Friday, May 28, 2021

Unplugged

I hear you, people who don't like posts without photos.
I like illustrated posts too, but I tell ya,
I go around with the phone on my hip, and I feel freer without it.

Not only am I not recording for the blog, I'm not shooting for the store, either.
A couple times at work I've seen something fun & photographable, realized I didn't need to (need to?) take its picture, and felt... relief.

Put your phone down, ma'am, and back away slowly.

The toy photographers group had discussed if any of them ever play with their toys without photographing them.
Everyone said no, but they'd like to.

I took the girlettes to the creek and didn't take pictures.
Penny Cooper said she appreciated "a bit of privacy".

I'm surprised how odd it is, though, not having the support of photos here. I'd started to blog yesterday, felt awkward and exposed, and stopped.

It's just me, in nothing but words.

That's what I want.

Due to a Blogger glitch, GZ blogged without photos yesterday about a day trip to Dundee on a foggy morning:
too many drivers driving "without lights . . .
imagine grey car on a grey road in fog".

There's a picture.

9 comments:

  1. Ta-da! No photos!

    I had the same experience yesterday about not shooting several photographs. Wednesday we had a really bad storm come through that resulted in several large downed trees (over 20 feet tall!). One tree landed on a porch and the other just grazed a house. I took my phone down to get a photo of the tree as it was quite amazing. But decided I didn't need a photo so no record other than in my mind.

    The more interesting aspect was talking to persons who stopped to look at as well as the city crew.

    I have a "photo" in my mind of that tree as well as persons i talked to.

    Kirsten

    ps I wish iPhones and digital cameras took photos in black and white! Some apparently can.

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  2. KIRSTEN: A "photo" in my mind---and talking to people too! That's what I'm after:
    I feel I've become too tied to my camera phone... instead of just being present.

    We had a big storm too---a large leafy limb came down across the back porch--(luckily missed the house!) but knocked down the railing of the porch steps.

    I can change my photos to B&W when I edit--
    don't know if I can actually set the phone to take them that way in the first place...

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  3. A follow-up: my father always insisted on taking photographs when we went places or were visiting him and my mother. One of my favorite photos now is my father and I photographing each other in their backyard! I also insisted on acting silly while he was taking photos during that session including the famous Richard Nixon pose "I am not a crook" behind an owl statute.

    I am glad to have those old photos as it reminds me of what we did while growing up. But today I don't need to photograph every single moment.

    Kirsten

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  4. I told GZ that happened to me, on a tiny county road. An old man in grey sweats shuffling across the road in the fog to get his morning paper. Thank goodness I did have my lights on and caught a glint, maybe his watch or glasses, and stopped to figure out what I was seeing.

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  5. I rarely use my phone camera as my hands don't hold steady enough, but I used to carry the big camera everywhere. Now I don't bother so much, but I have found that without photos, I don't have much at all to say. I've never been a talker. I did write more chatty posts way back when I began, but now the "River" has run dry.

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  6. I do understand the fatigue of carrying the phone. I sometimes leave my phone at home just for the heck of it. Dave doesn't understand this impulse at all!

    I also liked that "gray" image on G's blog.

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  7. JOANNE: So dangerous, gray on gray!
    I've started wearing a reflective vest when I bike. Should have been doing that all along.

    RIVER: I LOVE your photos on your blog--but what do you mean, you don't have much to say? Every Wednesday your write words!!!

    I think blogs ebb and flow over time--and change their focus too. It's part of what's interesting about them!

    STEVE: It's amazing how quickly we've gotten in the habit of having a phone strapped to our bodies, isn't it.

    Leaving it off once in a while is freeing, at least for me.


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  8. Kristen—you can take black and white photos on an iPhone easily. When you open your camera, tap the three circles icon in the upper right corner. That opens a variety of color filters—including multiple black and white filters— to shoot in. Most (all?) of these same filters are available in edit, where you can change your pictures into black and white (as Fresca mentioned).

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  9. BINK: I'll make sure Kirsten sees that. (Not sure she has an iphone or what.)

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