It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Chris Denbow Posts
“Over the coming century, the most vital human resource in need of conservation and protection is likely to be our own consciousness and mental space.
Tim Wu
It’s a cloth. With an Apple logo on it. It cleans Apple devices. I paid $20 for it. Although I must say, it IS better than your average microfiber polishing cloth. Announced in October of last year, it finally became available.
Something I’ve been wanting to do lately is creating intriguing or compelling photographs. The not-so-obvious images that is designed to make people think. A simple scene that tells a story but leaves the viewer wondering. I have some ideas but not the means of executing them at the moment. Work in progress.
Photographers are always unsatisfied. If this wasn’t true, then why would we still venture out to seek something unique or capture something with our own perspective?
After recently investing in cryptocurrency, I’ve looked at the markets and the charts and decided to cash out. I invested a few hundred dollars and have a net loss of $4.17. I wanted to see what the hype was about only to find out that it was just that- hype. I was on the fence about keeping some coin in but received email from the broker that profits are low due to [insert geopolitical excuse here.] Well that was what cryptocurrency was alleged to prevent- outside influences. Supply and demand was the rule, now we see it isn’t so. If you don’t get in on the ground floor then chances are, you missed opportunities. But that is what market speculation is. It was a fun experience but I’m out.
I’ve also shuttered my NFT photo collection auctions as there was little traffic or interest. Again with the hype. Unless you have a massive following online ( I don’t anymore,) than you’ll see little interest.
Once again, the promises of something new, better, decentralized and hyped out of proportion are undone by greed, scams and government regulations. It was fun.
I recently picked up the book titled ”The Art Of Noticing” by Rob Walker and even subscribed to his newsletter for even more updates and examples. The idea being to be aware of your surroundings, to go out, explore and think. Here is one of the recent examples titled ”The World Is Your Museum.”
Because we are constantly striving to improve all aspects of our life, here are some more areas we could all work on, starting with me.
- Reclaim your time and attention
- The year you finally decide to get fit
- Time to tackle the other “F” word – finances.
- You can do anything, not everything
- Tender-loving self-care (TLC)
- Better sleep and more naps
- Fill up that journal
- More writing
- Return to nature
- A good playlist
- Read, then read some more
- Install the Geocaching app and go explore for treasure
- Redefine success
- This time you are going to do something about it
- Take a hike
- More cooking, less dining out
- Work on the posture, stretch, breathe, save your eyes from the screens
- Delete your social media
- Enjoy a healthy social life
- Cancel most of your subscriptions
Airplane Mode – Switch on for limited distractions
Bust A Move – Stand up, walk around at least twice an hour. Get the blood flowing, oxygen in your lungs and clear your head.
No News Is Good News – Blissfully ignorant since 2016.
No Social Media- Blissfully ignorant of the ignorance.
Nutrition- Take out the sugar, fake sugar, bad fats and carbs.
Walk With Intention- Many problems solved with a good walk.
Workouts- Daily. Alternate and change them up to keep it fresh.
This post is a reminder to me and/or anyone else who can glean something from it. I find my interests go through a lot of ebb and flow, and occasionally this can be discouraging. However, I also find myself returning to some of those interests and that is encouraging.
You are an artist
How is it that people, especially photographers, don’t refer to themselves as artists? If you can pick up a pencil, a paintbrush, a camera, a musical instrument, etc. you’re in the club. Get over the imposter syndrome and just create for yourself. If other people enjoy it as well, then bonus. Success, legitimacy and “likes” are for those seeking attention.
Take Risks
There will always be a knowledge gap, challenges, risks, and even fear. Use all of that to take advantage of opportunities to create.
Delete Your Social Media Accounts
Remember those “likes” that I referred to previously? Ditch ’em. Your creativity is not beholden to others scrolling through their feeds.
Gear Doesn’t Matter
Use what you can, master it. Then consider upgrading.
Share Your Knowledge
Pass on what you have learned rather than hoarding it. Knowledge is beneficial for everyone.
Stick With It
I mentioned before that I’ve been shooting for forty years and I still haven’t figured it out. The moment I stop believing that is the moment I’ve lost the point. I want to continue to explore and create, and I have a long way to go.
Stay Curious My Friends
The desire to keep practicing is to keep learning and wanting more. There will always be more. This is the best reason to stick with it and create.
If I stop to think about it, and I have, I realized that my passion for photography goes back exactly forty years. Damn. It all started when I received a Kodak Disc camera as a gift back in 1982. This thing was so easy to use that a child could do it. Pop the disc in, snap, take to the one-hour photo booth, buy more discs when you are there and then enjoy the prints. Well, then the Minolta disc came along shortly after and wow, my first upgrade. This thing had a handle that you could also prop up to use as a stand and a tiny mirror in the front. So let’s all blame Minolta for the selfie trend starting back in the early eighties. My high school had a photography class complete with dark room and print lab. Loved it until it was time to play football. Thereafter, it’s been a few point and shoot cameras until 2001 when I bought my first digital camera. So yeah, you can say I’ve enjoyed photography for quite a while. So, why stick it out this long?
As much as photography has been a part of my life I still feel like a poser or a wannabe although I’ve been published in books, magazines, websites, sold my work, organized and hosted two photography conferences in two major cities, owned my own business, and participated in two art shows. I do have some laments:
- No prints on the wall
- No photo books on the shelf
- No decent organization to the archives
- What’s the point of all these photos if they are buried in a hard drive?
