My inner Luddite is calling

It's been an adventurous couple of days on the computer front. My whole blogging workflow relies on finding images quickly and easily. I hadn't realized till recently that Spotlight was doing it. And recently Spotlight has been losing it's mind. At first I blamed Backblaze, and there was indeed a thing in my setup that needed tweaking. 

But then a bit more research seemed to indicate that the big RAID drive might be the problem. I've spent some time, or rather, the computer spent some time making local copies of files on several of the drives I've got kicking around. Just in case.

It boggles my mind, actually how much drive space I've got although some of it is not in regular use. All these are old fashioned hard drives with the spinning disks.

18 TB on the RAID drive. (4x6 TB RAID 5 if I remember correctly)

10 TB External G drive

5 TB on a Lacie rugged external drive with the cute orange sleeve.

5 TB, another one

1TB, another one

1 TB the internal laptop SSD

40 TB in total. There's probably another TB spread across a bunch of SD cards. 

You've probably seen the 1956 photo of a 5MB hard drive being loaded onto an airplane with a forklift. It's the size of 2 large refrigerators. The 5 TB drive fits in the pocket of the pants I'm wearing right now, and replaces 1,000,000 of those drives. (If I did the math right, and don't get all pedantic about powers of 2.)

I just saw a great price on an external 8TB SSD, and bought it. Once it arrives there will be a bit of shuffling around. I think I'll put the CR2 photo files, all 7.5 TB of them on the SSD, after maybe weeding out some of the obvious losers that there is no purpose in keeping. The exported photos will live on the internal drive where they're handy. Everything else will go on the G drive. Then I'll CCC the various files to the RAID drive, for as long as it lasts, and from there it will go to Backblaze for off site storage. 

(Are any of you still awake?)

I finished the New Brunswick book and sent it off to be printed. Linda proofread it and found one spelling mistake. The spell check found one more. I'm not sure when it will arrive. I'm hoping before March 17, since the local senior's club asked me to do a slide show of photos from Newfoundland and New Brunswick. They loved my Yukon and New Zealand photos. In addition to the slide show I'll bring the books and leave them on a table off to one side.

In film photo news I developed roll 6 today, and am pretty please how that project is going. Here's the first one from roll 5. I've figured out doing 2 rolls at a time is the most efficient use of chemicals.

All the hard drive chatter was supposed to be a lead up to the Luddite yearnings within, and I got a bit distracted. Maybe that's part of the problem, that I'm easily distracted now. Going through some of the computer problem or figuring out enough of Spotlight to re-index was a pain in the butt. Rather than a place to tell Spotlight what to include, the list is what to exclude. Not sure why they did that. The process to force Spotlight to re-index is not intuitively obvious.

There's an update to Carbon Copy Cloner, that if you aren't careful when setting it up to copy something, will wipe out everything else on the destination disc. My phone is nagging me to upgrade, and I don't want it to happen. Usually an 'upgrade' to a new version breaks something that I like the way it was, and adds in a bunch of things I don't want, and have to turn off. Even that is made difficult by ambiguous wording usually expressed as a negative, and the little slider doesn't really indicate on or off in an obvious way. Sometimes you want to turn it off, or on, to not get a 'feature'. The new phones are AI everything and that is a complete turn off. I don't want to be involved with training an AI, and having it trying to do the things it thinks I want to be done.

The nice help lady at Backblaze tried to explain how their backup routine could run at midnight, get totally caught up, and when I look at the computer again in the morning there are hundreds of files totalling several GB that are in the queue to be backed up off site. There were checksums and this and that, and I have to admit it all seems more than a little arcane. I know that Backblaze has saved the bacon for several of my photo buddies, but I hope it never happens for me.

Once the new drive arrives I'll have to turn off all the automatic updates and backups, figure out where everything is and where I want it to be, get rid of the duplicates that I know exist, and generally houseclean and tidy. I'll probably be a quivering wreck when I'm done.

Shall I talk about cars? Our car is a 2016 Honda Fit. An old fashioned internal combustion engine, that is a miracle of power and efficiency compared to the behemoth motors around when I started driving. It's nearly the perfect car for city driving. I hope it lasts another decade and when it dies they'll have actually figured out driverless cars and humans mostly won't be allowed to drive anymore.

We rent modern cars while on vacation, and mostly I hate them. It used to be you could hop in a car, adjust the mirrors and seat, start it, and go. Maybe tweak the heater controls or play with the radio buttons to find a station you like, and typically that could be safely done while driving.

Now? Starting it means foot on the brake and find the button. Except the last car had been left with the seat all the way forward. Then figure out the mirror controls. One rental car had 5, count'em 5 buttons on the rearview mirror and 3 grown adults with more than a century of driving experience between them couldn't figure out what any of the buttons did. 

