Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/13 sec, ISO6400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Happy Monday everyone!
Today I worked from home because the kids are off from school for Spring Break and Mariko is working at SXSW. Today’s photo is of my workspace, and the new addition to it – a Logitech wireless mouse.
For the past month or so my old mouse has been acting strangely by disconnecting and reconnecting with my computer, seemingly at random. I’d hear the notification like when you unplug a USB device, but then immediately hear the new device notification. This would happen several times an hour. I figured it was time to replace that old wired mouse (which must be several years old) with a new wireless mouse.
I did a quick search on Amazon and settled on the highly-rated yet inexpensive ($12) Logitech mouse. I like the fact that it is a little smaller than a regular mouse (I have small hands) and that the battery is rated to last 12 months. That is great! I was also looking forward to losing the cord, which was a lot of visual clutter on my white tabletop.
But an unexpected benefit with the new mouse is that the tracking mechanism is much better than my old mouse. The wired mouse was very jittery on the surface of my desk which forced me to use a mousepad. The new mouse tracks very smoothly, even without the mousepad. So that means I can get rid of the visual clutter of the mousepad as well. Just look how nice and clean that space is now!
I’m so happy with the wireless mouse. I just wish I had made the switch sooner. For such a small price to pay, the benefits are huge!
Here’s a wonderful post over at Unclutterer all about the benefits of being early.
I try to be early for my appointments, but especially for things like arriving at the airport. I would rather get there an hour earlier than recommended and spend the time reading or getting a bite to eat, than stressing over missing my flight, worrying about traffic, getting stuck in long security lines, etc. In fact, I feel good when I am in a long security line but realize that I have plenty of time and don’t need to stress. Or if traffic backs up unexpectedly (which fortunately Google Maps/Navigation can alleviate), I know I don’t need to worry. I’ll make it in time!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/25 sec, ISO6400 “Olympus XA” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going? Over here, it’s raining… make sure to keep dry and stay healthy!
Today’s photo is of one of my favorite cameras, the mighty Olympus XA. It is such a great design, and takes wonderful photos because of the lovely Zuiko lens. I love it, although I don’t shoot with it too often.
Tonight I replied to a post on Flickr that was concerning running out of hard drive space because of shooting many RAW files. In writing my response, I thought about how my philosophy on making photos has changed over the years to where I am now, which is a happy place. Not surprisingly, it has to do with decluttering. Below is the response I posted:
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Just my personal experience…
Short answer: It helps if you cull your photos early on, and be “ruthless” about it. :)
Long-winded answer:
I think many of us have gone through or are going through a similar situation, myself included. There was a time when I was shooting so much, in RAW, kept everything, was running out of space, and “got behind” in processing those files. Photography started being less fun for me.
Then, I started shooting some corporate events and my view on culling the photos started to take shape. Each time I clicked the shutter, I would think “This photo is going to take me X amount of minutes to process.” This left a feeling of dread – I didn’t want to stay up all night processing so many! So I decided I needed to cull more aggressively. Now, if I shoot one event presenter, I might take 40 shots, but immediately (in camera) cull that down to 15, deleting obvious ones like closed eyes, weird mid-talk expressions, etc. Then later in Lightroom, I’d spend one minute to cut that to 3 maximum (more for a keynote), and post-process those.
I then started applying that to my personal work. I found that choosing the best ones in-camera soon after I took them made photography a lot more enjoyable. The sooner I deleted the rejected photos, the less I would think about them and consequently eliminate any regret I might have had in not keeping them. (I didn’t have time to get attached to those photos) And my memory card felt nice and tidy, free of clutter.
Another change that really helped me enjoy photography more is that I now shoot exclusively (for my personal photos) in JPEG. I have found that committing to the image immediately gives me a sense of closure and peace-of-mind. This may sound weird, but to me, a RAW file is the middle step in the photographic process, with the end of the process being a print or JPEG. It’s like the RAW file represents an unfinished project (with endless possibilities) and when I had 1,000 RAW files sitting on my hard drive, it was like having 1,000 unfinished projects just gnawing away at me. (I guess I have some issues!)
So now I cull like crazy, and I’m happy with (or at least committed to) the images I keep, and forget about all the others… it’s a lot less clutter on the hard drive and less clutter in my mind.
Sorry for the long-winded (and somewhat off-topic) message, and thanks for reading.
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I hope you have a nice rest of the evening, and let’s do our best tomorrow!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/30 sec, ISO6400 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！How’s it going? It’s just about Friday… this week has gone by so quickly. Maybe the fastest for me in a long time, maybe ever. I am so busy at work that the days just fly by!
I haven’t talked about the podcasts that I enjoy listening to these days lately, so I figured I would mention a couple. Of course, I listen to a lot of photography podcasts but my favorite ones are Street Focus with Valerie Jardin and the Photofocus podcasts with Scott Bourne and Marco Larousse.
What I enjoy about these is that they are not really centered on gear or technology. Instead, they focus on the art and inspiration pertaining to photography. I think that at this point in my photography hobby, I am less into gear and specs and more interested in photographic expression. I’m not saying that I am an expert… on the contrary, I have so much to learn about the essence of photography and what it means to have a certain style. I don’t really have one… and as a non-professional, I don’t feel the need to have one. At this time, I just want to document our lives. I try to think what could be interesting to my great grandchildren who might wonder how his or her ancestors lived.
And from a lot of my photos and posts, I bet they would know that Mariko is an amazing cook and baker. Today’s photo is of some donuts that Mariko made at home. I haven’t tried one yet, but they look amazing, don’t they?
Well, I am pretty exhausted… I have been fasting during the daytime and having one meal in the evening. So, I feel great physically and mentally, but get worn out quickly. But it feels good actually… hard to explain but I like it. Makes me feel alive I guess.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2000 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！Hello everyone, how’s it going? Hump day is over!
Today was a super-busy day again at work, but thankfully I enjoy my work quite a bit. As I go about my day, I try to make a mental note of the new things I am learning. It’s surprising the things I pick up, or how the way I work evolves. For instance, my organizational skills have improved quite a bit (out of sheer necessity). I have so many task and projects to do, so I spend the first part of the day planning out what tasks I will focus on and the priorities of those tasks. Then at the end of the day, I set aside time to regroup on what I accomplished and think about what I will do the next day. Basically, I review things so that when I leave the office, I don’t mentally take work projects home. I can rest assured that I’ve taken care of what I need to take care of and can hit the morning fresh. That work/home separation is important and makes my time at home focused on family. (and I sleep with a more relaxed mind 😴)
Okay, that was quite a bit of rambling about work… and I rarely blog about work! But there’s a first for everything, isn’t there? 😆
Today’s Daily Prompt was another fun one. They are on a roll! Here goes:
Quote Me – Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
I don’t return to quotes again and again (like how do you do that?) but I do remember several quotes, and this one by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites. At the end of vacations I used to always be sad that they were over. I would wish that I could turn back the clock to the beginning of the vacation. But I learned to instead be thankful that we were able to take vacation and make some good memories. It helps to drive the blues away and actually gets me looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy good times, whether that be an upcoming vacation, or simply the next weekend. It’s nice how positivity leads to more positivity!
Today’s photo is of some homemade bread that my wife Mariko made. I guess she is getting ready for Valentine’s Day! As a guy, I often forget about this holiday coming up. I guess this is a not-so-subtle reminder isn’t it? 💘
Well, I think I’ll read a bit before going to bed. Take care of yourselves and have a great Thursday!
おやすみなさい！
-バロン
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