These will all change this year starting with the Archives. Organized by years, finally, I’ll need to go back in and cull the duplicates and delete the undesired photos. Then, add geotags, face recognition, and keywords for better sorting and search. Then and only then can I begin to think of hanging prints or publishing photo books.
My photography means a lot to me and now it is time to completely enjoy it.
Social media, those platforms that grew under what we call Web 2.0, is dead to me. There is a reason why blogging, RSS feeds, e-mail, podcasting, and texting has stuck around for so long- they work. We have control. We interact with people we genuinely care about. We take our attention back.
I am thrilled to see like-minded individuals building on their own land in blogville as opposed to sharecropping on Zuck’s territories.
There are a lot of people out there who are re-thinking their social media use and I think this is a good idea. It’s taken a long time but the realization that prolonged exposure to these platforms are not good for your mental health.
I got out a few years ago, because of the stupidity of it all. There is nothing of value there unless there are legitimate, supportive conversations. You know, dialogue as opposed to ”Look at me and my best life!” Well even if we wanted to see you at your best life we couldn’t thanks to the manipulation of the data and the way it is presented to you. And you’ll be hard pressed to even see that because of the pervasive, irrelevant advertisements.. No thank you.
So I am glad to read that attitudes are changing and people can slowly start to recover their IQs and have the ability to hold actual conversations in real settings. I’ll touch on this more because I have a lot to say and not enough energy to articulate at the moment.
A recent post from another blogger has me thinking: “How much am I paying for subscription services? Do I even know all the services I am paying and agreeing to on a monthly or yearly basis? How much money can I save if I take an honest look and assess my needs/wants?
Personally, I prefer using stock apps and services where I can, but sometimes, apps and services can be a real joy to use instead. I dislike subscriptions and prefer to pay for a service one-time, but here lately many developers or moving away from one time purchases and going to the subscription model to keep the money flowing in. I don’t mind supporting small, independent developers, but I prefer not to succumb to subscription creep either.
Honest assessment of apps/services:
- Apple One- Too much good stuff here that I use frequently like Music, TV, 2 TB storage, Fitness+, Arcade and News. A bonus feature is the ability to share it with up to 5 family members who enjoy as well at no extra cost. $30mo.
- Adobe Photography Plan- I’ve been using Adobe products for 15 years and hated it when they switched to subscription model. But they made it worthwhile. A lot of value here for $10 monthly. Plus, they host my photography website. Is it possible to do without it? Yes. I have made software purchases ahead of leaving Adobe, but…it’s a tough one. It stays for now.
- Bear Notes- Could I use the stock Apple Notes instead? Yes. But Apple Notes is so damn ugly. Bear has all the features and design I want except the ability to collaborate with others. I just re-upped back in December, so it stays for another 11 months. $15 yearly.
- DayOne- The best private journal app that I’ve been free using for 6 years. I just subscribed last month thanks to a generous Apple Store gift card. Is it worth $30 a year? That depends on my usage this year. Plus, they just got bought out by my current web host, WordPress, and promise to integrate somehow. TBD.
- Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ bundle- $20 monthly with a lot of entertainment value. ESPN, not so much. They keep all the big matches and F1 races off there. Hulu up-charges to avoid ads (a must). Today, I dropped those two and holding on to Disney for $7 a month. Will it last?
- Feedbin- Consider it to be a podcast player, but for blogs, YouTube videos, newsletters and more. There are other feed readers out there for a hell of a lot less but FeedBin checks all the right boxes, and it has been great, but $50 a year with no software improvements? Why? Subscription ends in February.
- Fantastical- Do I need a calendar app for $40 a year? When I thought it could help me organize and block out times for my personal life and connect to my company’s email Outlook Exchange, yes. Only to discover my company blocks access to third-party apps for security. Damn. Will not renew in favor of Apple stock calendar app. In December.
- Geocaching- A worldwide treasure hunt using GPS coordinates and a fun way to get out and explore. Worth the $50 annually for me.
- Micro.blog- A new-to-me platform for hosting blogs. Simple, easy, with amazing community support and direct access to the developer. Will it pull me away from WordPress? Time will tell. $5 or $10 monthly based on desired features.
- MindNode- a tool that helps me parse my thoughts with visual diagrams. I’ve been using it to help plot my novels and short stories. I grabbed it again because it was available thanks to an Apple gift card. $20 a year. Then again, pen and paper works just as well.
- Ulysses- One of the best software tools around for writers. I’m typing this article on it now and will send it to my website via Ulysses automagically. $50 annually versus the one time paid app I also have called iA Writer. Subscription renewed in November. Status is: we’ll see.
- VSCO- A remarkable phone camera app that offers a lot of vintage film emulations with strong community support and even a webpage to host your images. $20 annually.
- WordPress- My website host for the past 19 years. They’ve been outstanding but lately quite proud of their offerings and the subscription costs jump as a result. This is why I’ve been looking at Micro.blog as an alternative. $80 annually
Well, that escalated quickly. There may be some subscriptions I have forgotten about that will be a surprise when I get the bill. But those will be addressed accordingly. As a result of this analysis, I’m taking a look at services, value, costs, and alternatives. I’m off to go unsubscribe to a few things and when the renewal notices pop up I’ll reconsider everything.