Generally the next step is to get your phone to talk to the car so you can find your way out of the airport parking lot, which means having the right cable, which is a bit of a boondoggle now. Some devices ask the cable if they're authorized. I digress. Finding the cable outlet was an ordeal in the most recent car. In Moncton getting out of the airport was pretty easy, but there's been some white knuckle moments in other airports. I've never figured out why sometimes I get the map and the voice giving directions without any fuss, and sometimes it's one or the other, and sometimes neither.

In the most recent car, to put the car in reverse, there was a button on the lever to push in, then you had to push the lever forward. Finding park the first time took a minute. Do not get me started on trying to figure out the climate controls. I wouldn't even consider trying to do it while driving. I didn't even try to figure out the radio.

Then there are the driving assists. It is very unnerving when the car tries to override the steering wheel. I'm trying to avoid a pothole or deal with a narrow lane because of construction, and it wants to stay in the lane. At first it fights you, then gives up and the car swerves. Several times the roads have changed, but nobody told Mrs Google, and it starts snipping at you to 'return to the route,' when that route doesn't exist. Or changing the cruise control speed depending on how close you are to the vehicle in front, which depends on a setting I couldn't reliably figure out how to change, and which appeared to change itself. Which changes some of the calculations about passing or changing lanes. One car kept turning the high beams on when I didn't want it to happen because fog, and it took a while to find the control to turn off the automatic adjustment. I once somehow turned on something I didn't want, and had to park the car and look up in the manual how to turn it off again. At least there was a manual.

If there was a button in cars that was labeled, "Geezer" and when you pushed it a warning came up on the screen that every car now has (and don't get me started about screen controls) saying, this button turns off automatic everything, including road assist, cruise control, this, that, the other, blah blah blah, do you really want to do that you grumpy old Luddite fart? I would push it twice.

I know people who decide which camera to buy based on which menu system seems intuitive to them. That's another example of what is really quite a simple device, made complex by the addition of a computer. 

Our stove can be turned on remotely, and why such a thing is possible is beyond me. Seems like a safety hazard. I can easily imagine the day where there are no controls on the stove at all, one has to download the controlling app onto your phone, and cook that way. 

Once upon a time watching TV was a simple thing. You turned it on, and fought with your siblings about which of the 3 channels to watch on the tiny screen. My laptop has a bigger screen than the TV grandma had in her assisted living space. Now, you can buy a TV bigger than our bed. After you set it up to talk to the internet, and get the right apps on your phone, and pay a modest monthly fee, you can watch nearly anything ever made, if you can navigate the arcane menu system to find it. Is there any normal person that enjoys the setup process? Or even understands it?

My plan for this afternoon is to go over to the family skate event at our community centre to take photos and chat with the people that show up. Mostly it's people out having fun with their kids and it's great to watch. There's a few phones out, but not many, and not for long. It's real people having fun in the real world, with other real people. It's nice.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

Curtis

Glad we don't have to go out

Before and after photos can be such fun. In this case, they're purely documentary. Less than 24 hours between them. The first set were taken about 4pm. If you look carefully you can see the first snowflakes. The second set were taken about noon. It's hard to tell how much snow has actually fallen because there's a pretty stiff wind. In some areas there's hardly any, and it's wind packed down. In other places there's already 10 to 15 cm.

So far I haven't seen the expected "CARNAGE ON THE DEERFOOT!!!!" headlines, but I have confidence in Calgary drivers. They've been mowing down pedestrians at a heartbreaking rate, so why should they slow down for a bit of snow?

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

Two nights and a day out in a row

Most people know that I'm a shy reclusive creature, seldom venturing out of the house. Not big on crowds or social activities. 

And still, Thursday was the cSpace opening sponsored by the Camera Store, with all four floors booked. That was a fun time, seeing and chatting to lots of people I know. Lots of great images to look at. Not tempted even a little bit by all the Canon cameras on display, and even less by the Sony cameras.

Then Friday was the SAIT darkroom show in Crawlspace. However I first went into the Collector's Gallery of Art, thinking that was where the opening was. Lots of black and white prints up on the wall, so you can see how it was a natural mistake. Several other people made that mistake as well, so I don't feel bad. 

Crawlspace is a couple of doors down, in the space that once upon a long time ago had Fair's Fair used book store. It's not a huge space, and by the time I left it was packed. Later I found out more than 150 people signed the book. I saw several buddies from my 2024  darkroom class and it was nice to catch up. There were some lovely prints and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. It's really nice to see so many people interested in the analog photography process.

Saturday we went to the CKG gallery on 50th to look at Steve Speer's work. It's gorgeous! In fact Steve dropped in while we were there, and I chatted quite a bit with him. Bought his book. He autographed it.

