I take a lot of photos.
(duh).
But they pile up on my computer for a month or so, and then get backed up to DVD. At which point, I don’t access them very much. Call it frustration with having to dig up the disk and look though it. Call it “out of sight, out of mind…”. But I just don’t go back to my old photos often.
So I was thinking maybe I could get a huge external hard drive, and try to dump ALL my photos on there. I mean… just now I found a 1 TB gigabit ethernet SAN drive for about $200. That would hold me for a little while.
Thoughts?
(I really do tend to find I get much more use out of things when they’re accessible.)
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I took this about a block from my apartment yesterday. I was getting out of the house for a mental break, and thinking that I needed to photograph something for my daily shot. I had just started literally looking around me, when I saw this sign.
Some things never change, in this neighborhood.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Most new buildings in this city actually go as far underground as they do above. Always disturbing to see these gaping holes in the earth, filled with little ant-sized men doing funny things.
Of course they put parking down there. And I’m sure they offer generous storage space, since so many above-ground office spaces are already just used to store boxes. And no doubt they’re trying to build as solid a foundation for the building as possible. But really… what else are you gonna do with all that space?
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
It’s now a bit after 6:30 am, and I just sent off some art to the client. I promised them something by this morning, and unfortunately I seem to be better working on this particular project in the wee hours of the day. But I quite like the design, (*knock on wood*), and the payment for the job is pretty good.
This was yesterday’s “picture of the day”. I took it on my way down to Penn Photo to get some pictures developed. I like it, though I’m having a hard time thus far saying why. It has nothing that jumps out at you. But it’s distinctly city, and of a street not yet made up totally of homogenous boxes.
Gawd. It’s getting light out. I really need to go to sleep now. I have a hard time sleeping in daylight.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I feel better. I deposited a couple big checks today. And given that it’s also the first of the month, which is when I normally pay myself, I took the opportunity to pay off my credit card, which is the only real debt I have. For years I had kept the balance down to nothing, by paying it off every month. (And relatedly, never getting an increase in my credit limit). But early last year, I got hit with a series of expenses, such as needing to replace my old laptop earlier than expected. And while it never even reached $4,000 at it’s worst, it still bugged me knowing that it was there.
But now it’s gone.
I took that picture above while I was just walking home yesterday. I’ve been here so long I very easily forget how much there is to this place. Almost any kind of travel refreshes my vision of the city. And I try occasionally to take pictures of that ‘bigness’, because I know enough people who don’t see it every day.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I went ice skating last night, for Sarah’s birthday. Which was fun, itself. I haven’t really skated much since grade school. And I got my balance fairly quickly. Never once did I fall on my face. But that’s mostly because I stopped myself by smashing into the wall, shoulder first. It must have been a minor spectacle, because everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I suppose the fact that it shattered the front of my skate didn’t help much. I’m still a bit sore today, but mostly when I stretch or sneeze. No great pulsating bruises or anything fun like that. Bad this week: My power adapter for my laptop choosing to die for no particular reason. It worked just well enough to keep the computer running, but not to charge the battery. But… Good this week:Apple replaced the adapter under warranty in less than 24 hours. Also good this week: Dave and Shannon helping me to get a new web server up and running. I’m hoping to put all my clients who ask for help finding a server on there. Not only does it give me a bit more control and a LOT more options, but I could concievably make a little money off it. Not much, but every little bit adds up. And recent “meh”: I picked up a free external camera flash from the freecycle mailing list. a REALLY nice flash. Tilt, swivel, programmable, fill flash, etc. About 23 years newer than my current flash. And it powered up just fine. But… despite being only a couple years old, it was never built to handle digital cameras. So while it would focus and program itself just fine, it refuses to fire.
Poo.
For now I’m holding onto it. First, I don’t know anyone who shoots film anymore that doesn’t already have better equipment. And since it can be slaved, it can still act as a secondary flash. Plus, one of my goals is to get a Canon AE-1 to play with. Ought to work fine with that.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Another one of my favorite photos. This time, it’s Shannon, as taken at the halloween party thrown by Jeff, last year. I love the look on her face, and the hair being pulled up by the static electricity. I love the ominous balloon looming overhead, and the skeleton peeking over one shoulder. This night was my first real test of my external camera flash, and the lighting came out great, here. There’s detail and texture I never would have captured with just a fast lens. And I love it because it’s such a wonderful picture of a friend. Shannon so often goes blah in front of a camera, that I love it when she’s playing it up here.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I think I love that photo. Instant classic.
Yesterday was Nguyet’s birthday party. Which means, you know, lots of people in one place, to annoy with my camera. Oh, I tried to behave. Really I did. I was probably there for 2 hours before I ever pulled out my camera. But when someone else stuck the frog on their head, I really had no choice. You can’t blame me, man. The whole set of public photos can be found on my flickr account.
