The Year the Earth Stood Still - What Are You Doing to Keep Moving Forward?

mathogre

With a nod to the science fiction movie from 1951 with a similar title...

What are you doing to keep moving forward? Here are a few things I've been doing. Btw, I'm an amateur photographer.

1. Before all of this, I was doing a project a week, or trying at least. Some projects take longer to complete, some weeks just don't allow for a project. C'est la vie, non? I'm still doing a project a week. Last week was a Still Life project. This week, time permitting, I'll work on a project group I call, "Ornamental Spaces". These are places around the home where one or more of us in our family have created this little space that celebrates life.
2. I migrated to SmugMug! I just started a few days ago, set up my own domain (shown in the sig), and am in the process of migrating my photos from a provider that has been generally unresponsive to issues. I've been here since April 8 (so this is my 5th day), and I've migrated 3,200 photos. I'm probably half done. Personal view? I am loving SmugMug so far.
3. I put away my camera gear, not permanently, but to where it belongs. That won't last.

How about you?

pathfinder

Welcome to dgrin and to Smugmug. I'm a big fan of smugmug, been storing my images here since the beginning.

I am using some of the down time to continue digitizing images shot during the previous century or earlier - mostly family snapshots and such, to save them from the gradual degradation that occurs with all printed matter or film images.

I continue to find new images in my digital fiiles I have been creating/capturing over the last 20 years. Digital editors have gotten so much better over the last decade or so.

When warm weather finally arrives, I will get to work in getting my garden ready again, but its not quite warm enough here just yet. I have tilled the leaves in from last winter already a few weeks ago.

mathogre

Thank you for the kind welcome, @pathfinder !

I went to your site and looked at your Kenya photos. Breathtaking. My favorite animal is the cheetah, and I loved your photos of them, even or especially the ones riding with you! My favorite photo is the one you named, "wildebeests at Kilimanjaro L HDR 3275-.jpg". Stunning photo.

All the best to you on digitizing what was shot on film!

pathfinder

Yes, the experience of having a mother and her cub jumping on top of our open top Land Cruiser was quite an experience. Our guide kept wanting me to pet the cheetahs tail that was dangling down in front of my nose. I declined. I knew cheetahs cannot retract their claws. I have seen videos since of cheetahs accidentally falling down inside a vehicle and then scramble to get back out.

The guides are no longer supposed to permit this - but cheetahs like the height on top of the metal hill all the same

Amboselli at the foot of Kilimanjaro is a spectacular place to see, and experience. I have been very fortunate

I am glad you liked some of my images too. This is one of my maternal grandmother age 12 - about 114 years ago

sarasphotos

Hi @mathogre and welcome to Dgrin - I've been enjoying your contributions.

As for me, since I'm retired the difference has been not quite so marked as for others. The big difference is our social life is non-existent and free-time activity choices are pretty limited - no museum visits or unnecessary shopping trips. We've been fortunate in the weather department so we've been able to get out frequently for bike rides. And also fortunately, I still have a couple of private clients so I'm currently building a new website for one and making complex PowerPoint presentations for another. Unfortunately I haven't had much extra time to work on the many photo projects that are waiting for me. Like @pathfinder I've got family photos back to the 1870s and my own slides and pictures from the 70's forward crying to be digitized. In addition all of my Lightroom projects like refining my keywords and sorting through/redeveloping earlier photos, not to mention developing and keywording photos from the past year... Oh, and let's not get into the fact that I still have a couple hundred CDs that need to be ripped to the NAS... THe projects never end, with or without a pandemic.

Cheers and good health to all.

mathogre

Hi @sarasphotos !

Thank you for your warm welcome!! I'm glad you're still able to do some things! Yes, this is a good time to do projects that are in the queue and are now able to go to the top. I understand retirement. I was looking at retirement for a year from now, though what the economy or economies will be like at that time no one knows. Accordingly I am working from home and waiting for all of this to pass.

I've been looking through your photos. They are gorgeous. I'm looking specifically at "Sacred Architecture". I'm not a particularly religious person, and always worry that after I enter such a place it will collapse on me. Nevertheless I had an art professor in college that introduced me to such art. Your photography, what you do to make these places come alive, is wonderful. I love the frozen chapel with the bird in the sky from your trip to Wendelstein.

Cheers to you too, and good health to you and your family and friends!

sarasphotos

Graham, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate that you took the time to look at my photos - and you've reminded me that yet another project of mine is to go through all of my SM Smart Galleries and pare them down. Less is more... (I keep wishing that SM would learn to read photo ratings as part of their smart criteria...) And don't worry - if all of those churches haven't collapsed on a heathen like me, they're never going to fall down! I am indeed fortunate to live on a continent full of history and I just love the art and skill that went into building these magnificent edifices. And of course they tick my "love for detail" box in a big way. So much to see!

I especially enjoyed your cathedral and car galleries.

gptwins

I have been honing my post processing skills mostly. I've gotten a lot better. I am now ready to get out and take new pics. Here in Texas the weather finally cool down. I am thinking about just getting out around town.