Smaller file sizes. Extra small jpeg. Smallest video resolution — 720p, only 30 or 60 fps. Ideally shoot in 720p, 60fps. If not, 1080p at 30fps, and maybe downsize and resize to 720p at 30fps.
Just fresh out of a 7 day cruise (7-day cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo — via Carnival ‘Panorama’ new cruise ship from 2019). Some photo epiphanies:
Basically — a cruise is great for photography. Why? There are many photo opportunities both on the cruise sip and off the cruise ship (on shore).
I actually ended up shooting a lot of street photography in all 3 destinations in Mexico.
Puerto Vallarta has a cute ‘romantic’ part of the city, and a good beach boardwalk. Mazatlan actually reminded me of Cuba (very colorful, more local). Cabo was waaaay better than I anticipated. Cabo has insanely beautiful water, and even was able to take Seneca in a dip on the water.
Basically the upside is this:
It is the most efficient way to travel, and visit a lot of places in a short period of time.
For example, the Cruise ship is like a mobile hotel, and has all of your stuff. Most of the locations the cruise ship stops off at is easily see-able in half a day or so. Thus in the morning, you just get off the ship (easy), get onto land, walk around, shoot photos, and jump back on the cruise ship.
Being disconnected for about a week on the cruise ship is good. I was able to innovate, and even make an ‘Cruise thoughts’ PDF e-book/zine via Apple Pages on my laptop (MacBook Pro). When you are offline for a week, it forces you to be more creative with your photography in terms of how to share and publish your photos (offline).
If you’re on the cruise ship, just bring your laptop and camera (RICOH GR IIIX) and take lots of photos, and enjoy your cruise time to process your own photos, do some writing (offline via ‘IA WRITER’), and a chance to think and meditate (reflect on life).
3. GoPro is great
I picked up a new GoPro hero 10 before the trip, and I’m having a ton of fun with it. I returned the iPhone Pro a while ago, and now just the only phone I got is the new iPhone SE. And this is the big thought:
Shooting videos on the GOPRO is 1000x more fun than shooting on an iPhone Pro (or any iPhone, ultra wide).
Why? Seneca loves to shoot with it (GoPro is child-proof), and because the GoPro is so robust, it motivates you to shoot more unusual angles, and shoot more frequently. Now the new great shortcut on the GoPro (just hit the record button, and it automatically turns on, and starts recording).
I highly recommend any street photographer or photographer to buy a new GoPro 10. Just keep it in your front left pocket, and shoot videos for fun in ‘super wide mode’ whenever opportunity strikes).
Sendy.co: probably at least 1000x times cheaper than Mailchimp, and simpler, more direct. I write email newsletters in IA WRITER (Markdown) and copy as HTML.
Setting up a self-hosted email service with Sendy is difficult, but in the long run, so worth it!
If you want the most functional shoes, just get Vibram five fingers. Otherwise, if you want the most epic design, buy a pair of Yeezy’s, or Kyrie Nike basketball shoes (all blood red).
The stronger have a duty to the weaker. For example, if you go hiking, ethically because bicycles are more powerful than pedestrians, mountain bikers should put a bell on their bicycles.
Being on a cruise ship for seven days, was great, with all your basic needs met, and not having to think about feeding yourself and cleaning. Yet, the upside of being on land is this: on land you have Wi-Fi. Super fast Wi-Fi. And Wi-Fi makes you more powerful.
You live a far more dynamic life. Getting off the port, walking around, exploring, taking photos. The 7 day carnival cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo was actually really fun and interesting! A good life hack for street photographers.
Also, my record is eating 8 steaks (all medium rare) at dinner — sit down. Get the horseradish. You can order unlimited steaks and entrees from the menu!!
Also the Panorama cruise ship is great, built in 2019 — the gym on the ship even has dumbbells up to 100 pounds!! As the ship is brand new, everything very clean. Also the Guys burger joint actually very good. I ordered 12 Patties (only meat) and nobody really blinked an eye.
Cruise ship doesn’t have Wi-Fi so you can actually “disconnectâ€. Good for the mind.
Also after working out at the gym, using the hot sauna (either dry, or you can steam) as very optimal.
Ship as very hygienic. Rooms cleaned everyday like a hotel room, new rooms very nice. Tons of staff keeping the place clean. Also fun to talk to staff (many from Indonesia or Philippines)— very friendly. Also everyone on the ship is very friendly, met some cool couples and families on the ship. Certainly a lot of degeneracy happening on ship, but you can just ignore them.
I’m healthier on a cruise ship?
I sleep better, more. Room air conditioning works very well. Good noise isolation.
Also everyday going to the gym. Saving tons of time because we don’t need to clean (staff does this).
Also lots of walking around the ship (more step count), and also up and down the stairs (my calves are getting super buff).
