I’ve been thinking a lot about what I do, what I want to do and understanding my motivations. Not sure if this is because I just turned 50 and may be having some kind of crisis. Doesn’t feel like it. I am learning how to prioritize activities and being more intentional with my time.
I enjoy writing, not just for my website, but also for my personal knowledge database. Whether it be manual scribbles or typing on a keyboard, I love writing. And for the past twenty-two years, there has always been a nagging question: “Why are you doing this?” The question always exists of “what is it for”. I wrote about this recently in fact.
Sure, Chris, you write because you enjoy writing. True.
I don’t do this for attention, money, clicks or internet fame. I’ve had all of that in the past but no longer need them.
No, my interest and motivation is solely internal. If I wanted to write to an audience, I am going to have to step up my game with relevant content and frequency. If you are still reading or have stayed with me through the years, bless you.
These thoughts give reason behind simply enjoying the process of writing instead of the results. I love writing out my thoughts and that is enough motivation to do it. Although enough of it takes place in private that hitting publish barely seems worth it at all, the process could be enough. Although it is a joy to hit “PUBLISH” and send out to the WWW.
Besides, haven’t you ever done something just for the hell of it?
Just how good is the iPhone as a camera? Good enough for someone like me, a photographer for over three decades, want to sell off almost all of his gear. It is that good. I just sold off the mirrorless Sony A7 and am looking at other options to sell off the 35mm cameras and film. With film prices going up (again!) a few days ago (thanks Kodak), film developing is no longer in the budget. I am keeping Nikita, the Nikon D90 because she is one of my all time favorites. The Canon will stay here to be used by MissAdventure. The Minolta 110mm is staying because I have to have at least one film camera for nostalgia, right? Right. Shut up.
I need minimal gear. I’ve gone all-in on so many cameras, lenses, & accessories over the years, it makes me wonder what I could have done with all that money spent. Here is where minimalism, or essentialism kicks in: the iPhone. This device checks all of my requirement boxes.
I am eagerly awaiting my recent purchase of the Moment brand lens starter set to upgrade my iPhonetography. The wide angle, telephoto and fisheye lenses are going to be a joy to use. Check it out ^.
With forced limitations that come with minimal gear comes new chances for me to get more creative for the desired results.
Because I am cropping my gear, I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulders. Literally. I don’t need to make gear choices anymore. Everything is minimized and maximized for mobile photography.
Do you use all your gear? Could you benefit from a gear resizing too?
Happy 3/3 day! It is March 3, 2023- time to start the second chapter for the new year’s resolutions. In the past 10 years or so, I have attempted a variation of resolution themes in an attempt to hold myself accountable, and all of them have had limited success. The first few attempts were centered around my resolutions and a monthly check-in by way of accountability. For ten years I would focus on what I called Groundhog Day Resolutions. The kickoff would always start on February 2nd or 2/2. This was a little over a month after the western calendar of New Year’s Day on January 1st.This year I want to do a variation of a monthly accountability check-in. I mentioned the “Groundhog Day Resolutions” and its limited success. While I believe the theory behind those initiatives were sound, the practice was not. So it’s time to have a re-think about the process.
In 2023, I am writing a book on it. This year I am thinking of each month of this year as its own chapter in a book. I’ll do a chapter review on the same date that corresponds with the month.
Example: The book will start on February 2 (2/2) and will go on until March 3rd or 3/3. On 3/3 I will conduct a review of the previous month, and so on and so forth. With the chapter review, I’ll throw in some chapter highlights (in blue) of the previous month in hope that by the end of the year (11/11), I’ll have written a book I can be proud of.
Here is a quick list of things I want to do for the new year:
Learn Spanish
More meditation & yoga
Organize the photo Archive as a database
Minimalism/essentialism
Quit smoking
No alcohol
Lower BP
Lose 20 pounds
Learn Spanish
My goal of learning Spanish kicked off 63 days ago, on December 28, according to DuoLingo, my language app. Anything over a week is fairly impressive if you know me at all. I’ve had a chance to converse a few times with Spanish speakers in the field and it felt good to get back into it.
