Category: Outdoors + Travel

Happy Trails

Anyone else notice the continuing trend of athleisure wear? I’m not one for jumping on to band wagons but I am for utility, comfort and looking good while doing it.

One of the many things I want to do this year is to get outdoors, explore more trails, hunt for geocaches, and grab fresh air because these four walls close in on me while working from home.

I grabbed the new Nike All Conditions Gear trail shoes and dry-fit shirt in anticipation of getting outside more. Just like Apple, Nike is a luxury item with excellent quality materials that last. Leisure, luxury and the outdoors, apparently is something more of us can do with during these pandemic years.

So much orange.

It’s time to take this outside. Happy trails!

Travel Thoughts

Travel has always made me reflective and last weekend was no different. I think of behaviors that need to change and to try something different.

  1. What needs to be changed?
  2. When will I say no to that unhealthy habit?
  3. What can I start today?
  4. What can I stop today?
  5. What needs more reflection?

It’s always amazing to me how travel puts your life into perspective. Do more of this.

Photography Workflow Using the iPad Pro M1

I had first published this guide in early 2019 in an effort to simplify my post-process photography workflow using the 2018 iPad. After decades of desktop and laptop processing, I wondered if the iPad was a solution for me.

Previous year articles from 2021 and 2019

Can the iPad replace the laptop for my photography post-process?

So much has changed since then that I have continued the series and decided to write a new post about it. The evolution in gear, software, and process has been a fun process to look back on and wonder how we managed to get anything done at all. But where there is a will, there are many ways. I will cover what my photography workflow looks like, but ultimately, everyone needs to choose what’s right for them. Workflows are personal and modified as needed. This topic seems to be a crowd favorite because each year these posts receive a lot of traffic and attention (thank you!)

A few months after that last post, I upgraded to the 12.9” Apple iPad M1 (5th Gen) and fine-tuned my workflow. Now, I also upgraded the laptop to the 2021 MacBook Pro M1, and it is no slouch. However, the photo workflow is different, limiting and feels almost antiquated. For now, the MacBook is a tool for me to curate my digital photo archives using Adobe Lightroom Classic, and that’s it. Here are some of the ways an iPad is more beneficial to me:

Multi-input workflow

Photography is a hands-on experience, and it is a joy to continue this on the iPad. Much like using your hands to develop your film negatives, so too are your fingers, the keyboard, and the Apple Pencil for finer control. Using a mouse to manipulate images is too impersonal for me now.

Storage

Thanks to the iPad and cloud services, there is an easier, more secure way to store images you’ve taken. This allows me to focus more on what I want to do (photography), rather than moving files around. I have 2 TB of iCloud storage waiting to receive my image uploads from either my camera or the iPhone. There is another 20 GB of storage in the Adobe cloud. Current images I am shooting are uploaded, stored and easily accessible on any of my devices.

My data transfer and storage needs to be effortless, to the point I don’t have to think about it. I mentioned the MacBook and my archives previously- that’s the only time I want to think about storage. I do organize images on the hard drive and then migrate them into the Archives stored on the 10 TB external hard drive.

Performance

The iPad has been granted a full-time job from me. It is the most powerful, fastest, and more interactive device I own. The ability to handle images in RAW format while asking for more work to do is remarkable to me. Battery life is spectacular, although it has a massive screen. Speaking of that massive screen, nothing makes me happier than reviewing my photos on such a beautiful screen. Much like the analog contact sheets, I can sort through quickly and determine which are the keepers and which get tossed into the digital bin. That M1 chip really knows how to process faster and distribute power evenly.

Mobile

Sure, the 12.9” iPad is large, and the magic keyboard that it magnetically attaches to adds weight. But it is still smaller and lighter than lugging a laptop with all the dongles, charger and cables around. Something else I am enjoying is the 5G connectivity. The ability to travel, make images, load them up into the cloud instantly is nothing short of brilliant. Want to check the forecast for the next day’s shooting? Care to watch that video tutorial of local street photographers while you travel? Start post-processing your images and have them secured until you get back home? Publish your work while on the go? It is all possible with that iPad.

Hardware & Software

Below is what I minimally use to produce a maximum photography workflow.

  1. Apple 12.9” iPad Pro (5th gen) – My mobile photo lab.
  2. Apple Pencil – Precision editing tool
  3. CharJen Mini stick- A USB-C adapter with SD card port, charging port
  4. Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro – All in one keyboard & cover
  5. Apple Photos – Store, review, edit.
  6. Adobe Lightroom – for photo post-processing, organization
  7. iCloud – for backup and syncing across devices using Photos app
  8. Adobe Creative Cloud – for backup and syncing across devices in Lightroom

Extra Tools In The Darkroom

Capture tools include Sony A7III, iPhone, iPad Pro and a collection of analog film cameras. Post-processing labs include Adobe Lightroom, Pixelmator Pro, VSCO and Hipstamatic. Portfolio and galleries that host the final images can be viewed at PhotoDenbow.com and ChrisDenbow.com

Conclusion

The iPad is a great workspace for editing your photos. It is my personal, mobile photo lab. I can process my images in bed or on a plane, or even in between photo shoots when I am out and about. This makes the iPad the perfect tool for my photography.

Changing My Attitude

Is it possible to be happy where you feel like you are stuck? Regardless of where we are, I do believe it is possible to be happy. Personally, I am bitter towards living in a small city that is land-locked and in a flyover state during a pandemic. Yes, there is always going to be a better city or country that have a better climate or opportunities, but what can we do with what we have? Personally, I’ve discovered that once I’ve found the perfect place, I am still not satisfied because there is so much more for me to explore.

After traveling extensively, I realize I want to do it more. But what of it isn’t possible during a pandemic or lockdowns? We make do with what we have, but you have to work at it. If what you want there doesn’t exist, try to improve it yourself.

From the master of micro-adventures:

“I thought that I had been paying close attention to my local area through years of micro-adventures. Then I committed to spending a year exploring only the single local map that I live on (the big fold-out paper maps hikers use, covering an area of 20km x 20km). At first I worried that after years of global adventures — cycling around the world, rowing the Atlantic, walking across southern India etc. — my one small, suburban patch outside London would be agonisingly claustrophobic, boring and limiting. But I was wrong! I have discovered places I never knew existed, and been astonished at the wildness, beauty (ugliness, too) and history I have discovered. If you find somewhere new within a few miles of home then you are exploring the world just as much as someone trekking across the Empty Quarter Desert in Arabia…”

Alastair Humphreys

Well said. Inspirational even.

Your mental and physical health is crucial in all of this. It’s time to keep your brain and your body fit. Get out and have a walk and a think. I’ll be embracing naps a lot this winter as well.

I said all that to say this: if you can’t change your latitude, then your attitude needs to change. This is easier said than done, but I am going to give it a helluva try.