Thursday, October 18, 2018

"nobody helps me!"

I want desperately friends. I have seen all those movies and tv shows with a group of friends that experience amazing things and get through difficult times together. I want to be a Friend, and a Golden Girl, and BFF and all kinds of things.

I read other people's bucket list adventures, and feel desperately alone. "I could, too, if I had friends like that. I would, too, if..."

I listened to Barbara Sher's Ted Talk, "Isolation is the dream killer, not your attitude".
But I AM isolated. I expect the world to ignore me. That's what always happens. Nobody wants to do things with me. Nobody wants to be with me. Not even people who have never met me, and don't know that nobody wants me. I ask for help, I ask for company, I ask for someone to see me and hear me, and everyone just walks by as if I was invisible.

The thing is... this feeling is wrong. We have been brainwashed to think we need "friends", and that these "friends" are a special kind of people. In all the tv shows and movies, these friends have plenty of time and interest and energy exactly when we need it, and the exact right words and they do the exact right things to make the MC feel better and get over the bad things, and vice versa, when the friend is in trouble, the MC has the time and energy and resources and everything just as it is needed. And they always have good time, and all that. That is not real.

In real life, what you need is people, and these people are everywhere. 99% of world population - and it doesn't matter if you are in Africa or Asia, in the deepest jungles of South America or coldest widths of Arctic. This is what people do. We recognize another human being as just that, another one of our species. We have been spread all over this planet like no other life form just because we help each other and we communicate and we socialize. It's natural to human beings. To tap into that, to make every person you meet a "friend", is to treat them as if they were your friends. And that also means that you let them be when they express they want to be left alone. There's over seven billion people on this planet, you don't need that specific person to be your "friend" at the moment.

Here's Barbara Sher's Idea Party

And when it comes to bucket lists, you  don't need a friend who can do what you want to do to help you, to teach you, because the internet is there. And the internet is full of people who are willing to help people they don't know, will never know, won't even know that they have helped these people... you can find a tutorial on virtually any subject online. People have put online totally free, available to everyone, all kinds of programs and tutorials and schedules and plans. You just have to put in the effort. No friends needed, no money needed, no loops to jump, no catches.


Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Darcy's 31 days to a better photography

This is a repost from a blog.  I think it's excellent and don't want the information to disappear


31 Days to a Better Photo | The Complete Index


Thank you for your interest in 31 Days to a Better Photo! I’m glad you’re here and want to learn how to make the most of your dSLR. With a little time together, you can be shooting manually in a month!

xo, Darcy
  1. Welcome
  2. Find Your Camera Manual
  3. Shooting Fast vs. Shooting Slow
  4. Controlling the Faucet – Learning ISO
  5. Understanding Aperture, Part 1
  6. Understanding Aperture, Part 2
  7. Tackling Depth of Field
  8. The Exposure Triangle
  9. Scales
  10. Meter Maids – In Camera Metering
  11. Tips for Shooting Manually – Link Up
  12. What’s White Balance?
  13. Setting Custom White Balance
  14. Histo-huh? What’s a histogram?
  15. Histograms in the Field
  16. Exposure Compensation
  17. The Low Down on Lenses
  18. What camera do you have?
  19. When natural light won’t cut it
  20. Art in Photography
  21. Elements of Composition
  22. Post Production
  23. Levels vs Curves in Photoshop
  24. What’s a Layer Mask?
  25. How to Install Photoshop Actions – featuring Jodi from MCP Actions
  26. Photoshop Actions Resource List
  27. When too much is too much.
  28. How to Resize your Images to Share on the Web
  29. 12 Steps to a Sharper Image
  30. My Workflow
  31. Thank you & Live the Moments

Carey's 31+ days to better photography

 This is a repost from a blog. I think it's very good, but lately the post has been disappearing, so I fear it will disappear alltogether, and that would be a pity.


Hello! Welcome!

This 31+ day posting project is for anyone who may be starting out in photography and even for those who know it all. It’s been my experience that there is always more to learn and photography is no exception, especially for me. I’m crafting this month as a means to organize my own thoughts and help out those who wish to learn more about taking better pictures.

Every post during this month may or may not resonate with you. That’s ok. I’m hoping at least something will help you learn more about taking better pictures because that is one of my passions in life; helping others learn more about photography.
There’s no catch, there’s nothing you have to buy or subscribe to. You can start this month of learning any time you want to, take a break if you like, or skip down to the Challenges or Assignments. It’s up to you to make the most of it!

If you are interested in learning photography in person, I offer workshops, individual instruction and the opportunity to learn in locations such as Nepal, Bhutan, Morocco and more.

Are you ready to jump into a month (plus!) long journey to better photographs?

Core Concepts

Creative Ideas

Gear Ideas