One of the things I love the most and that brings the most sparks of joy to me is photography. That being said, I am not a professional photographer in any sense of the word. I consider myself a fan of photography, a photography enthusiast, a forever newbie, and that – with luck –  I can take a good picture every now and then.

Then there are people like Matt Barnes. I will be really honest, I probably never heard of him until today, I am sure a lot of you might know and I am just been living under a rock. But damn! His work is next level, gorgeous photography, it really inspires me. I wouldn't dare to aspire to be as good as him or do the kind of photography he does, but damn do I appreciate it. I discovered him by watching one of  Peter McKinnon's latest videos, I really don't want to talk about cameras, at all. You should really check out this video, it is really well done. And my favorite line of his [Matt's] in this video was:

I really couldn't give a shit about cameras, at all. I would talk about like 1920 suiting for hours. I don't want to talk about cameras, there's nothing more boring than cameras

In regards to when people spent too much time talking about camera gear and what they should use, etc. So, don't worry about what camera you've got, worry more about your craft.

Another photographer that I very much admire and really inspired me is Travis Jensen. He's an outstanding street photographer, I discovered him, years ago I believe it was through this article from 2014 when my iPhone was my main camera. I remember I was using Hipstamatic a lot for most of my photography and that's how it came within my radar.

He did give me a piece of advice once, it's been many years since so I may be just paraphrasing here,

If I spend more than five minutes editing a picture, that picture will never see the light of day.

I remember asking him was his editing process and that was his advice, and I have carried that with me ever since.

Also, another photographer that I admire and find inspiration in his photography, I got to mention Maique Madeira, a professional photographer, professional diaper changer, and a friend. His photography never ceases to amaze me.

So, we don't talk about cameras 🤫

Dan Counsell on I Will Not Buy Another iPhone

For me, the phone addiction problem is wrapped up along with consumerism. They are both hard to ignore and hard to break away from. I know there are people and companies out there working tirelessly to get me to buy whatever they are selling. Doing whatever they can to get my attention. The trouble is, I'm a sucker. I've always loved new technology. Always first in line (virtually at least) to buy the next big thing. The next must-have upgrade.

I feel seen a little bit here. For years this has been my predicament.

I gotta upgrade to that new thing, gotta have it!

Uh, a new shiny iPad, don't need it, but I wanted, must have it, my precious!

This predicament of mine has somewhat gotten better over the years, though, I think. I mean, I still have my 11-inch iPad Pro from, I don't remember the year to be honest, whichever the first model was. And I have no intentions of getting a new one anytime soon. I also have a late 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the same thing, until the day it dies, which has been closed to already.

The Phone, well, still to this day I sort of upgrade... It used to be every year now it's more like every year and a half. See? I think that's progress? No? Yes? I currently have the iPhone 12 mini, and this is probably the best macintosh phone I have owned in a few years. Rumors were that they would only come up with a new mini, if at all, every two years, and for the first time in forever, I was okay with that upgrade cycle. Turns out we got an iPhone 13 mini. And guess what? I cannot wait to upgrade to it.

I have some "valid reasons", or so I keep telling myself.  The first one is, battery life, I have heard in my different super-secret nerdy chats that it is much better than the 12's. Second, I have had a few mishaps with this device, and um, it is a little banged up 😅🤫. Third, it comes in pink. Also, I usually go for the mid-model, in terms of storage, that's 128GB for mi 12, and now the cheapest model is 128.

That being said, are these legitimate reasons for an upgrade, or is the old me being a sucker too and coming up with reasons.

😘