💬
Chapter Two Highlight: Learning Spanish 60+ days in a row!
Meditation and yoga almost daily.
Almost daily is correct. Some days you feel alive, awake and feeling great, while other days you just hit the snooze button a couple of times. On the good days arrive, I can walk out of the house feeling even better. I must remember this the next time I am tempted to hit that snoozer again. I cannot quantify the workout this past month since losing and gaining an Apple Watch again. Now I am back on track with the fitness recording.
🙏🏼
Chapter Two Highlight: More mindfulness and flexibility
Yoga & Meditation programs with Apple Fitness+
Photography Goals
Well this didn’t take long to fizzle out. I was looking forward to digging below the service on learning Adobe software but no. I came across a podcast with Mylio as a sponsor and was intriqued. A 30-day trial didn’t last 3 days before I decided to go all-in. When I say all-in, I mean I have discontinued my Adobe subscription. Yes, Mylio’s photo organizing tools, beat out Adobe. The end result will be an organized archive system where I can easily find and use any one photo on demand.
📸
Chapter Two Highlight: Photo Archives almost organized!
Minimalism and essentialism
I’ve taken some big strides in reducing my clutter and relegating stuff to a box in storage to be sorted later, or kept, to moving stuff out of the house. But as usual, there is always more. Got to keep looking and reviewing what is essential. For example- I have more than a few film and digital cameras. Each of them have their own personalities and strengths sure, but none of them are essential. I am selling Sonya, the Sony mirrorless camera. Keeping my original Nikon D50 for the kid to use if she wants to (she’s a great photographer already!) Keeping the Nikon D90 for myself as a backup because Nikki is my favorite. The Canon is reserved for Miss Adventure, when she wants to use it. All the film cameras, save for the FujiFilm Instax Square 90 is going out the door.
🗑️
Chapter Two Highlight: Throwing out the junk
Quit smoking
This goal lasted two weeks. One of the benefits I was hoping to see was to help lower my blood pressure. When I was not getting the intended results, I frustratingly wimped and lit back up. Now that the high blood pressure is lowering, slowly, it is time to extinquish the flame again.
Black Sheep is smokin’
🚭
Chapter Two Highlight: Quitting tobacco (again)!
No Alchohol
Alcohol consumption is not difficult for me, and I can refrain even while at a bar with friends. This is an easy one so I should see less weight and overall health as a result.
Lower Blood pressure
Priority one with results. I started taking BP medicine to help recuce the tension. Too soon to tell if it is having any effect but I am hoping. Less, salt. Less sugar. Less eating out. Increase my cardio with more walking, yoga. All of this should help me lower my weight and eventually those readings will come down.
❤️
Chapter Two Highlight: Lower blood pressure!
Lose 20 pounds
In the past few years, I maxed out at 217.4 pounds. That isn’t great for a 5’7″ frame. When starting this initiative last month (2/2), I was down to 204.4. Currently (3/3) I am down to 197. So glad to see some results and hope the remaining 12 pounds will not be too difficult. My goals is to get down to 185 pounds. 175 is better, but let’s be realistic. The issue here is nutrition. The job has me out in the field for 8-10 hours daily and the temptation to eat out is strong. But the job is also a physical one so I should take advantage of all that lifting and walking.
👟
Chapter Two Highlight: 12 pounds lost so far!
It’s time to get to writing a new chapter. See you on April 4th (4/4) for a review of Chapter 3.
My personal printing at home history has always followed the same patterns:
Buy a printer (with scanner, copier, fax!)
Buy the over-priced, proprietary ink.
Use the printer.
Enjoy a small window of time for when the printer actually works.
Don’t use printer awhile until I need it again.
Run an urgent print job I need immediately.
The printer does not work.
Waste time trying to get the printer working.
Take the copies I need printed somewhere else and over-pay.
Get rid of the printer.
Buy a printer.
Buy the over-priced, proprietary ink.
Get rid of printer.
