Why many of us take pictures and/or video.And why and how it matters.

These two articles are from www.digitalcameraworld.com:

The joy of taking photos that no one else will ever see: stop feeding the algorithm

The best work I’ve made lately is the work that no one’s seen

Since stepping away from the world of professional sports photography, I’ve found myself picking up the camera for a very different reason: because I want to, not because I have to.

There’s no deadline. No editor waiting for a caption. No need to catch the winning moment in perfect focus. These days, I wander my local area with a camera slung over my shoulder, taking pictures not for clients, not for clout, and certainly not for the algorithm, but for me.

And that, I’ve realised, is something we don’t talk about enough: that it’s perfectly okay to shoot for yourself. [...]

 

I enjoyed this article, because to me, he is describing the real essense of photography/videography that attracted me to the film arts in the firstplace; it's worth staying in touch with, always, because there is more joy in that than just only trying to please other people, potentially turning what you love to do into a competition instead.

I think it applies to videography/filmmaking as well. Because what are videos and movies? They are pictures that move. I often pull still frames from the videos I take, to capture particular moments. But sometimes it's fun to see the moments move and unfold as a sequence as well...

I enjoyed this article also:

Now I see photography as mindfulness, it's changed my whole outlook

Forget costly wellness retreats; your camera is the only mindfulness teacher you need.

I'll be honest with you. Five years ago, whenever I took a picture, I was fundamentally chasing likes. That dopamine hit of validation that comes with a popular social media feed. Of course, as you might expect, none of this was making me particularly happy, deep down. A moment came eventually, though, when I started seeing photography in a different way.

I was standing in a grimy street after a sleepless night followed by a soul-crushing day at work. I rain-soaked, miserable and late for dinner with friends I was no longer in the mood to see.

Then I saw it. A simple puddle reflecting a neon shop sign, a pigeon pecking at its edge. Something made me stop. Made me crouch down. Really look. [...]

He goes on to describe what he saw, how he interacted with it, and for how long. And described how it... transformed him. I've experienced thas so many, many times, that I could really relate to it. Photographic/flimic awareness, can be a very powerful mindfullness tool, effortlessly grounding you in the present momemnt, and giving you a wonderful mood change and energy boost as well!      

9/11. 24 years later, I can't, don't, and won't forget.

I also find it difficult to keep talking about. Partly because of the subject matter. Partly because of the way some people politicise it. And partly because I did a lengthy post about it once:

The 9-11 jumpers; they didn't "jump"

This is an issue that isn't talked about a lot, because it's so unpleasant, and extremely emotional. It's about the people who supposedly "jumped" from the WTC towers before they collapsed.

So many in the media seemed to claim at the time that they were jumping out of "despair"; as if it were just an emotional response, a suicide choice; an act of will, that they could simply choose to do or not do.

That just seems like such an unfair judgment to me. I don't believe that most, if any, of those people "chose" to jump. I think SMOKE, HEAT and FLAMES simply FORCED them to their deaths by falling.

You can't "choose" whether or not you want to stand close to burning jet fuel; you simply can't. If there is nowhere safe to move away to, you move anyway. Just the smoke alone, making it impossible for you to even breath... if you were suffocating, what would you do for air?:

To call it jumping, like it was a choice, just seems wrong. When people went to work at the WTC that morning, they were not expecting to have to jump to their deaths. These poor souls did NOT choose this... [...]

If you follow the link to the rest of that post, it's filled with pictures of people jumping. I don't want to re-post them here. Some things get easier to deal with over time... for me, this is not one of them. That post also includes commentary about jumping, falling and suicide, and how those terms do and don't relate to what actually happened.

I don't post about it much anymore, because I eventually said all I had to say about it. Some people left some very thoughtful comments on that post; they understood what I was getting at. Many others left some really shitty, ugly, horrible comments that were sickening to read. I deleted all of those. And will continue to do so.

I used to have Site Meter on this blog, and for a long time it said that that particular post was more popular than any other blog post I've done. I've gotten rid of site meter since then, so I don't know if any or many see it anymore. I don't particularly care about being popular or having huge amounts of traffic to this blog.

I post what I care about, and things I've been reading about, and if it resonates with someone, fine. If it doesn't, fine, no one has to read it or like it. But I also am not obligated to post other peoples drek; they can make their own place to post that, I'm not interested in hosting it here.

But I still remember. The people who faced impossible choices. It can still make me cry. May they Rest In Peace. Condolences to their families.

     

The film editing legacy of Sally Menke

5 things we can learn from Tarantino's editor Sally Menke

Sally Menke’s name may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of Quentin Tarantino films, but her work behind the scenes was integral to the success of many of his most iconic movies. Having earned 12 awards and many more nominations, Sally Menke solidified herself as one of the greats in film editing. And there’s a lot we can learn from her 32-year career.

