Bob Crum

Last week I opined that resolutions are merely wispy wishes made emotionally after a few strawberry margaritas. I stand by that!

How about goals? Nah. A goal needs an objective that is measurable and needs to be achievable by a hard date... i.e. deadline. So goals are seldom met and equally frivolous, IMO.

Suppose I had a goal of winning the Power Ball jackpot by December 31, 2017. Disregarding the staggering odds, I diligently played the game by buying tickets every week. Nevertheless, I did not achieve the goal. Depressing.

An alternative? Intentions. They don't need a hard date thus winning or losing is irrelevant. For example, I “intend” to win the Power Ball jackpot because I buy a ticket every week. If I win, great. If not, c'est la vie. The beauty of “intentions” is that they are lossless and perpetual.

When I began digital photography, Madame Digital seduced me. Crappy film photos meant wasted money. Crappy digital images could be deleted at no cost. So why not shoot 1000 photos a day if desired? I sometimes did but not without a cost as you'll see.

I began digital photography with trepidation because of costs. I have to produce high resolutions images for both clients and prints. Thus, I record RAW images which are large files. This required a beefy computer & image processing software.
No sooner had I bought my first digital camera, I went berserk photoing. And photoing. And photoing. I now have a gazillion photos stored!

After a shoot and downloading the photos to the computer, I first rate them. All #4-rated images get post processed for client or prints. Afterward, I back up “all” photos on two external hard drives. The result: Eighteen 3.5” 2TB (terabyte) hard drives and six 2.5” 1TB hard drives full of archived images. Remember... a gazillion photos!!

In a perfect world, I would have had time to go back and delete all those that were not rated which is the majority. However, because I'm constantly shooting assignments or for pleasure, or partying with mermaids, I seldom have time to delete unrated images. Besides, it's painful to “delete” anything so I don't. After all, I might one day “need” that image. Ha! That seldom happened in a decade so I could delete all the marginal images and probably not miss them.

Wait! I needed an image for Photo of the Week so I went to the archives (hard drive #12) and found an unrated photo of a seagull napping. I love it! I post processed it and here it is! A terrible mistake had I deleted it. See my dilemma? Nevertheless, too many photos are archived.

So, here in 2018 I “intend” to make an earnest effort to purge each hard drive of questionable images. But will I have time to review a gazillion images? Why bother? Hard drives are relatively inexpensive. So it's easy to rationalize that my time is far more valuable than the cost of hard drives. Thus it's now my intention to reconsider the other intention. I adore intentions!

Hopefully my missteps will serve as a lesson about what NOT to do as you embark on your new path of digital photography. Actually two lessons. Note that photos of a lifetime are priceless so back them up on two hard drives. One copy is not backing up. Furthermore, from the get-go initiate a routine of deleting obviously crappy photos before backing up the photos to archive. Just sayin'.

Happy photoing!

Send your comments, questions or suggestions to bob@fillmoregazette.com

At their last meeting, Fillmore City Council voted to let a north Fillmore property tract map expire, 11-plus years after it was first approved. A tract map subdivides a property into smaller lots so that homes can be built. It typically expires after one year, but in this case the city issued five extensions to 11 years. Since then property owner SunCal revised its plans and moved the property to a company called NLA Community, LLC. However, it never submitted development plans to the city or started pre-development plans.

Year 2017 will soon be history and the calendar will birth 2018. Blink twice and it'll be Valentine's Day. Without wings time flies!

Who doesn't know that the older we get, the faster time seems to go? Also, let's not forget the parallel adage: Time flies when you are having fun. However, as we age, time flies whether we are having fun or not. C'est la vie. However, as photographers (OK... phonetographers too), it's all fun.

Now, I'll bet that you did it! Made New Year’s resolutions. Everybody makes them! The only question is how many resolutions you made for 2018? Ten? Twenty? More?

Resolutions like: Start a meditation practice, eat fewer calories, read more books, watch less TV, exercise five days a week, treat a mermaid to lunch, loose a 150 pounds, get organized, spend less time on social media, become more romantic. Anything resonate?

These popular resolutions are all fine and dandy but there are others that are... ahem... (IMO) more important.

You did get a new camera for Christmas, didn't you? Great. Here are a few important photography-related resolutions to consider.

1) 'I resolve to first read the camera manual.' You must! The first rule of photography is knowing how to use your camera in any situation. Command and control is paramount. 2) 'Resolve to make more photographs.' Photography is about the way you see the world. That does not mean you have to travel. There is much in our own backyards. Think about photographing something new in a familiar place. 3) 'Resolve to fail a lot.' Doing so means that you are simultaneously learning a lot. Knowing what not to do is as powerful a lesson as learning what to do next time. 4) 'Resolve to value content over quality.' An emotion that an image evokes is more important than technical precision. 5) 'Resolve to learn a new shooting technique every month.' Approaching a subject with a fresh perspective motivates creativity. Now list a few personal resolutions regarding photography that are important to you.

If interest prevails, I have a few ideas to execute in 2018. For example, photo walks. Photo walking is a communal activity of photography enthusiasts who gather in a group to walk around with a camera for the main purpose of making photos of things that interest each photographer. The aim is to practice and improve one's own photography skills rather than a specific focus on documentary photography. Then followed by a photo critique not intended to be critical but provide helpful tips if warranted.

I am also considering monthly photo assignments based on themes. Examples, black & white, street portraits, food, vintage signs, abstract & conceptual, textures, golden hour, reflections, shadows, mermaids, graffiti, etc. If there's sufficient interest, I'll establish a new Facebook group for displaying photos submitted.

If you're interested, very important to send me an email with two words in the subject line: I'm in! No email means no interest. If you have other ideas, tell me. Email address is below.

BTW, if Santa forgot to bring you a new camera, hurry and collect all your Master Card and Visa gift cards and go buy one.

Say what? What are my New Year's resolutions? OK, since you ask, I only make resolutions that I know I can execute. Accordingly, my 'one' resolution is don't make any resolutions! I'm assured success!

Wishing you and yours a joyful, healthy and peaceful 2018! And happy photoing.

Send comments, suggestions, or questions to bob@fillmoregazette.com