This planned obsolescence is maddening for almost everyone who owns one of these damned things. It isn’t one brand, it is the market and no one is willing to help you. Guess what, Hewlett Packard/Brother/Epson? Piss off enough people and they won’t buy your crappy products anymore. This printer is my last home printer.
Oh, does anyone want an Epson printer/copier/scanner/fax? Only used a few times. Free to a good home. Or a bad home, I don’t care.
After ordering and returning the Apple Watch Ultra upgrade, I went two weeks without. I felt naked without it at first, and then made peace with the situation. Right up to the point where T-Mobile offered a huge discount on the current SE model and I jumped on it. So now I am back to tracking my workouts, closing my exercise rings, making secure payments with a flick of my wrist at the check out stand and more. But that cheap silicon band has got to be swapped out for a more attractive band.
After decades of relying on Adobe photography software to host, edit and organize my archive, it is time to say goodbye. Photoshop and Lightroom are second to none with one exception- a subscription. With all the competition out there in this space, I can no longer justify $120 annually for it. Yes, they’ve hosted my photography website too, but I am moving on.
In a frequent effort to manage my tools and workflow, I am in downsizing mode. Call it minimalism or essentialism. I’ve discovered Mylio, a software tool that organizes your archives quickly and more efficiently than Adobe.
🔗
My write-up on Mylio is here: https://www.chrisdenbow.website/mylio-photo-organizer/
Last year I paid a one-time fee for Pixelmator Pro which is baked right in to the Apple ecosystem so much, I am surprised Apple hasn’t bought them out.
Last month I re-upped my Flickr photo-hosting membership. This is where my images can be discovered online as opposed to my old photography site (PhotoDenbow.com)
Apple Photos is of course, on all the iDevices that I own and synced flawlessly through iCloud. With 2TB of cloud storage, I am good for awhile there too. Besides, it is a joy to view the images in there. It reminds me of the old film contact sheets we used in the darkroom before making prints.
All of this is subject to change, without notice and usually on a whim. But for now, I am confident that this will help save money and lighten the workflow.
UPDATE 3/3 – That didn’t last long. I renewed the membership, if only to get the Adobe Portfolio web hosting that comes with it. Every other web host is $$.
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.
I have so much to say and not enough time to say it. But to be fair, I am probably the only one listening to the Radio Denbow podcast anyway. And how the hell do I plan on making it interesting if it is just me on the broadcast? Hmm.
How the hell did this software program help organize thirty years of my photography archives in under an hour? Download, install and sign up for the 30-day free trial. And we’re off!
Import From External Drives
I plugged in my 10TB external hard drive and pointed to where I wanted the photo copies stored inside Mylio. I am ecstatic to see all those decades of images in one library. Next I added the Archive Backup hard drive and did the same thing.
Import From The Mac
Next, I started importing photos from folders on my Macbook Pro. Not much there since I send the previous month’s images to the Archives. Example: Only February 2023 is in the Photos Folder on the Mac.
Import From Apple Photos
Every image that is currently in Photos gets copied to Mylio instantly. A great addition to the 2TB iCloud storage and backup.
Import From Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Google Photos with Mylio
Ever since downloading all the photos I have posted to those social media accounts and then deleting those accounts, I have stored them away for safekeeping. The time has come where I have the ability to see them all in one place. Everything is organized by year and month. Boom.
Mylio breaks down all the file types, the quantity and the size. That’s a lot of data!Which camera or lens did I use the most? It rhymes with “chapel.”Where are all those photos of Boca chica beach? Well, just click and discover.
Organize, Sync, Backup
After adding all your photos, Mylio has a variety of ways to help organize. Date, keywords, favorites, geotagging etc. Once organized, Mylio syncs to the vaults stored on all of your devices.
Editing
I haven’t played around with this too much because of the other, more professional tools I use but the capability to make basic edits is baked into Mylio.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic solution, one I wish I had discovered sooner. It is a time-saver, a life-saver and alleviates a lot of self-induced frustration at my lack of digital asset management. Once everything was imported and sorted, I then clicked “subscribe.” Yes, it is another subscription, but it ticked all the boxes for my requirements of photo archive management.
