Understanding Criticism

Hi Folks:

This is going to be a very short (for me) post, and is really just a pointer to some excellent articles written by someone else.  Photographer Alain Briot recently wrote a series of three articles for the Luminous Landscape, and while they’re primarily written for the understanding of photographers, I think the points Alain makes have a broader reference to the criticisms we all deal with in our daily life.

You can find them here:

Understanding Criticism, Part 1: The Many Faces of Criticism
Understanding Criticism, Part 2: Responding to Criticism
Understanding Criticism, Part 3: A few words on perseverance

Okay, that’s it for now!

Hugs,
Mike.

(See, I told you it was going to be short… 😉 )

Eating Our Way Through Victoria… Celebrations!

Hi Folks:

Well, last Saturday was Marcia’s birthday and since she was off on both Friday and Saturday we (I) expanded her birthday celebration into a two-day event.  Fortunately Marcia was willing to go along with my schemes!  Before I continue, I should add a little backstory…

Back in 1995 we shared our first two-bedroom apartment together.  For Marcia’s birthday I invited a ‘few’ friends for a pot-luck surprise party and we managed to pack 37 people into our little apartment!  Everyone had a great time, including Marcia, but she also casually mentioned that she’d kill me if I ever did it again.  Well, since we no longer live there, and keeping to the ‘letter of the law’ so to speak, here’s a quick summary of some of the things we undertook over our weekend.  It also highlights some of the reasons we love living here in Victoria! Continue Reading →

Import/ Export Tips for Lightroom

Hi Folks:

One thing I see frequently on Twitter is that someone has decided to import or export a large number of images and is then distraught about how long this particular process is taking.  There can be many reasons for this; some of them you can change, and some you can’t but I thought I’d put together a few tips.  These have been cobbled together from both my own experience and from a number of other sites, so my thanks to those others!

Update, February 19, 2014.  We’ve added a new post called ‘Getting Images Out of Lightroom‘ that covers exporting images in great detail.  This post is still valuable for tips for importing images.  Also, remember to check out our ‘The Many Faces of Lightroom Presets: The Import and Library Modules‘ for more tips on setting up import presets.

Continue Reading →

It’s Our Birthday!!

Hi Folks:

Happy 2nd birthday to our blog!  Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the US, it seemed appropriate to offer some thanks here as well.  After all, we have a lot to be thankful for.  So, in no particular order:

We Give Thanks for You: While this little corner of the ‘net is our own window on the wider world, it wouldn’t mean much without you, our readers.  You’re really the reason we’re here!  Both of us are writers, but a writer without an audience speaks only to himself, or herself as the case may be.  According to Google Analytics, in the past 2 years we’ve had nearly 40,000 page views from over 15,000 different people.  That may be small by some standards, but we’re both amazed and delighted by your continued presence!

We Give Thanks for Family: Together we have the usual number of parents and an ever-increasing number of relations, from sisters and brothers to nieces, nephews and beyond.  We have two wonderful sons, and two wonderful nieces who are like daughters.  We also have two grandsons and one great-nephew who counts as a grandson too.  The little ones bring such joy to our lives!  There’s a saying that one can choose one’s friends but not one’s family; even if we could we’d stick with the ones we have!  Special thanks goes out to our son Nick, not only because starting this blog was his idea to begin with, but because he continues to do a lot of the ‘behind the scenes’ technical support for us.

We Give Thanks for ‘Family’:  Ever since the invention of Facebook, the words ‘Friend’ and ‘Like’ will never be the same again.  Nonetheless, our connection to others around the world through Twitter, Google+ and several forums has opened doors for us that would be possible in no other way.  Because of that we’ve made ‘friends’ with some remarkable people!  We give thanks for your presence in our lives!

We Give Thanks for Each Other: A few days ago we celebrated our 225th Monthaversary of the day we met.  Earlier this month we celebrated our 17th Anniversary of being a couple, and last month we celebrated our 9th Anniversary of being married.  In truth, we celebrate every day together.  We are both truly blessed to have each other, and we acknowledge it in every way we can.  In the movie ’50 First Dates’, Drew Barrymore plays a woman who is incapable of making new memories, and Adam Sandler plays a man who devotes himself to having her fall in love with him every day.  We treasure all of the memories we have, but it’s easy to say we fall in love with each other every day. 😀

And with that, we thank you for coming by; we’re serving (virtual) coffee and cake (two candles ¡¡ ) in the living room!!

Hugs,
M&M