What to take?

In a few weeks I will be escaping winter and traveling to both the Eastern and Western Caribbean on a cruise. It will present many great opportunities to make both memories and photographs. As of today I am starting to plan what I will take.

Travelling for a cruise is challenging. We will need to bring casual clothes for the beach days and excursions, smart-casual clothes for dining and evening entertainment activities and also business-dress for the formal dinners. For me, this means a big suitcase as just my shoes alone will take up a third of the space. If you don’t know me, I have size 15 feet and that means really big shoes and likely at least 3 pair (sandals, walking shoes and dress shoes). We will be gone for two weeks but will have laundry service on the ship so at least we can save a little space and pack clothing for only one week. However, clothing is only one challenge. What photography and computing gear is another really big one.

I have already decided that I am not taking my laptop. My iPad Pro with Apple Magic Keyboard will function as my primary computing device and will be the storage location for my photos. I recently supported a Kickstarter campaign for an iPad USB C Hub that will allow me to connect my SD cards to the iPad, I just hope it arrives before we depart. I will bring two cameras with me, my Nikon D7200 and my Canon GX9 point and shoot. What lenses to take is still up in the air but I think it will be my 70-300mm (or should that be the 18-200mm), 50mm and wide angle 35mm. I am really tempted to take more but I need to keep the weight down. Should I bring a tripod? Of course for beach days, I have to have my Kobo e-Reader as reading on an iPad in the sun just doesn’t work. Then there is my phone. It will be when we go ashore and connect to WiFi is how we will stay in touch with others. It also does double duty as my MP3 player for audio books. Then there are all the chargers for these devices… the weight just keeps piling on.

I am looking for advice… what would you take and why?

The D.A.M. Struggle - Part 2

I think I have it solved. A couple of Google searches on my Digital Asset Management (D.A.M.) struggle led me to a two sites where a number of potential solutions are reviewed. I have a bookmark set up for Lifewire as they have so much good advice. However, it was at ScanYourEntireLife where I came across a review of Adobe Bridge.

Screen shot of Adobe Bridge

It has everything that Aperture had and a whole lot more. Adobe Bridge gives you centralized access to all your files and assets. In addition to organizing your assets, you can batch edit with ease, add watermarks, set centralized colour preferences, and even upload your photos to Adobe Stock. I still have to organize my photos in my file system but that is easy as I use a yyyy-mm file structure. While I would like to be able to double click on an image and have it open it in my default editor, having to right click and select from the “open with” menu is only a minor annoyance. The best part, it is FREE!

It has taken a few hours of reviewing my photos to get Bridge set up, generating previews and thumbnails and setting up it’s cache. I have lost all my photo ratings and key words, but I think that night have been a good thing. My keyword dictionary has evolved over the years and there wasn’t really any consistency in it. This gives me a chance to bring in that consistency. Also, the new star ratings of my photos is now going to be more done with informed eye. Eventually, I might start using bridge beyond my photos.

If you check out Bridge (or already use it), drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

The D.A.M. Struggle

April 8, 2015 Apple discontinued both iPhoto and Aperture. Apple … I hate you! Well, not really, I just hate that decision.

I continued to happily use Aperture up until last week. I know that I could continue to use it for some time but, at some point, when the operating system evolves, it will stop working. I knew that last year and figured I would start using Apple’s replacement product, Photos, for all new photos and keep Aperture around for the archive of my large collection of 25,000+ images. Photos is a fine replacement for iPhoto, as a replacement for Aperture… not so much. Photos lacks the strong Digital Asset Management (D.A.M.) capability that Aperture had.

Photos… I tried to use you but I am leaving you. I toyed with Lightroom last year but decided that your annual subscription model is not for me.

My favourite editing tool Luminar announced last year that Luminar 3 would have library management included and I had high hopes. I moved both my Aperture archive and my Photos library into Luminar and wow, with much regret, I must say, you too don’t cut it. Everything you have planned on your 2019 roadmap really ought to have been there at the outset to be considered as “The Best Lightroom Alternative” as you advertise. I will keep using Luminar and Aurora HDR as editors but now the search is on for something to manage my increasing large library of photos.

From left to Right, Luminar 3, Aurora HDR 2019, Aperture, Photos and iPhoto

I have a list of requirements for the tool that is too long for this post so I will summarize … It should be like Aperture!

So now my search is on. If you have a suggested tool for the Mac. Drop me a comment.

January 1, 2019

So here it is, January 1, 2019. I will turn 58 this year, I am retired and have all the time in the world to do what I want. The question is, what do I want to do? Last year I thought I would do some short management consulting contracts, travel and make a bunch of photos. I didn’t!

I didn’t have any contracts. Perhaps, I have too many conditions. The contracts had to be no more than 90 days, ideally 60 days or less, the work had to be interesting and I wanted a short commute. I guess I really just didn’t want to work. I doubt I will do any contracts this year too!

The basement renovation project had a lot of photos made but they were to document the technical aspects of the project and to be honest, to make sure we had photographic proof if we had problems with our builder. We had a great builder and didn’t need the photos, except when we wanted to mount things to the walls and had to remember where the plywood backing was. This year I want to be more creative with my photography and explore new aspects.

I didn’t travel much last year. A couple road trips to visit family and a brief cycling vacation in Mont Tremblant. I didn’t even take out my DSLR on that trip. I made very few photos. I am very disappointed. This year there will be a two week Caribbean cruise, a possible trip to Europe and maybe a dog. There will definitely be more photos made.

I am starting this blog for a couple of reasons. First it will give me some incentive to get out there. If I put it put it “out there” that I am going to make more photos, this blog will help me make myself do it. Another reason is that making more photos will get me more active. Anyone who knows me can see I need to be more active. Finally, I am getting bored with my daily routine.

I joined a 52 week photography challenge. I am going to try to make a photo each day and post a few times a week to my web site. I am going to try a weekly blog post. Just for me. If others find it interesting, great. I will use the blog to keep track of my progress.

2019 will be different!