Connectivity

Interesting observation.  The internet has made us not have any idea how to do anything.  I say this because… Well, let me back up a bit.

After there first of the year I accepted a new position as videographer.  It’s been good so far and the people here are the best.  They are giving me a lot of latitude to do what I do and the freedom to explore looking into new things and techniques.

Which, brings me to my initial point.  The internet has made us not have any idea how to do anything.  Our internet was knocked out this afternoon.  People have been wandering around asking if it’s just their office or if everyone is out.  When it is confirmed that indeed the internet is out, 99% of the responses has been to the effect of ‘well how am I supposed to get anything done now’?  Now, I know that it’s mostly a joking response for the sake of a conversation with someone that might not otherwise have happened, but it begs the questions, if our computers, laptops, tablet and/or phones aren’t connected to the web, why do we panic so?

Is it the same at your office?  Do you work in an office?  Just a casual observation on a Wednesday afternoon.  Talk amongst yourselves.

I’ve already failed myself

Well I said that I wanted to put out content on Tuesdays and Fridays.  And, well, Friday came and went and I did not put something out.  I’m trying to make up for it now by writing this post Monday morning, but I know it won’t actually retrain me to get into a groove.

So today I will be scratching out some ideas for posts that I want to write about and slowly but surely start knocking them out.  They may or may not be long, in-depth pieces, but they will hopefully get me in the mindset of writing and posting.  So stay with me as I move forward.  I admit it may be tough to watch at times, but in the end, the journey will be entertaining and rewarding to be part of.

A new way for me.

I began listening to a new podcast, it’s called Elise Gets Crafty.  It’s supposed to be about creativity and making things and all that stuff.  I’m only three episodes in, but something that struck me in the third episode really stuck with me.  Elise was interviewing a woman that writes for blogs full time and she said (I’m going to paraphrase) that if you WANT to write a blog, you need to write consistently.  I have been terrible about this.  She mentioned that you shouldn’t probably start out by saying to yourself that you’re going to write a post everyday, that’s just probably not realistic.  But perhaps twice a week to start with.  So, I’m going to write a new post every Tuesday and Friday.  Something else she mentioned in addition to that was to publish at roughly the same time.  Then your readers have something to expect.  Again, consistent.

So, how am I going to do this, you may ask?  Well, I’m going to do a smattering of topics.  Some will be my own musings on life when I may or may not wax philosophically.  Other times it may be a cool product or app review or an interview or story of someone that I have encountered along my journey.  And, one that that I am going to be doing for sure is my photography.

I have said this before that I want to just shoot.  I don’t care if the exercise produces unusable shit, but at least I will have gotten out there and tried new things with the tools that I have, learning something new all the while.  With that, that means that I need to always have my camera with me.  Not just my iPhone, but my camera.  This has always been my biggest obstacle because it’s just so cumbersome to carry it along all the time.  I guess maybe if I had a bag set up that would carry all of my gear, then it wouldn’t seem so bad because I would have everything with me, all it one place, that I would just grab on the way out of the house or the office.  I’m going to look into a new bag option, but I’d love to hear from any of you on the matter.  Do you have a bag that you use that you like for everyday carry?  Let me know!

See you on the flip side!

My UAV goals

As you may or many not know, I work in video/film production.  And, like many other videographers, I was bitten by the UAV, or drone, bug.  I have recently completed some much needed upgrades on my large, heavy lift Octocopter and will begin testing and tweaking this week.  But, that’s not what I’m writing about today.  I’m writing about how to improve skills, log time and experiment with your setup.

I was recently listening to a drone podcast on Drone Radio Show and the guy being interviewed, Tariq Rashid, had mentioned that he has a goal of 100 log cycles as quickly as possible.  Now, you’re asking, ‘Chris, what the hell is a log cycle?’  Well, a log cycle is a full battery flight.  Meaning, plug in, all checks done, take off, fly, land, unplug.  That is a log cycle.  So, log cycles and hours are different units of measure.  You could have four, five, six or more log cycles per hour of flight time.  Although, the more log cycles you have, the less time you’re actually in the air.