Coffee on board isn’t great, but acceptable. Best to get off at the port cities and get good espresso on land. Just ship coffee to get you going in the morning.
Time efficiency
No time being stuck in traffic or driving. Ability to just get up and start going in the morning. No need to cook, clean, go shopping for food, or even have to plan meals.
Only really bad thing is boarding — this takes insanely long the first day (3-4 hours in total).
However getting off the ship to land is quite easy for the destination cities. Also nice after a day of exploration in the city, you can get back on the ship where all your stuff is in your room. So more efficient in terms of traveling — no need to always pack and unpack assuming you were staying at multiple locations at a hotel.
Cruise ship as a mobile hotel. Also a “full stackâ€â€” all inclusive unlimited buffet, dining, entertainment, coffee etc.
Vaccines required
Ironically you might be safer on a cruise ship — mandatory vaccination for COVID before you board and you must also present a negative COVID test before boarding the ship.
Staff always wears masks at all time, ship cruisers not so much (90% of people don’t wear masks, only a few people).
Living life without limits?
Unlimited “free†electricity, unlimited water (even sparkling water), unlimited “free†air conditioning, unlimited food, beverages, etc.
Life with no limits. Basically not having to think about maintenance — no concern for cleaning, keeping clean, being “wastefulâ€, no thinking of having to “moderate†your air conditioning or electricity use (its all included for free on the ship).
If you really need Wi-Fi, just go on land when the ship docks at the ports, find a local coffee shop and just connect to Wi-Fi there. Also if you got T-Mobile you get free Mexico roaming (3g connection), sometimes even LTE 4g. So when the ship is docked in Mexico, you can just use the internet from your phone.
What does a cruise ship lack?
Powerlifting (in terms of very heavy squats and deadlifts).
Also lacking uber-fast Wi-Fi on the ship (you can buy ship Wi-Fi but it’s not as fast as home).
Can you get bored on the ship?
Of course. But my thought is that only boring people become bored. As long as you have creative things to do (write, make photos, process and edit and export your photos, think, workout, travel on land, etc)— you won’t.
So… why go back on land? Why not live indefinitely on the cruise ship?
To accept things as sub-optimal, and won’t get better .. and to accept “not the bestâ€â€” perhaps this is the best road to extracting the maximum out of life and existence?
The purpose of life isn’t to optimize for the “bestâ€, but to use the current “bad†situation and scenario you got right now, and exploit that to the maximum.
Even though the notion of ‘living your best life’ seems like this silly millenial/zillenial notion, it is still a good one. Why?
It focuses on you to maximize you.
The notion we get distracted with is ‘changing the world’. Why not ‘change ourselves’? Or better yet, maximize ourselves, our passion (photography)?
1. Don’t stay home
In life we make the wrong optimization:
We try to make our photography lifestyle fit our work lifestyle.
Rather we should
Have our work fit our photography lifestyle.
Money is overrated (money thoughts). Photography, arts creation is underrated.
Hit the road. Go on a cruise. Travel. Go to Cambodia (Phnom Penh), go to Vietnam (Saigon/Hanoi), or just go on a road trip somewhere close by (JOSHUA TREE, lake arrowhead etc). Hit the road like Sinbad.
The ideal is to die with $0 in your bank account (or crypto wallet). The best strategy in life:
Funnel all of your money and resources to travel, explore, adventure .. and just shoot photos along the way.
2. RICOH GR IIIX
Just buy a Ricoh or Ricoh GR IIIX. I rate the camera as at least 1000x better than any Leica M11, Leica Q2, Fujifilm camera, Digital Medium Format camera, iPhone Pro, etc.
If Henri Cartier-Bresson were alive today, he would shoot with a RICOH GR IIIX (40mm is similar to the 50mm focal length), not a Leica M camera, or any Leica camera.
I just got a new GoPro Hero 10, and really like it. Really fun– at least 1000x more fun than shooting with an iPhone (or even iPhone Pro in ultra wide mode). It makes photoraphy fun again.
As an added plus, Seneca loves it too! He has been getting really good at pushing buttons, and he has been pushing the buttons on top.
Use GoPro to go on more adventures, and document and record your experiences via video (1080p, 60fps, and ultra wide is good).
I find, I love to best quickly review and export my photos, upload them to my blog and just move on. Staying in tandem with your photography seems like a wise option.
5. Create and share
Make your own books (PDF EBOOKS). Share them. Publish, be generous, keep it open source.
Easy.
Use Apple Pages to make an e-book (yeah you can!) or Affinity Publisher, or even design in Apple Keynote/Google Slides and export as PDF.
Stay in tandem with your photography: perhaps it is wise that on a daily basis, you quickly shoot (extra small JPEG, high contrast black and white filter on Ricoh GR IIIX), while also quickly flagging and exporting/uploading your photos to your own blog (wordpress media library) on a daily basis)?