And it was actually a great night overall. I got to see many friends, even if not for as long as I might wish, for most of them. Was able to talk to Dave about some of my hosting questions. (i’m trying to find some industrial strength hosting for a couple clients.) And that eventually evolved into talking about databases and work, and even assholes. And Nguyet and Doug had their usual ridiculous amounts of very good food. But by the time I got home aorund 3, and managed to process most of my photos, I was passing out hard. I literally passed out just as I finished posting my Daily Photo.
Daily Photo: There’s a common practice on flickr, usually referred to as 365, where people generally take a new picture of themselves every day and share it. They’re usually pretty posed. (And they’re usually pretty women). A friend suggested a similar project, albeit less structured. The original, basic idea is that you take and post a new photo each day of anything. But even that’s mostly a guideline. Certianly very few of the people are posting every day. And of those that do, I can only tell a few who are actually taking new photos every day, as opposed to once a week or dipping into their archives. You know… whatever you want to do. But I’m sticking to the original concept, because it’s the only thing that challenges me. Collecting a bunch of shots once week is nothing special. And pulling from my archives would make it just an exercise in ego.
Anyway… happy birthday Nguyet:
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I felt kinda good about today. Was an overall positive day. And I felt like I accomplished something while working. And Refresh was entertaining, if not educational, tonight.
So it’s unfortunate when I got home that my email was clogged with messages from clients whining about a pile of petty little things. Doubly depressing when, after handling what I immediately could and filing anything undeserving of a response, I had only 1 email left. So not only did they piss on my mood, but it wasn’t in the least bit productive.
This calls for a photo collage. My recent favorites:
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Thanks to Stephanie, I went to the ‘yardsale’ the Washington Photography School was holding this weekend. I could have gotten in a lot of trouble there… but I generally behaved myself.
I picked this camera up as soon as I saw it. I’ve been wanting to try out some Through the Viewfinder photography, and the glass on this camera’s viewfinder was in perfect condition, and huge. (Yes, yes, I was looking for a nice piece of glass).
Every piece of identification has been removed from the camera. All nameplates remove. There’s been some painting on the top, I think. But from what I can tell, the body, at least, is a 1928 Rolleiflex Original. But the viewfinder housing doesn’t match up. The body and lenses are such a dead-on match, though, that I have to assume this is either a poorly documented varient, or a well-done mod-job. (All future versions of the Rolleiflex changed distinctly, so it’s not one of them).
I haven’t gone out with it yet. Just tortured pixel with a few pictures.
Besides that, for myself I just picked up a couple polarizers and some color filters.
But oh… so much temptation.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I played with iPhoto 6 this weekend, in probably the most detail since I got it. It leaves me conflicted.
The problem comes from timing. I’d been using iPhoto for years, since I bought my first digital camera. It’s never been the most powerful tool, but it was the most flexible. I got this most recent version of iPhoto when I bought my new laptop this spring. But the new computer triggered several things. I’d also been waiting for a new computer with a DVD burner, so I could switch to shooting in RAW format. (RAW files are just too big to easily backup to CDs.) So now I had the new computer, and started shooting in RAW. And conveniently enough, the new version of iPhoto was the first one to handle RAW files.
But…
I really don’t like the way it works. The first time you edit a RAW photo in iPhoto, it resaves it as a JPEG. (First rule: always preserve the original file). And from then on, you’re always resaving off that JPEG. But that means if you want to make non-destructive changes to your image, you have to start over again from scratch. And even if you’re willing to do that, iPhoto has never been the most efficient piece of software in the world. 2 or 3 copies of each photo can really add up.
So I stopped using iPhoto. I found a system that worked better for me.
Original photo:
But playing around this weekend, I found they had made a few improvements in iPhoto that really would have made my life so much easier. Just being able to adjust the temperature and tint (essentially white-balancing) is amazingly handy. And it works right on JPEGs, which I don’t think even Photoshop does natively.
First Draft, c. 4/06:
So I used the few photos I still had floating around in iPhoto as test files. Color correction mostly. I’ve always been obsessed with color, like and half-decent designer. But I’ve only been white-balancing my still camera for about the last 6 months. So I have plenty of orange photos laying around. My basic color correcting would fix the worst of the color casts, usually. The above picture was a first pass at correcting, from last spring; (though admittedly not my most detailed). Some of the orange has been removed. There’s a bit more contrast. Nothing serious. That is how the image was posted at the time.
Current Draft:
But with the new version of iPhoto, and it’s finer level of control, this is what I got. It really just blows away the last proof. All of the color cast is gone. The black in the dress is incredibly rich. And the decorations on the corset practically sparkle. And with a little bit of sharpening, which iPhoto handles amazingly well, the whole thing just pops. It’s really incredible what you can now do in iPhoto.
iPhoto. Which I don’t use any more.
Poo.
(Disclaimer: Yes the photo is blown out, because the lighting at the shoot was too blown out for my setup. And yes, she has incredibly pale skin in real life as well. Probably not the best person to be shooting in a black dress against a dark backdrop.)
Really makes me want to go back and clean up that whole shoot, though.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