You could say I enjoy reading. But what good is all of that time spent if I do not retain that input? I need a system for transforming reading into meaningful action and lasting insight.
Auxiliary Activity-
Other people would call this “hobby reading” but what’s the point of reading if you cannot use expand your intellect and use alternative phrases? Fine, we’ll call it “reading for fun.” I use the Libby library app to connect to the three public libraries I am a member of. Here I can borrow any book title or audiobook that is available. Once borrowed, I will send the book to my Kindle e-reader for consumption. While reading, I can highlight text and even make a digital note about anything of interest to me. Anything I highlight or make note of gets automagically exported out of the Kindle and into my personal knowledge database that I call Grey Matter. From here I can link and backlink thoughts and ideas for later reference.
My Notes & Highlights exported from Kindle and displayed in Grey Matter
Reading For the Informed-
I also enjoy keeping up on the latest technology websites, photography trends, art trends and homegrown blogs like this one right here. I do that through the magic of RSS. With a website reader like Reeder or FeedBin, I can have hundreds of websites aggregate into one spot. They come to me, I don’t go to the websites themselves. From there I can read an article, then either discard or save to read it later as a reference. Notes and highlights are made in there too, and sent off to Grey Matter for when I am ready. Tom Critchlow, refers to it as “digital bricolage” or “web foraging”. Love it.
Highlighting, notes in the marginalia to the right and even the capability to listen to a written article. Cool!
There is a running joke in my family that I consume too many Apple devices every year. Well the joke is on me because I did it again. I upgraded to the Apple Watch Ultra. Horology is the study of time and so she is appropriately named.
Apple Watch Ultra with titanium & ceramic body.
UPDATE – the watch has been returned because I realized I simply don’t want it.
Today is the day! It is February, 2nd, 2023 and it is time to start a new chapter for the new year’s resolutions.
Here is a quick list of things I want to do for the new year:
Learn Spanish
More meditation & yoga
Organize the photo Archive as a database
Minimalism/essentialism
Quit smoking
No alcohol
Lower BP
Lose 20 pounds
Learn Spanish
My goal of learning Spanish kicked off 35 days ago, on December 28, according to DuoLingo, my language app. 35-day streak is fairly impressive if you know me at all. I’ve had little opportunity in applying what I’ve learned in the real world but cannot wait to have conversations with the Spanish-speaking community this year.
Duolingo language app.
Meditation and yoga almost daily.
I’ve prepped for these goals by investing in a few Apple software helpers such as Apple Fitness+ and Music for guided meditation and workouts. Subscribing to specific podcasts have been helpful too. A new padded floor mat has been added and I am looking forward to more fitness, flexibility and patience.
Yoga & Meditation programs with Apple Fitness+
Photography Goals
Learning Adobe photography software tools should be easy for me after all these years but I’ve overlooked the fundamentals. But this year I want to do a deep dive. I have all these tools but feel like I am scratching the surface and want to maximize the tools I have. I’ve put in a lot of work these past thirty years but there is a need for photo archive organization. The end result will be an organized archive system where I can easily find and use any one photo on demand.
Minimalism and essentialism
My brain toggles on/off when it relates to stuff. I need this or that until I get bored with it and then accumulate more stuff that I don’t use. Well this year, the toggle is in “OFF” mode. It’s time to purge down to the essentials and keep only the things I use and enjoy. Everything else is…just that.
Quit smoking
The tobacco pipe is in use as I write this on February 1 in anticipation of quitting by February 2. What tobacco remains now will be destroyed, the pipe cleaned and accessories put away in storage. I am over smoking and the removal of the tobacco pipe paraphernalia should help. This will help me lower my blood pressure and overall health.
This is now in a storage bin
No Alchohol
Alcohol consumption is not difficult for me, and I can refrain even while at a bar with friends. This is an easy one so I should see less weight and overall health as a result.
Lower Blood pressure
Priority one. Less, salt. Less sugar. Less eating out. Increase my cardio with more walking, yoga. More supplements and eventually the diuretic prescription again. All of this should help me lower my weight and eventually those readings will come down.
