Clogged Bogged Editing
Posted on | September 26, 2010 | No Comments
Editing Screen
Keywords, description fields, categories, alignment horizontal or vertical, pixels, cities, countries, title for each shot (sigh!). Cloggy-boggy days ahead.
So how in the world did I end up this far behind on photo editing???
True admission here (said sheepishly) — I have been having so much fun just taking the photos over the last couple of years that I have seriously neglected to do the boring ‘paperwork’ in digital form that is essential to keeping track of the hundreds of images I shoot every month. I’ve been more than a bit hit and miss in that regard and now I am really paying for it!
Tell people that you are a photographer or photojournalist along with being a writer and I almost always receive a bit of “Ooo-ahh. How cool!” response from them. They immediately get a glamorous image in their head of what fun that would be to travel for a living, take pictures all day, write a few lines at night, and how fabbo the finished products are. Um — yes and no. (grin!)
There are thousands — no kidding — thousands of images on my hard drive (and yes, safely backed up online as well, in case you were wondering!) to go through, decide what is worth keeping, and then do all of that information tagging onto each one so that I can get my online portfolios at a few agencies humming away smoothly and (hopefully!) profitably.
What is actually giving me a lot of joy is the reliving of some magical moments — the gorgeous scenery that I documented on various trips, the funny moments we stumbled upon, the people we saw. So I am allowing those snippets of joy to seep into my brain and heart even as I shake my hands occasionally to get the blood flowing again after typing for hour after hour after hour.
Ah well — it certainly will prompt me to not relive this digital-paperwork intensive and to keep up to date with it all on a very regular basis.
Tags: catch-up > editing > office work > paperwork > photography > photojournalism > travel > travel journalism
NEW Article Online: Frugal Travel in Expensive Melbourne
Posted on | September 22, 2010 | No Comments
Cube Serviced Apartments - King Studio
Yellow Yarra Tram on Bourke Street, Melbourne, Australia
All 3 parts of my series — Frugal Travel in Expensive Melbourne — is now online at my travel journalism site, A Wanderful Life
Link to new travel article
Posted on | September 21, 2010 | No Comments
Part One of my new series — Frugal Travel in Expensive Melbourne is online at A Wanderful Life. Enjoy!
A World Away In Size and Scale
Posted on | September 20, 2010 | No Comments
Just back from a weekend in Melbourne and seriously, dear readers — it is a world away from village life in a mere 2 hours (each way) of travelling. The population density and the sheer number of buildings is a brief shock to the senses for the first 24 hours, but after that I settle in and feel quite normal. And I have to say that my camera never fails to have interesting sights to aim towards.
Melbourne is quite a potpourri of architectural styles. So if you can tune out the armies of black or gray clad execs and office workers who clomp purposefully up and down the pavement throughout the day and cast impatient eyes on you as you try to frame the perfect shot, there are many places where the juxtaposition of scale will make you laugh.
Here’s an example of a wee 7 level building and an even more wee 3 level companion who both refused to be muscled aside by the ‘Big Glass Towers’ alongside. And surely that visual contrast of shape and size makes for more interesting viewing than a canyon full of sky-high glass and steel, eh?
I’ll be back either late today or tomorrow with links to my travel website and a short story about travelling frugally in a very expensive city.
My Fairy Godmother Fractured Her Wand
Posted on | September 11, 2010 | 4 Comments
Oh my — what HAS this woman been up to? Just look at the state of her! She has fractured her wand and lost the ability to gracefully sprinkle that fairy dust around. And what will will the other Fairy Godmothers think when they see that she has tried to toss fairy dust with her hand, only to have it end up sitting in clumps on her dress. Not a good look all the way around!
That wildly-improbable-yet-definitely-there creature has been reasonably reliable throughout my lifetime, but I think that the cracks in her wand were beginning to show quite awhile back. The entire magical object just gave way recently from the stress fractures that had built up over time.
So where am I going with all of this? I am redirecting your attention back to me.
Anyone who has ever read my books knows that my interests include discussions of various types of spirituality, consciousness studies, knowingness that is accessed through altered states, and paranormal or psychic topics. Some of what has been written in my books are prophetic visions that are world-based and not necessarily of a personal nature.
My personal worldview has been that I can focus my energy along a certain path and the results will unfold within a generally specified time-frame. I have had great success with this method for decades and have manifested into being a most unusual and highly unorthodox life. It has been a never-boring ride on some roller-coaster-of-life that veered off the track of what is ‘normal’ or conventional and into some curious byways of magic and mystery. And whatever you choose to call them (if you do acknowledge such things!), my spiritual companions that reside in a parallel world have been along for the ride and have assisted in the success of my projected outcomes. The “Fairy Godmother” is in this post because she humourously represents my otherworldly companions.
Now I find that time, circumstances, and forces of nature or humankind have been ‘conspiring’ recently to prevent my pre-visualised outcomes from unfolding as expected. Yet all of those forces were ‘seen’ by me several decades ago and now they are appearing, right on schedule. How conveniently I seem to forget that I knew that more challenging times were ahead for the planet and its people — but it is only when I feel personally impacted that a certain portion of my brain creaks back into life and my consciousness says almost aloud — “You knew all of this was coming. None of it is a surprise.”
But knowing it and living it are two distinctly different things. And I am having a minor harumph about it all.
Guess it’s time to help mend the Fairy Godmother’s wand. Let’s see — where is that duct tape when I need it. Or should I just close my eyes, summon up a gathering of the ‘clan’ of invisible-yet-present helpers, and get cracking on the meditation-manifestation-visualisation once again. Maybe between us all we can either repair her wand or present her with a sparkling new one. Then with a mighty swish and a roaring sound, we can sprinkle magic dust on this damaged planet and her damaged people and hope that enough of it is absorbed to make a difference before an unpleasant tipping point is reached.
I live in hope!
Tags: dreams > hopes > magic > manifestation > spiritual > visionary > visions > wishes
Deborah Harmes, Ph.D.
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