Then it was off to the Collector's Gallery of Art. I know Colleen and really admired the one print. Last, back into Crawlspace so Linda could see the prints. While she looked I chatted with the gallery staff. One of them is in the Tuesday darkroom class so that was fun.

There's a couple other workshops I'm interested in that are put on by Greg(1), who I met on a photo tour a couple years ago, and see him at various photo events, and his partner Greg(2), and yes that's how they refer to themselves.

One thing about going to such events is that they inspire me to get out and be a bit more active. On that front, last night after the SAIT showing, I finished off roll 5. The fun part of that was setting up in Inglewood for the last exposure on the roll. Two young guys walk by, and one of them recognizes my camera in the dark, asked if it was a GW690 and which model it was. We had a nice chat. That's one fun thing about carrying that camera around, it often inspires people to chat. They wouldn't do that if was an ordinary DSLR or modern mirrorless.

And crap, Mac Spotlight indexing died again. I think the Backblaze backup is the problem, since I've had to redo it several times since I started the Backblaze backups. I've sent in a help request, but it makes adding photos to the blog more difficult. They said I needed to give a specific Backblaze helper app permissions to all drives. 

Some days all this computer stuff really gets me down. One fellow blogger just migrated to on1 from Lightroom. I looked at that and shuddered in horror. It's probably not as bad as it sounds, but there's lots that could go wrong.

As I wade through the headlines to get past the Olympic not-news, I'm reminded of my very first rant, here, 15 years ago almost exactly. My feelings have changed in the slightest. Just in case you were wondering.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

Second summer browns

We are in the middle of second summer just now. Or maybe brown season, as some photographers call it. Lots of brown grass, bare trees, and a bit of dirty ice lurking on the footpaths where the snow had been packed down. The evergreen trees are dusty. And yet if you look, there are interesting photos to be had. This is from the Waterton ramble nearly a month ago now.

I've been out a few times with the big film camera, working on the 2026 project. Carefully. There's still lots of ice buried under the grass, and I don't want to find out the hard (wet) way how thin the river ice is. Last year I was exploring along the Elbow river and tried to walk down a slope that looked bare and dry. Not! Just under the dry surface was a thin layer of mud with ice under that. I went down pretty hard, but didn't break anything.

Tonight is a date night, going to cSpace for the Camera Store exhibition opening. They've got all 4 floors, and it looks like there's going to be a bunch of people I know. Then tomorrow I'll be going to the SAIT darkroom opening in Inglewood. Both of these are part of the Exposure Festival. Should be fun.  Hope to see you there. 

And for those of you who love my friend Sean's photos, he is off on another mega-ramble in a few days, starting with a series of flights that hurt my brain to even think about. I'm pretty sure they'd have to carry me off the plane afterward.

The New Brunswick book is proceeding. I got stuck in the middle, so I picked the photos I wanted to end with, and made some progress there. Every now and then I need to remind myself that everything is still a draft. I can put photos and text in, move them around easily, see what flows or not, and remove photos if that seems right. I'd picked a batch of about 90 photos to start with, and have already found that some of them go with other's that didn't make that cut. I'm back and forth between Lightroom and Bookwright. No idea when I'll be done, and even then I might let it sit and marinate a bit, as I wait for a Blurb sale.

Oh, and a followup medical appointment after a few more tests indicates the problem number is trending back down again, which is reassuring. Then we'll see how things look in 6 months.

A couple of buddies have started running again, which was a distinct surprise to me. I'm not, in case you were wondering. Trying to get regular in the pool again, but it's a struggle. On that front I heard a new word to me the other day. "Rucking." At first I thought it was something lewd, but that's just my dirty mind. 

I'm doing less of that than I have in the past, mainly because now I'm going to carry only one camera with one lens, not a pack full of gear just in case I want to use it. And yes, there's times I've thought to myself, 'oh crap, the right lens for this photo is back at the house.' Oh well. The choice becomes to do the best I can with the gear in hand, or think about how much risk I want to take to get to the right spot, or do a series of photos to build into a panorama, or find another related photo, or maybe just sigh and enjoy the moment.

We had an evening of fabulous sunset clouds last week. I scrambled out with the camera and made the most of it. The fun thing was that a family who had been playing nearby came over and said hello. He turned out to be a photographer from UK visiting his daughter and grandchild. He'd never seen skies quite like this. (Hi Paul!)

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

As found. I love it when I find bits of art on the beach.

Driftwood (NB)

Film

I had no hesitation about setting up for this photo, hoping the different textures and tones and shapes in the ice would come across on film. 

Linda exploring Miscou Beach.

Newfoundland

New Brunswick

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

The white peony on Boxing Day. I like to think it's planning another run at the IotY podium.

Flower

Looking forward to seeing these guys coming back.

Landscape

Another from the Waterton ramble.

Dino related