Lose 20 pounds
In the past few years, I maxed out at 217.4 pounds. That isn’t great for a 5’7″ frame. I am currently down to 204.4 pounds on February 1. My goals is to get down to 185 pounds. 175 is better, but let’s be realistic. The issue here is nutrition. The job has me out in the field for 8-10 hours daily and the temptation to eat out is strong. But the job is also a physical one so I should take advantage of all that lifting and walking.
In the past 10 years or so, I have attempted a variation of resolution themes in an attempt to hold myself accountable, and all of them have had limited success. The first few attempts were centered around my resolutions and a monthly check-in by way of accountability. For ten years I would focus on what I called Groundhog Day Resolutions. The kickoff would always start on February 2nd or 2/2. This was a little over a month after the western calendar of New Year’s Day on January 1st.
This year I want to do a variation of a monthly accountability check-in. I mentioned the “Groundhog Day Resolutions” and its limited success. While I believe the theory behind those initiatives were sound, the practice was not. So it’s time to have a re-think about the process.
In 2023, I am writing a book on it. This year I am thinking of each month of this year as its own chapter in a book. I’ll do a chapter review on the same date that corresponds with the month.
Example: The book will start on February 2 (2/2) and will go on until March 3rd or 3/3. On 3/3 I will conduct a review of the previous month, and so on and so forth. With the chapter review, I’ll throw in some highlights of the previous month in hope that by the end of the year (11/11), I’ll have written a book I can be proud of.
It’s time to get to writing that book and start a new chapter. See you on March 3rd for a review of Chapter 1.
If podcast creators charge a subscription fee and hide their content behind a paywall without an RSS feed, it is no longer a podcast. It becomes an audio book instead.
This was first posted on my website back on May 31, 2022, and I’ve added some new thoughts.
Anyone else noticed that today’s WWW is insufferable? I don’t specifically know when it turned, or why most users became jerks, but I’ll go ahead and guess about 2010. Making money off of content became more important than the content itself. This is a long post, but in short, the best way to fix it is to write good stuff and to be nice to other people. As the WWW was intended.
In the past, enjoyed content-rich websites created by people from all walks of life. They built and hosted their websites and networked with others to share their stuff, and it worked. Internet = interconnected. We learned from others, and we benefitted from other’s unique knowledge. Nowadays, there are advertisements everywhere, clickbait headlines as well as the tracking and selling of your private data and browsing habits. Where did all that good stuff go? To Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. etc.
Content creators, webmasters, and anyone with a hobby blog generally gave up and went the easy route of 180 character tweets and generic posts about what they ate and where on Facebook. Boring. People used to write, or photograph, or paint stuff that others would want to read. People used to write blogs, whether they were read or not, no one knew. Aficionados of every imaginable topic would research and post their findings for all to see.
When the tech conglomerates started to gather and consolidate web properties, the content was squeezed out. These platforms were nicknamed Web 2.0 as if version 1 needed upgrading. Version 2 was not an upgrade in my mind, in fact, it made the internet worse. Ad-driven content became a thing. You had to pay to play. The more eyeballs and attention on your stuff can be monetized to the widest possible audience. The internet became deceptive and, oddly, less social. Users became mean and divisive because now there was perceived competition.
It is almost impossible to find good content on the WWW now. Type a topic of interest on a conglomerate-ran browser, and you’ll have to sort through at least two pages of the search to get to anything that isn’t ad-driven and would be relevant to your search. When you do come across an interesting link, you are bombarded with sneaky and not so sneaky tactics to get your attention and your data. Web windows will pop up blocking the content, asking you to submit your personal info and subscribe. Pleas to purchase something that is offered. Advertisements litter the site with most, overwhelming the content you want to see. “Like me on Facebook”, Comment! Subscribe! Retweet! That is just what we see, but goes unseen is the amount of personal data that is collected and distributed to the tech conglomerates. Did you do a search on a medical symptom? Well now, the next website you visit will have a pop-up advertisement on a specific cream to help remedy that. It’s disgusting, invasive, and intolerable.
