Introducing Patron! https://glass.photo/highlights/introducing-patron

Reader: mastodon.world

I decided to support Glass as a patron because I think these alternatives are important. They help create some sort of equilibrium. It’s the same reason I’m investing my time migrating 95% of my photos into Pixelfed. I believe in the open web and in honest alternatives like Glass. More than ever we need them.

(…) the best way to improve your photography is to focus on your ideas, not your technique or gear Source: About — CJ Chilvers

I couldn’t agree more. To everyone who came up to me and asked what camera they should buy to start their photography journey, my answer always has been this one: Don’t focus on the camera model and let’s start discussing possible photo subjects.

“A man sitting in front of a retro computer doing some important work”. 👀 This is my first ever prompt sent to Midjourney. I think this image is an excellent representation of my current state. A guy experimenting with Midjourney in front of my computer. I’m blown away. What a great time to be alive! Discord, as a client of this back-end service, is fascinating. 🤯 I subscribed for one month to the basic plan. Continue reading →

Right from Glass’s highlights website:

We’re wrapping up the final touches on our AI-powered Search beta that we’ll be releasing soon to Early Access. Early Access is an included perk for a new level of Glass membership that we’re announcing soon. Once we’ve tested it thoroughly over the coming months, it’ll be released to everyone. Source: New Member Search in Beta — Glass

In other words, Glass will add another subscription level where you’ll get pre-release features for testing. Subscriptions are not enough. Now we must pay to be beta testers. Great. 🤦🏻‍♂️

A new camera app for the iPhone. Photon. 📸 By the makers of Camera+. I’m currently subscribing to Halide since my last trip in late June. I will skip that one, but Photon feels simpler to use yet more powerful. And I like the name.

One of the reasons I’m leaving Smugmug is the fact that most of their improvements in the last year are geared toward selling your images. I’m not into this business. I tried selling some of my images on Stock a few years back and made a few dollars. I do have some images for sale on Adobe Stock. The revenue I get for selling an image is RIDICULOUS! I’ve sold 12 images, generating more than… 17$ in revenue. Who’s buying images these days? There is so much free content available (looking at you, Unsplash! 👀). Why bother?

Poof Vanmoof!

July 17, 2023: “VanMoof was declared bankrupt in the Netherlands on Monday by the Amsterdam District Court, following the company's pandemic-time boom”

Sept 1, 2021: ↓

Read: mastodon.social

Too bad for them. It was THE electric bike I was looking for since I heard about them. Sadly, they never expanded in North America. They don’t do business with partners. I always regarded Vanmoof as the Apple of the ebike.

I’m excited and upbeat about the upcoming weeks/months. I’ll have a bunch of images to process (from my trips to Morocco & Canary Islands). Plus the migration out of Smugmug to Pixelfed will keep me busy. Finally, the upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro Max(Ultra?) will be an occasion for a few photowalk sessions. All contribute to a more photography-intensive fall. 🏞️🏙️📷

I wrote that for myself. I always like comments! 😊

I’m a big fan of Inoreader. Make no mistake. But one quick comment. Consider the following screenshot where you can see the article-sharing option. You can see options like Blogger, Evernote, and Twitter. The first two options are dead horses. I mean, Blogger, really? Evernote is the next in line to die. The third is soon to be a dead horse, too. No other options are provided. I’m surprised that we don’t get to send an article by Fax, too.

This is the Discover tab with the focus on “people to discover” on the @pixelfed@mastodon.social official app (still in beta). The problem with this “selection”: how is this list built? The same can be said of Micro.blog discover feature. Why is the criteria never or rarely explained? Why is this list mostly static? The open web should be about absolute transparency too. Cc @manton

When I decided to subscribe to Exposure, it was because I wanted to write short stories using my photos. I did share six of them so far (see my profile page here). Now that I’m on Pixelfed, I find myself writing more with each shared image than I did on Exposure. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Due to Canada’s forest fires and easterly winds, bad air quality is returning to my town for the next few days. With all the bad climate-related news coming up from everywhere on Earth, trying to understand what is happening is essential, so we can better adapt our lifestyle. I like to read many things on a subject that I find interesting, but climate change topic is utterly depressing. The planet is clearly slowly burning. Continue reading →

It’s funny how much effort I put into writing a small description for each image shared on Pixelfed. I did not do this while on Flickr, 500px and Smugmug. I’m even writing an ALT description. It’s great for reading in an RSS reader. Your thoughts?

I’m finally ready to share my 60-minute video tour of Pixelfed. If you’re contemplating the idea of creating your account on Pixelfed, I encourage you to do so, but after watching this video. You’ll learn about Pixelfed’s capabilities. It’s not a comparison analysis with services like Flickr or Smugmug, though. Continue reading →

Finished recording an hour-long video about Pixelfed. Yep. 60 minutes. If you are on the fence, that’s the one video that you should watch. Online soon.

How it started, how it ended. That was yesterday. 88mm of rain in two hours. Oh, and one tornado touchdown. Two others possible.

What is the motivation for Google to maintain this rather excellent photo processing app (Snapseed).

Tornado warning. We mostly never get those in our region. WTF?

A year from now, my photo-sharing digital landscape will look like this: Pixelfed + Glass + Unsplash + Exposure. Gone will be Instagram, Smugmug.

Don’t be surprised by my relentless posting of photos… I’m playing with my new toy: Pixelfed. Who’s on Pixelfed, here, btw?