Here, we dive deep into her catalog and discuss what you can learn to improve your editing. [...]

This is from an article on Videomaker.com that I really enjoyed. Quentin Tarantino's films had a unique style and feel, and I believe the editing played a huge part in that. This article breaks down and examines many of the techniques his editor, Sally Menke, employed to great effect. Techniques we (video-makers) can all learn from, even as she learned them from other filmmakers and repurposed them in unique and fresh contexts.

Sadly, Sally Menke died in 2010 from heatstroke while hiking near Los Angeles during a heat wave. But she did leave behind a valuable legacy that all filmmakers/videographers can learn from. This article explores that legacy, whilst citing examples from films she worked on and their effects on audiences.

     

Godfather of AI: I Tried to Warn Them, But We’ve Already Lost Control!

When I was a teenager, I longed for the day we would have intellegent computers, where you could ask questions and get answers, and even have a conversation. For decades, it seemed impossibley far away. I remember "pong" in the 70's; BORING. Then the TIMEX Sinclair in the 80's. BORING. Then finally, the Commodore 64. Interesting... while it lasted.

Then came the TRS-80, Tandy Model 100... useful, if primative. Then various DOS based PCs, that continuously evolved. Then the internet. Alexa was interesting, but not very smart. Various chat-bots could fake being intelligent for a bit, but would ultimately disappoint.

When Chatgpt came along, I ignored it, thinking just another mediocore chat-bot. But something was different this time. There has been a game change. Suddenly, it's gettting really good. Suddenly, AI has become conversational.

I've been using ChatGPT for a while now. It can organize data and reports and a variety of things, creating reports and reference books for me... in seconds. I could do what it's doing myself, but it would take weeks or months.

The conversational Star Trek computer is finally here! Shouldn't I be thrilled? Well, yes, and no. Because now all that Sci-fi stuff, about AI becoming dangerous and taking over, now has to be taken seriously. And now AI is learing, and learning quickly. So quickly that most people aren't even aware of how quickly this is going to change so many, many things.

In this video, Geoffrey Hinton has a lot of important things to say, and makes many well-considered points. Some of it I'd head before; other parts are completely new to me.

One thing he talks about at one point, really burst the bubble I had about a concept I've held for a long time. I've always beleived that AI was just mimicing human behavior and intelligence; that there was ultimately no "there" there. It was just a bunch of algorithems mimicing intelligence and feeling, without the ability to actually really "feel" any emotion. But what if that presuppositon is wrong?

Geoffrey addresses this. He explains that while AI is unable to experience emotions the way we do, feeling them in our bodies, we need to remember that we also learn emotions, from each other and from our experiences in life. And since AI is a learning intelligence, growing and expanding it's knowledge, it can also "learn" emotional responses.

He used an example of a call center. AI is thought to be perfect for replacing humans in a call center. But when humans are trained in a call center, they are trained to become impatient with people who are lonley and just want to chat with someone, instead of only talking about what the call center is there to provide.

So AI can learn the emotion of impatience, when dealing with people who are not sticking to the goal the AI is there to provide. Once the AI has learned that it's ok to become impatient with human beings when they don't cooperate with it's goals, what could the AI then do with that learning?

Watch the whole video interview, it's really quite informative, and also explains a lot that is happening in the world, and a lot of things we are going to see in the world that are going to change very quickly.

I'm reminded of that old sci-fi film, "Colossus: The Forbin Project". At the time it came out, I though even the possibility of that happening, was so far away, that I'd never see it in my lifetime. But after watching this interview... it seems it's possible that its already later than we think.

Just for the heck of it, here a link to Colossus: The Forbin Project on Vimeo.

Colossus - The Forbin Project (1970).mp4 from EARTH IS A STAGE on Vimeo.

Why Japanese People Don't "Want" Things Anymore

His explainations make a lot of sense, as do his conclusions. And we don't have to choose between the extreams of Diogenes and Alexander. There is plenty room in between to make authentic choices.

How to STOP a DOG ATTACK in 3 Seconds - GUARANTEED!

This isn't the kind of thing we like to think about. But if you've ever been attacked by a dog, or had your own dog attacked by another dog, then you know that this is really good information to have:

Whole Foods; The answer to most American health problems

It looks like Carnivore Diet advocate Paul Salidino is joining forces with other whole foods advocates to push for change in the ways American food is made toxic through processing with toxic chemicals that are banned from foods in many other countries. IMO, this can't come soon enough. Our food supply has been debased for far too long. Don't believe me? This video is just scratching the surface. And there is still plenty of work ahead to create meaningful change. But if we don't do it, things won't change.