… of one country, in one continent, on one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see.” - Doctor Who
Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart, but that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.
