Anti-Censorship

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Four years ago today I decided that I wasn’t having fun using Google anything, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram anymore, so I downloaded all my content from those platforms and promptly deleted those accounts. No Google products and no social media. If you’ve DM’d me, then apologies. It was unseen. Send me an email or text instead.

It just so happens that I have a lot to say so I’ve posted here and my micro site instead. My thoughts, my images, my words, no censorship.

These are the benefits of posting to a site I own for over twenty years..

I believe the more people that talk to each other is good and that the 280 character limit on those platforms rewards creativity. Buying and hosting your own website and email address should enable you to have your voice heard- just like it used to be on Web 1.0.

I Disapprove This Message

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I need a new photo project. I figure that there will be a lot of photo opportunities between now and November, so, my new project is…

During and after the 2016 campaigns I swore off of news media and politics. I’m done. However, they are still so invasive and pervasive that it is difficult to ignore. I’ll start off this project with this:

Let’s Take This Outside

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Due to a variety of interests, there has been less writing here in favor of being outdoors with a camera. I’ve been out and about capturing a variety of topics including urban art, neon signs and more. I’m thinking of capturing a few new things as well.

My philosophy when shooting urban art: If I see something that is .001% interesting to me, I’ll shoot it and figure out what to do with it afterwards.

This is a huge benefit to digital photography in that there is no downside to capturing extra images. Film photography has its own creative, artistic skill but leaves little room for error.

Errors are costly and time-consuming. If I am in a photo flow, I don’t want to think about it. I can shoot 10,000 shots of the same topic without repercussions when using digital.

So that’s where I’m at. Come along with me if you’d like at my photography website: Photo Denbow

Map Quest

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Over the past couple of decades I have acquired a lot of images and have failed to document them properly. Now I want to take on the enormous task of mapping my finds.

Just getting started

There are three categories I want to photograph, map and geotag for future reference:

  • Geocaches
  • Murals, wall art and sculptures
  • Neon signs

Geocaches

I’ve looked around a bit for an alternative to Google Maps and Google Earth but the fact remains- they have the best open-sourced mapping platform than anyone else. I can’t stand Google but damn, they make a good map system.

For plotting my found geocaches, I’ve downloaded all the .gpx files from geocaching.com and uploaded to Google Earth which can then convert to .kmz files for a map view of discovered caches. But, because importing and exporting data between two systems is hardly ever efficient as advertised, I am still doing some tweaking to format the data as I need to.

Murals, Street Art & Sculptures

I wish I was as organized as I want to be when out in the field. From here on out I promise myself to document names of the murals, artists, coordinates and any other bits of info to document. Because now I need to go in and add waymarkers to the map manually. This means going to Google My Maps, upload my image and plot it to the corresponding location.

36.16024, -95.99597

Neon Signs

Just like the street art images, I need to plot the waypoints of my neon images on to a map by hand. I have almost 500 images of neon so this may take awhile.

New Orleans, LA 29.95752 -90.06677

Adobe Lightroom Video

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The same edit controls that you already use to make your photography shine can now be used with your videos as well! Not only can you use Lightroom’s editing capabilities to make your video clips look their best, you can also copy and paste edit settings between photos and videos, allowing you to achieve a consistent aesthetic across both your photos and videos.

Benjamin Warde on Adobe’s Blog: June 2022 photography releases

I have never applied a concentrated effort into shooting a quality video because I’ve been so comfortable with photos. Video editing is difficult and expensive. This seems to be a simple solution for beginners such as myself and I am digging it’s simplicity so far.

Patience

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These past few weeks I’ve made concentrated efforts to be more mindful of my language and attitude. I find myself swearing less (sorry Mom,) and exhibiting more patience with a lot of success.

A challenge to myself is one of patience towards others or circumstances.

The next time I am inconvenienced, or waiting for what seems too long, I am figuring out how to make the most of it. For me it is a moment to relax, and observe. It’s also a fantastic time to meditate and calm down.