Comet NEOWise

Got this photo last week off my 9th floor balcony looking northwards over Gatineau, Quebec.  Hopefully this Saturday it will be nice and clear so I can go out of town to get a better photo.  I want to go to Moosecreek and get better photos and videos of the comet.  The photos are available for sale on my own website.  It’s also available for sale on my Adobe stock portfolio.  Since this is my only form of income right now, please consider purchasing something from either site.  Thank you and I appreciate it.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max and the 2018 Apple iPad Pro

I finally did it.  I braved the crowds on Black Friday at Best Buy in the east of Ottawa yesterday.  Needless to say I was not pleased with the crowds in the store after work.  But in the end I got the Apple iPhone 11Pro Max(64GB) model.  There were a few reasons I wanted the iPhone 11 Pro Max listed below:

1. The 3 camera system
2. New network
3. More portable than the Sony RX100 Mark VII
4. Battery life
5. Apple ecosystem

Ok.  So these are a few of the reasons.  I am really enjoying the three camera system on the iPhone.  I can shoot time lapse, slow motion and standard HD photos.  All cameras use the 12 megapixel sensor which is good enough for stock photography which is what I shoot.  I also sell my photography on Redbubble and Fine Art America.  You can find all the links on the right hand side of the front page on this site.

Secondly, I was on Freedom Mobile.  If you want a reliable network, do not go with Freedom Mobile.  If I was in the middle of downtown Ottawa, I’d have the crappiest reception that you can imagine.  I’d on their, what they call “Nationwide” LTE network.  On this network, I’d have 500MB of downloads per month before I’d hit their limits and my speeds would drop to 3G.  I’d get descent reception in my apartment but I’d be on my own Wi-Fi network.  If I was out of city limits, I’d be on their “Nationwide” network again.  I decided to go with Rogers.  I’m not a big fan of their customer service but they’re slightly better than Bell.  I was with Rogers before I switched to Freedom and not I’m back again.  

Thirdly, yes the Sony RX100 Mark VII is a very versatile and portable camera.  I love it and will continue to use it as my main photography camera.  But for quick and easy stuff, I’ll be using the iPhone 11 Pro Max.  The iPhone doesn’t provide as much control as the RX100 Mark VII but for quick and easy shots, it’ll do.

Fourth, the battery life seems to be fantastic.  I haven’t had it for a day yet but with daily use the battery is great so far.  More daily use will be needed to judge the value.

And fifth, I love the Apple ecosystem.  Especially using the iPhone, the iPad Pro and Apple iCloud.  I pay Apple about $13 a month for 2TB of data storage to back up my photos and necessary documents.  I don’t do any dongles, even with my iPad Pro.  Especially now if I’m going to use the iPhone 11 Pro Max for the majority of my photography.  Especially if just go do walk around photography in downtown Ottawa.  For wildlife photography, I’ll still use my Sony RX100 Mark VII.  Even for my landscape photography I’ll use the Sony RX100 Mark VII camera since I can add physical filters.

I am a stock photographer

No weddings. No portraits.  No family shots.  Only landscapes of nature and wildlife.  With my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  No huge cameras.  No heavy laptops.  If I need to get closer to something, I walk towards it.  If I need to be farther away from subject, I walk away from it.  Easy as that.  I enjoy my independence.  I would rather be in my car with my camera driving to somewhere new.  Photograph something new.  Experience something new.

I honestly don’t need the latest and greatest anymore.  I am truly happy with what I have.  I have the best camera.  I have the best computer.  Why?  They are always with me.  I have decided to just do photography and shoot footage with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  High quality photography and high quality 1080p video.  4K files are way too big and take too much time to process.  The 2018 Apple iPad Pro just flies through 1080p footage.  I keep learning about the iPadOS everyday.  Learn something new with it.

April 2020, I have decided to move to Calgary and be near the mountains.  I want to pay off my debt and just live simply.  That is my goal.

Free Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom Classic CC

As of today, I had 372 photos and videos accepted on my Adobe Stock portfolio.  As per the Adobe site, once you reach 300 photos or videos accepted, you get either the photographer or the all in package for free for a year.  You'll receive a code within 6-8 weeks to redeem this offer.  Typically I wouldn't install any Adobe stuff on my computer or at least I wouldn't pay a subscription for software.  Now that I get it for free for a year, it's not that bad.  Once the year is up though, I will of course cancel the subscription and only use Pixelmator and Affinity Photo to edit my photography.  I'm actually using that right now and submitting it to Adobe Stock.

New portfolio

Got a new place where you can buy my photography.  I've submitted my photography and footage to Adobe Stock.  I only started submitting in the last week or so.  The portfolio is small but it is growing.   So please have patience.  You can click here to see the portfolio.  It's limited right now but I'm adding photography and footage on a daily basis.  Once it gets approved, it'll be on there.  Usually takes a day or so to get approved once I submit it.

I want to give my customers choices for where to shop for my photography.  Adobe Stock is another good, quality choice.

It’s happening again

So I’ve been looking for another job for the past few weeks.  Could not find anything at all.  Now I’m getting multiple calls for contracts.  Today I got three calls asking if I was available.  Of course I am.  The one job from SSC sounds interesting.  They’d fly me out to the maritimes for a week or so and out to Vancouver.  If I get his job, I’ll of course be bringing you Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 iPad Pro.  

I just hope that Apple will release the new iPadOS by then.  I don’t like using my Windows 10 laptop.  It’s not bad but it’s just the form factor that I do not like.  I used my Canon Vixia HF R800 this morning to do a sort of introductory and RX100 Mark VII review.  I can actually import the HF R800 footage onto my iPad Pro and work on it in LumaTouch.  I just have to go home and upload the video.  I have 20 megabit upload at home which is about 10 times faster than the Timmies WIFI.  I did not know that the Canon Vixia HF R800 footage would import onto the iPad Pro.  Learn new things every day.  Now I have to learn how to use LumaFusion on the iPad Pro.  Too bad I can’t import the Sony RX100 Mark VII footage onto the iPad Pro yet.

I hope, I hope I get one job so I can pay off my credit card debt by March of 2020.  I don’t want to be in Ottawa anymore.  I totally miss being out in Calgary and the mountains.  It’s such a different lifestyle out there then it is here in boring Ontario.