I don’t know if I want to reach for that goal, but I do want to set a goal of flying every day.  Now that may end up being one or two log cycles or one or two hours, I’m not exactly sure which, but I do know that you can’t get better and more comfortable with the sticks and your gear if it’s not in the air.

So here I am, just finished all of my upgrades, propellers are balanced and installed and I’m charging and balancing batteries as I type.  I must admit, every time Lola (my big octos name) lifts off, my heart does begin to beat a little fast until she’s back on the ground.  And with a new, almost, everything this first test flight is going to be a little more nerve racking.  It’s going to be a lot of lift offs and landings and small adjustments.

Also, get a log book.  When I first started flying I wasn’t using a log book.  So, truth be told, I actually have no idea how many hours of flight time I have.  It’s clearly not as many as others, but it’s more than some.  Now I have started using the Drone Log Book by Field Notes.  It’s pretty good.  I need to customize the procedures slightly to adjust to my pre-flight and post-flight routine, but it’s a really great way to keep you on track so you don’t  skip any steps and it’s good way to keep track of flights so you can reference them, and the hours and cycles, as needed.

So, here I go.  Loading up the gear and to a nice, safe space away from people and buildings to begin my testing cycle.

50 50 50 Project

Or, I think I’m just going to call it ‘Project 50’ to make it easier.

A little back story. I have been trying to find a project that I can shoot that will keep my eye in shape while experimenting with some techniques and styles that I don’t really want to use client work to practice. I had read somewhere over the weekend about a photographer somewhere in the U.K. that did a series using only his 50mm lens. Now, I love my 50mm lens and every chance I get I shoot the hell out of it. It is by far and away my favorite lens that I have and work with. So, I have decided to adopt what he did and do it as well.

Which brings me to the three 50s. I am going to keep my camera pretty much attached to my hip for 50 days. I am going to shoot a ton of images throughout each day and then I’m going to pick my favorite for the day. That will be the image I’ll use for Day One. And then so on for all 50. Each day I will put my favorite photo on here with a little write up on why I took it and why I choose it to by my favorite. So armed with my camera with my 50mm lens, away I go to begin shooting! I will begin this little experiment on the 20 of February. So be ready, because on the 21st you’ll see the first one! I hope you’ll enjoy viewing this little experiment as much as I think I’ll enjoy shooting it. Stay tuned!

A Lessening of Tech

I do get just how hypocritical that headline sounds as I pound this out on my MacBook Pro.  But, just hear me out.  I know that when the new hardware comes out, no matter the manufacturer, I get giddy with anticipation of when I can see it in the wild, as they say.  I love how technology makes me feel, like I’m using something that makes my life more enjoyable, more substantial, more meaningful.  But, as these ‘things’ have been created, we have started seeing apps for everything to improve upon those devices.  Our phones, our tablets, our TVs, there’s an app for every thing for every time of day!  And there’s my problem.  I’m using a different app for a different time of day which is accounting for all of my time throughout the day.  I just felt like all of this was taking over my life.  I felt like I wanted to simplify everything.  So I did some digging around on the web to see if I was the only one that was thinking this way, just to see how others were dealing with the issue.  Because I mean really, am I the only one that feels like the screens are taking over???  Turns out, no.  I have found articles ranging from people completely ‘unfriending’ Facebook, giving up Twitter handles and deleting Instagram feeds to people that just ‘take a break’ from one or two apps on all of their devices, you know, just to see how it goes, to see if they can ‘live without it’.  I am right in the middle.  Well, slightly North of the middle, headed toward getting rid of it all.

I have deleted Facebook from my iPhone and iPad and only log on with my MacPro when I’m at the studio.  When I am logged on, I have been limiting myself to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon.  I do use Twitter on my iPhone and iPad, but don’t use it on my MacPro.  To me, Twitter just seems like I use it better when not on a desktop.  Anyway… I do still use Instagram.  I am a visual junkie after all.  The other app that I used CONSTANTLY was USA Today.  I have cut back on this, but I don’t necessarily feel that being informed with news is a bad thing.  Too much, yes (partly because the news doesn’t update that fast!).  So I have GREATLY reduced the amount of time that I am using USA Today.

