Just posting a video I did some time ago with one of my best friends. enjoy!
Hometown Glory from John Bamber on Vimeo.
Ever have that feeling where you’re faced with a situation, and instantly make a snap decision to remedy it? ‘Course you have. We all do it constantly, but sometimes it helps to take a step back and think about whatever this decision is. A few questions come to mind, but namely the big one: “Am I making the right choice? Or, am I just jumping the gun?”
We’ve all had our gun-jumping escapades in our lives, we’ve all made snap decisions that we may have regretted. But, rather than regret them, let’s learn from them, and use that life experience to guide us in future decisions, so maybe we don’t have to make a decision too quickly, and cost ourselves something.
I’m encountering all kinds of issues with my satisfaction regarding my camera. I’m just not feeling it the way that I used to, it seems to be making my photography more of a chore and less of a joy. I’m even considering switching to a different manufacturer altogether. But, I’m clearly not thinking rationally.
I am plagued by the syndrome of being a “gear slut”, which means I put my interest in the equipment itself first, then the craft second, but I want to remedy this, because it gets to be a problem when I start to find fault in what I have in order to justify getting something else.
I’m catching myself before I dig my hole any deeper than I already have. I’ve put a lot into my camera rig, and it would really be a major bonehead move to buy all new stuff without really knowing everything there is to know about the gear I have, and what it’s capable of. Not to mention, there are pro’s out there using the same stuff, and getting the results I’m after.
My solution? Pause. Take a deep breath, step back, evaluate, and re-evaluate. Troubleshoot, probe, investigate; learn. Stop trying to win the award for “Most gun-jumping.” I’ll leave that to the bonehead.
The pro’s that are getting those results that I’m after have one huge thing over me right now: Experience. That, right now, will be worth more to me than any lens, camera body, accessory, or whatever.
So, I looked up the word “Pensive” in the dictionary, and found it basically means something about being deep in thought, but with an air of depression. I wouldn’t call myself depressed, but I’ve got a lot going on up there. Tons on my mind, but at the same time I can’t always sort it out.
So, if there’s a word that basically means “consumed with thought, concerned about life, and confused about a lot of stuff in general”, I should introduce it into my vocabulary.
I have plenty to work on with myself, and I’ve been making headway with that, thankfully. I’ve got so much more on my plate at the same time, so it doesn’t always feel like I’ve made any progress. Luckily, I know I have, and that’s what’s important, right?
I’m thankful for my support network who has been great with listening to my diatribes and my many bouts of confusing ramblings. It’s all part of my master plan of improving myself, part of the proverbial cake I’m baking… I can’t just buy cake mix, stick it in the oven, and hope for a delicious treat. It takes time to prepare something like that; time and patience.
Good things come to those who wait. I’m an optimist, so I’ll wait.
I decided to take the calendar down, since I didn’t think anyone was actually using it. I’ve heard quite a few complaints from a certain individual, who stated that it was “too confusing”. It seemed pretty straightforward to me, but oh well. My taking it down has nothing to do with this individual, but just a means to find out if it was actually useful. I’m actually getting a lot of flack from Google Calendar, it doesn’t seem to want to play nice with my computer or my phone, so I’d like to utilize MobileMe (Apple represent), but doing so would preclude me from publishing it on here.
So, question, did any of you actually look at that calendar? Please be honest.
I initially wrote a very long blog about “Pro Tools HD Native” – but after reading it through it just seems pointless, like the product. Why am I going to bother ranting about how superfluous a product is?
Pro Tools is overpriced, and they now made a “cheaper yet still overpriced” version of their high end system.
I can’t imagine who is going to fork over the cash for that… I know I won’t. I’d rather spend my money on something that I can actually justify.
I just wanted to write and share something wonderful with you all. I spent some time on an online photography portfolio, and am officially launching the site today. It’s at www.johnbamberphoto.com. Many of the photos on there are also here on my blog here as well.
Please, have a look, and enjoy the photos.
Took this video with the 7D, put some nice José Gonzalez behind it, good times good times.
So, I’m laying here going through my Twitter feed as I customarily do, and someone posted that the “Inspector Gadget” theme was in his head for whatever reason. Now, it’s in mine.
I’m laying here singing “doo doo doo doo doo inspector gadget doo doo doo doo doo doo doo OOH OOH”
To the anonymous tweeter, I hate you.
Go go gadget sleeping pills…
OK, so I had this old PC from eons ago that I needed to discard. It was taking up space, it hadn’t been powered on in a good while, and it was time I kicked it to the curb. One thing: I had absolutely no clue what was on the hard drive. I don’t even have anything I could connect said drive to to test it, and potentially salvage anything. I also figured with the machine as old as it was it probably didn’t have anything worth salvaging on it anyway. But, with these times being what they are, I figured I should probably be safe and remove the drive from the computer before chucking it.
So, I did.
Great, now the computer’s gone, but I’ve still got this ancient hard drive. What to do, what to do… Well, I can’t use it so the only other thing to protect the data from the wrong hands, would be to destroy it.
Okay, so “how can I destroy this hard drive?” I thought to myself. My first thought (cue light bulb going on) – WATER!
So, I gave the hard drive a soapy bath! But, much to my dismay, after 15 minutes it looked no different than when it had gone in. No corrosion, no nothing.
Apparently, as I’d just learned by asking a few friends, hard drives are sealed so they are ostensibly waterproof. Certain restrictions may apply, individual results my vary, but for the most part, they’re sealed so nothing’s getting in or out of any kind of moisture. OH, KAY… Plan B?
Well, I didn’t have a magnet strong enough to screw it up, so I thought I’d take a screwdriver out and have at it. Maybe I can do some damage to the internals…and damage, I did. Oh boy did I.
To make a long story short, when all was said and done, I’d managed to disassemble the drive to access the inside. I severely mangled the platter, snapped the cable in half that connected the reader arm to the electronics inside, bent the reader arm 90-degrees upwards, and snapped the electronic reader element off of the end. I highly doubt anyone will be able to make any kind of sense of that drive now. Here’s a photo of what the platter looked like, before the “grand finale”:
I went outside with a hammer, gave it a few slams (using both the flat head and the crowbar-esque head), and after adding some nice dents in the drive I figured the drive had had enough. It was gone, and it was mildly fun getting it to that state. I’m not one who is crazily into destruction and mayhem, but a little here and there is perfectly healthy. I assure you I wasn’t holding the hammer and making any sinister laughs while writing that….or was I? Hehe…
The moral of the story, is this: If you get your computer wet, there’s a good chance your hard drive will be totally fine. Don’t get your computer wet, though because most of the rest of it won’t be as fine. If you bash the ever-loving shit out of your computer, your hard drive will most likely be fine, but you’ll be pretty foolish since no warranty on Earth would get your back. So, don’t bash your computer up… And finally: If you take apart your hard drive, scratch your name into the platter, disconnect everything and damn-near poke holes in the platter, you better pray your stuff is backed up, because you’re well up the creek, and I just sold your paddles on eBay.
Twitter tools was broken…hopefully I fixed it. This is the post that will test whether not I did indeed fix anything…