My Blog

My First Cruise – Epilogue

Life, My Community, Photography, travel

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was writing it from the middle of the Caribbean Sea, on my first ever cruise. That adventure is now complete, and I’ve returned to the cold of Toronto, Canada.

I come away from this experience with some truly delightful memories, and have also discovered some things about this option for travel that I really do not like. Some would say, just enjoy the journey. In fact, I really did. But I’m also one who watches the world around me, and there were some things that just did not sit well.

Normally, when someone says that they have things they didn’t like, these can end up being minor complaints, like my bed pillows were too hard or the air conditioning was too cold or the drinks too watered down. I’m hoping that you’ll find my list a bit more substantial, and that it reflects some unexpected surprises (at least they were surprises to me) about how these experiences are offered.

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On the Road Again – Well, Water This Time

Photography, travel

As I write this, I am sitting in a stateroom aboard a 3,600 passenger cruise ship in the Caribbean Sea, visiting several islands in the Eastern Caribbean. This isn’t a photography trip, but I’m making it one, carrying my full sized camera with me everywhere, even on this city sized floating marvel.

Over the past two weeks, we have had absolutely abysmal weather in the Canadian east, with snow and temperatures that would make any northern location traumatized. I didn’t plan it this way, but it seems I picked the perfect time for a holiday to the warm south. But it is the trip that almost didn’t happen. More on that later, but this blog post is about the challenges of travelling as a senior with photography equipment and the unique things about cruising with that in mind.

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Trying 3D Printing

Photography, Tools

Note the word “trying”. Turns out, this type of printing is not quite as simple as queuing up a file, loading a substrate and hitting print. The hardware and the “substrate”, which in this case are spools of filament, are not cheap and require a well designed project file to start, with an assembly or “slicing” plan to complete, and a printer whose temperature and mechanical settings are perfect.

I wanted to explore this because my astronomy hobby relies on being able to connect devices and hardware items to the top or sides of your telescope, in order to ensure the telescope can move freely without tangling cables or slamming into stationary detached components. I’ve ordered 3D printed items for this purpose from talented folks who designed and printed them for sale. How hard could it be to print my own? Turns out it was a lot harder than I thought.

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Budget vs. Hobbies – Finding a Balance

Life, Photography, Tools

Happy New Year all! Hope the holiday season was everything you wanted and that you received and gave everything that made your season perfect. I was actually quite ill over the holidays, struck with a seasonal flu (and maybe other bad bugs) that kept me at home for quite some time. Eventually, this becomes boring, so I turned my diminished brainpower to exploring a topic I had not explored lately: how best to balance budget and hobbies in retirement?

I actually have had a budget every year since retirement. And at the end of every year, I check it to see just how much difference it has not made to my end of year finances. I’ve decided to give it a more meaningful try for this coming year, especially since travel will be big on the agenda this year.

Budgeting has long been the mantra of financial planners who work with young investors, particularly the part about saving for retirement. But few seem to have good advice on how to manage that money after retirement. Why of course the floodgates open, no? This post is not financial advice. This post is about a few things I’ve learned about having fun responsibly in your golden years.

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Year End Thanks

Life, My Community, Photography

As we approach another year end (wow!), most of us take stock of our year and what it has brought us. I tend to do that more often than annually, especially after a particularly stressful experience. This year, there hasn’t been a lot of stress, thankfully, although the challenges of getting older and of supporting family members getting older do bring their own moments of pause.

I like to make lists, of things I’ve done, things I need to do, things other people need to do. So it’s somewhat easy to look back at those now. I’ve actually accomplished quite a lot this year, but have decided that next year needs a whole new direction. Why? Read on.

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The End of Photoshop – For Me

astrophotography, Photography, Tools

It happened unexpectedly, unannounced. One day I was minding my own business, reading email, and one popped into my feed. Oh, no, another ad. But this one was different. It was from that venerable king of creative editing software – Adobe. It was a reminder that my subscription for my Photography Plan would renew in a month. Ok, great. Then I saw it, at the bottom.

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Give Nothing for the Holidays Except Yourself

Life, My Community, Photography

It is that time of year again when we turn our attention to purchasing gifts for those we love, to acknowledge their place in our lives and to say how much we love them. It’s a joyous activity for many; It is a classic dilemma and typically the source of much stress and consternation for most.

If you are as old as me, there does come a point though when many of us decide we have enough stuff and ask not to receive anything material again. Although I still like to hear about toys as much as ever, I’m there – I don’t need to own them. It’s a bit of an odd feeling. Yet somehow appropriate as you head toward your twilight of life.

Instead, I’m suggesting a new approach this year. Making yourself the gift. I don’t mean anything cringeworthy. Instead I’m talking about the gift of your time. If you are as old as me, it is now the one thing that means everything.

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Why AI is No Big Threat

Career, Life, My Community, Photography, Tools

Back in 2020, I did my first blog post on AI, commenting that while many saw its emergence as a threat, I didn’t. With the choices available to them, people like me could elect how much if any machine-learned automation might become part of our lives.

It’s five years later and I thought I would revisit that idea again, again from the perspective of a senior retiree. I do recognize that other lifestyles and financial circumstances might result in a different viewpoint, but this is mine.

Here’s how AI has impacted me in the last five years and how it might impact me in the future.

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Getting Lost in Muskoka (Spiritually and Literally)

Landscapes, Photography, travel

I’ve returned from a few days “up north” immersed in this year’s fall colours. Whenever you take a vacation, you hope to have stories to tell, and in my case, photographs to go with them. I definitely do for this trip.

This was a visit to several stops, including Gravenhurst and Huntsville and various tourist attractions associated with or close by each. I decided to string a number of stopping points together and make a 3 day mini-vacation out of it. You could just as easily take a single day and drive a couple of hours, get the immersive experience, and return home. Many do.

There is something about Fall and fall colour here in Ontario, Canada that has always drawn me emotionally. It signals the end of summer, but also points to change, and warns us warm-blooded (and cold-blooded) souls to prepare for the cold. The last few years, I’ve looked forward to the change of seasons. It brings a sense of calm and progression – an order in a chaotic world. Did I make the most of it this year? Read on…

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Is Simple Better?

Photography

There seems to be a move afoot in photography – a move away from full manual control of camera settings and detailed processing of images using one or more editing tools, all the way to letting the camera handle things with automatic settings and built-in profiles. We just pick the mood we are in that day and shoot away.

Say what? Isn’t that what we spent years overcoming? The shortcomings of that dumb box? The mantra that full control over every pixel from capture to delivery is the only way to enjoy photography. A real photographer only shoots in full manual mode. A photograph ain’t finished until it has been “photoshopped”. Not any more. How did this happen?

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