It is important to note that I don’t want to come off as some whiny little bitch that has first-world problems.  I do still have to use these tools for work.  I am the owner of a boutique video and film production company, Diesel Pictures.  So, I can’t just up and rid my life of these things.  OK, noted.

Those are just a few of my apps, what are your go-to for time-killing and possibly you could do less of?  Or get rid of all together?

Next up, we’ll talk about the hardware itself.  Stay tuned!!!

 

My Body In Detox

Jessica and I have been doing this body detox meal plan that spans five days.  Being Wednesday afternoon, we’re two and a half days in.  I can tell you this, when your body is used to getting certain things, like coffee, and not used to getting others, like enough fruits, vegetables and water, it really turns you upside down.  I love my coffee.  I drink it hot and black, like my soul.  And, I’m one of those people that will drink it all day long.  But I haven’t had it now for three days.  I’m drinking water.  So, in addition to the withdrawal headache, I’m in the bathroom all the time!  This is me just whining like a baby …

On the flip side, I sure as hell know that my body is cleaning itself out, ridding me of toxins.  And, because we are eating healthy and proper proportions, I am even losing weight!  I know it’s crazy to think that since we commenced this detox journey on Monday morning, I have already lost five pounds!  I don’t know what the rest of the week holds, but I just may keep up on this whole healthy eating thing!  : )

I will have to reintroduce coffee though.

2015 Goals

I took the weekend and, while not completely knocked down by illness, I was pondering what I wanted to do in 2015.  I have a few ideas and they go like this:

Write my book.  I have had this idea for a novel, or at least a novella, for more than a year now and I have been unable to get motivated to actually fucking write it.  I have even started with something as simple as writing one page a day.  Problem is, my schedule is so all over the place, that I never have a consistent writing time throughout the day, so it always manages to get lost and then, before I know it, a year has gone by and I have have 14 official pages.  Not good.  So, how will I achieve this goal you ask?  I am going to devote one hour per day to writing.  I am going to schedule it in, just like I would a meeting or other appointment.  I carry my iPad around with me almost everywhere and my iPhone, literally everywhere I go, so sitting down for one hour a day and writing is something that I will have no excuse for any longer.

Publish a coffee table photography book.  Before I began shooting motion pictures, I started with shooting pictures.  I learn the craft on 35mm film.  So you actually had to think about your shots and not just hold down the shutter and see if you can fix it on the computer later.  No, you had to compose the shot.  You had to meter the light.  You had to choose what type of film you were going to use to give you that look and feel you want, that emotion to be evoked.  I have shot this way, off and on, for the better part of 18 years.  So I don’t know if it will be simply going back through all of the negatives and compiling from there, or taking the next year and shooting all new, or a combination of the two.  However, by the time Fall 2015 rolls around, I will have compiled a new book all set for publication, whether that is self published or not is a whole other conversation.

Shoot the first season of the TV show currently in development.  I have said it before and I’ll say it again.  I’m always thinking of ways to do different things.  I never stop thinking.  Late last year I had the idea to get back into television content.  I was in this space years ago and decided that I wanted to get back in to it.  I have assembled a small team and we are developing the content as I type and will hopefully be bring this idea to reality soon.  Our goal is to begin shooting in the Spring and be airing in the late Summer, early Fall.

Expand Diesel Pictures.  Diesel Pictures is my production company.  Our happy place is storytelling.  We like working with agencies and companies alike that want to connect with their customers in a way that makes them feel connected, rather than simply tell about their product or service.  My fiancé and I moved to a new market last year and I need to be better about getting my company out in the public eye.  I would like to gain two new clients every quarter for the year.  In order to do this, I’m going to need to get off my ass more and get out there and meet new people and become more connected.  This has always been something I have hated, selling myself.  I just don’t think I’m any good at it and when you have that mindset going into something, you’re really not setting yourself up for success.  I need to be OK with hearing ‘no’ and be willing to shrug it off and move on.  So, eight new clients by the end of the year.