Where are people writing now instead of their own homegrown webpage? Social media. If you write on Facebook or post images to Instagram, the only people who can see it our the users on the platform. Have a business and your “website” is only a Facebook business page? Half of your potential customers cannot see it unless they are a Facebook user. No, thanks. Instead, people are writing out their limited thoughts on a limited platform that does nothing to further a conversation. That is, if you can actually see it on the FB platform. Facebook’s algorithm guarantees your content will be buried in favor of something they claim is more interesting (read that as attention-getting and therefore more potential ad revenue for them.) I won’t continue on about how the political and social media outlets combined are divisive and spiteful. I stopped both after the 2016 election, and I am blissfully ignorant. All this wasted time, effort, content, and energy spent on these proprietary platforms do nothing for the individual except to make themselves money.
So, what’s the fix?
Create your own website. There are a few free (with ads) hosting options as a start. Or you can use WordPress on your own hosted site. Web hosting and your own domain name will make it yours and on the cheap.
💻
Write or post anything you’d like. It’s yours to do with as you please. Network. Reach out to other like-minded people and build each other up. If you must use social media, put your content on your site first, then distribute to those outlets. Add a link back to your website and point potential followers there instead. We call it POSSE: “Post On Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.” Send the website owner an encouraging email. Comment on a post of theirs. Subscribe to their RSS feed and don’t miss a thing. Use ad-blockers, browsers that promote privacy and mean it, and a VPN.
One of the pillars of the internet , next to e-mail, is the personal, humble blog. This is defined as the social internet, not social media. Creators, writers, photographers, video hosts, and podcasters all need to put their works on a site that they own and fully control as opposed to posting on restrictive social media outlets. These personal websites will then generate what is called a feed for syndicating their works out to the internet (RSS or Really Simple Syndication). That is step one.
Step two is reminding their followers, their fans and their audience to embrace RSS aggregators, or feed readers so they can continue to enjoy the creator’s content. Sounds simple, yeah?
These RSS readers pull the website owner/creator’s latest articles into an easily readable format that the individual controls. Think of it as a podcatcher…but for reading! Not some algorithms that are driven by social media control or advertising. RSS has no advertising unless the creator mentions their sponsors, that is. You are in charge of what you want to read, who you want to read it from and to save it later for reference- or discard. You are in charge of your intake.
Screenshot of my RSS feed aggregator of choice- Reeder 5
Start by adding sources you know and trust. A source is a place where information comes from. When you add sources to your feed reader, you’ll be able to monitor them all in one place. By sources, I don’t just mean news sites. Sources can include:
Websites/Blogs Subscribe to the RSS feed of any source or publication. Get new posts from industry thought leaders, medium authors, or personal interest blogs like this one.
Magazines Follow everything from major industry publications to niche magazines.
News publications Follow major news publications or local news sources.
Research journals Keep up with the newest literature in your area of study.
Twitter
Pull content from Twitter accounts, hashtags, Lists, and searches into your feed reader. No ads!
Newsletters
Get email newsletters delivered to your reader so you can declutter your e-mail inbox and read without distractions.
Reddit
Get posts from subreddits and searches in your feeds.
Youtube
Subscribe to YouTube channels or playlists and get new videos in your feeds. No Ads!
Podcasts
Follow podcasts and never miss out on new episodes of your favorite programs.
Which feed reader should you use?
Start simple and free- try Feedly ( no, this is not a paid endorsement) In fact, I started to use Feedly a long time ago but opted for a cleaner, more personal aggregate called Reeder and FeedBin. These are one time purchases for me. Feedly has iOS, Android and web apps so you can access your feeds. Your news, your way.
It is way past time to delete your social media accounts and rejoin the social internet, like we used to do. The World Wide Web is a much better place and it starts with all of us taking control of our websites and consuming them our way. And of course I would appreciate being one of the first web sources you add to your new RSS feed reader. When you do, drop me an email to let me know. It is the social internet after all. If you have a website, I’d be happy to subscribe to it in my feed too.
Finally, make good content to share for anyone who may take an interest and be nice to others.
