Dark Forest

Yeah, it's been awhile, sorry, just got entranced with things.

There was a sale on Jagged Alliance 3 and I figured, why not?

So that was three weeks. Great game, beat it, probably should not touch it again for awhile despite being my kind of enjoyable thing (squad tactics with fun characters in an 80s action movie motif that have their own personalities, preferences, and annoyances).

But it wasn't just that; caught up with work some more. Got some things that were sitting around out the door. Purchased some things for Christmas.

I'm working on photos and I'm finally starting to push through images of the Boston trip.

Traveling? Yeah, I'm doing that too! I've had to upload more than I like because I'm trying to get better use of burst mode so I'm all the more incentivized to get things moving. Otherwise, the Staten Island Zoo is tiny but has a LOACH TANK which means it deserves an A+ score. It's also efficiently designed despite its size which I appreciate (see Boston Aquarium). Otherwise, birthdays, trips to Vermont to get honey, Jersey Shore to enjoy the boardwalk while it's open but also quieter, trip to Brooklyn and an awesome Lebanese community there, and cleaning up at home while bracing for the dreaded rainstorm that thankfully never came on our end.

My 35 1.2 went to shit after that trip to Boston and I spent a fretful week getting it replaced (thankfully Viltrox replaced it with only a few questions about what happened and no cost was involved for my $1k glass).

I've come to realize that my photography just... doesn't fit most types of photos that hit social media. I like subtleties and little things that require some time to catch, and I don't think that hits people's serotonins. IT'S NOT ME SAYING PEOPLE ARE BAD FOR THAT it's more me acknowledging this isn't a great format for my work, not unlike how people note that a script for a musical doesn't really work in film without a lot of conversion.

So my thing is... I don't really *want* to switch gears either. I dunno, I think this is the style I want to adhere to. I'll probably still have some items that are more "in your face"

For example, wildlife isn't exactly something I can be more subtle with (though I'd love to figure out how to plan my comps better for them).





But for other things? I'm probably going to try to find stories to tell with the image if possible if the person looking is willing to find it.


...even if the attempt is not good enough yet.

That's part of the art for me, I guess, the thrill for me. I don't get enough acknowledgment to make praise my interest but trying to find my own "in-jokes" or to find way to frame the mundane into a nice little package, to make new ways to draw the eye to something without me resembling a soyjack meme.




...again, depending on if people are willing to notice it or not. I guess I need feedback to really know but at the same time I dunno. I guess I'll keep trying.

So I guess I'm ranting today but I guess that's how it is. I'm also kind of tired and I think my body is undergoing severe recovery from I don't know what. My workplace is also encouraging more group activities which is draining my introverted ass more.

But if all else fails, there's always adding The Rat in it.


By the way, most cameras take shitty photos in aquariums.

I'm trying to do astrophotography with the images from Boston and they're not coming out the way I expected. Images are too exposed so streak. Annoying. I have two more days of attempts so we'll see if they're all garbage, but the long exposures are nice at least.

I'm really tired and the astro work drained me (or maybe it's sickness, Michelle got something too).

Was considering reviving my Facebook photography page just to find other outlets to share my work. No idea if it's worth having my work fed to an AI training model just for the validation though. Thoughts?

Bluesky's going to pot. Blacksky can't even work under its own separate system despite all the bragging about federations. One of the creators I follow moved to Matrix which was a fun(ugh) thing to learn. People are actually moving to Mastodon. Mastodon! Strange times.

Ordered some new memory cards to comp for the burst mode because the SD card is so slow that my buffer is pushing 100+ images into the card. I need faster if I want to really make the 400-800 work.

That's it from me. Got to think of birthday stuff.