Read more.  Reading is something that I love doing and I used to do it all of the time.  I loved nothing more than curling up on the couch or sitting in my chair with a cup of coffee, or tea in the summer, and read.  I would easily get lost in a book for hours, sometimes days, and not come up for air until I was closing the cover following the last printed word.  Then Netflix happened.  Netflix is both awesome and awful for someone like me.  I love film and TV.  Occupational hazard I guess, and it has afforded me to spend the time that I would normally have the TV turned off and totally immersed in what ever world I was reading about, watching TV.  Entertaining, yes.  Knowledge expanding and productive, no.  A big, fat, no.  My fiancé has a goal to read 12 books for this year.  I think that sounds like an excellent idea and I would like to have that be one of my goals as well.  12 books.  If you’ve read any good ones, let me know.  I like to read anything.

Live life.  This one is a little more meta.  I believe that life is a collection of experiences.  I don’t want to have the same experiences that I’ve had before.  Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things that I really love doing and I’ll keep doing those because they bring such great joy.  But, I don’t want to just do those things.  I want to get out there and do something new, something exciting, something that may have scared me in the past or something that I haven’t even thought of yet.  I want to experience six new things in 2015.  That could be any number of things, but I want to actively add to my collection of experiences that make up me.  Any ideas, shoot them my way.

So, that’s it.  No resolutions, just goals.  Please keep an eye on this space for more updates about how I’m progressing.  Stand back everyone, I’m about about the kick the shit out of 2015!!!

AAAAaaaaaaaaaaand I’m back

Last week I logged into my dashboard and noticed that the last time I posted anything was January 2nd.  ONE FULL YEAR AGO!  Now my first thought was to hurry up and write something and get it out there.  But, then I thought, I’ll just wait until the 2nd and put something up then.  So, this morning, still nursing the tail end of my New Years Eve hangover, I sat down in my office, looked out the window and began to type.  Turns out I was just typing and waiting for a coherent sentence to be flung from my fingers and transferred onto the screen.  It wasn’t happening.  This when on for an hour.  Command-A, delete.

I went with my fiancé,  Jessica, for lunch and had a sandwich.  Now I’m back at this.  As I was heading back to my office I was trying to think of something to write about.  As I was going back over this past year, I realized there were a few things that happened, but a large chunk of my year was eaten up by me being a slog.  Jess and I moved, we got a lot of planning done for the wedding, put the other house on the market (still for sale, by the way).  So, this year, 2015, is going to be my year of being fucking awesome!  Jess adopted this notion that she’s not going to do resolutions, she’ll be setting goals.  I like that.  So, I’m stealing.  Over the weekend I will be honing my list of goals for this year.  The whole goal method seems so much more efficient that the resolution method.  There are things that I have said in years past like, I’m going to do more of (blank) next year.  Or, I’m going to change (blank).  Bullshit.  That hasn’t worked for me in the past and it sure as shit won’t work again.  I’m sure of it.  So, again, I will be setting goals.  I’m going to be including any of my goals in this post because I want to take a little time and think about it.  I don’t want to just sit here and arbitrarily throw out things that I’ll be locked into for the next year.  On Monday I will get back to you with my goals.

Ditching the Laptop: Update

What made my goal of ditching my laptop for my daily work difficult was my iPad. I bought the very first one and haven’t updated since. It still works, it was just lethargic at almost every task. For Christmas, however, my wonderful new fiancé, bought me a new iPad Air! So over the last week I have been integrating my new iPad and LOVE it. It is soooooo much quicker, a better screen, lighter, etc. Everything about it is better.

I took it to a meeting on Tuesday and was able to go from my Notes app (I use my Apple Wireless Keyboard) to Penultimate for handwriting notes in a flash.

So, I’m back in the mindset of taking this thing with me where ever I go. I’m even using it now to write this post.

Anybody else using an iPad or tablet as your daily device? I would love to see how you use it, apps and the like.