I've re-energised myself with photography on twitter

 

Energy is the source of life and grasp it with all you can.

So I've started to really enjoy twitter as a platform to publish my prolific amount of content. I have several blogs now all with slightly different themes. I'm liking the fact that I'm just using twitter almost anonymously. I have a "work" profile, but I don't really want work folks to see my content creation. I'm not sure why that is. It's mainly because I don't watch TV that I get to create a load more stuff. I think they would judge me. 

So this is where it all begins:

I started taking this account seriously in Jan 2022. It was an account I did nothing with. Let's see how I get on growing it over time. Sure the numbers are big now. 

Here's some more of my thoughts on what I'm up to with twitter and why I love it.

A few morning thoughts. Really digging twitter as a creative platform right now. It has a great balance of interactivity and the journal aspect that feels more authentic than Instagram. #vlog #tuesdaymotivations pic.twitter.com/PCFSQORxdz

— Mark  January 25, 2022

The truth is all social media is kind of a vanity project. However, what I'm also looking to achieve is to document my thoughts and dreams and the journey I'm taking.  Mainly because I don't want to forget the old times. The pandemic has certainly taught me that time endlessly marches forwards and there is nothing any of us can do to turn back the clock. 

Be relentless...

It's good to be relentless right?

Relentless - continuing in a determined way without any interruption

Here's the thing. How many interruptions do we get during the day?  A phone constantly buzzing with whatsapps, emails flying in, various other self-made distractions. To be relentless is pretty challenging.

It's a bit like being prolific. Since it take 10,000 hours to mast anything in life, or so they say, being prolific is just as important. That's where I'm going with my numerous blogs and twitter account. I just love being a net creator, rather than just dumbly consuming content. I make my own entertainment through the content I create.

New photo workflow

I have a new photo workflow. I'm pretty pleased with it as it now means I can keep all of my workflow on the tablet or phone. Here's the thing I've realised that my main love of photography is not for creating incredible images. Sure some of my work is better than others, but I'm more about documenting the moment. This is why I have soooo many photos 20k and counting. I also have really taken to blogging. I just want to leave a mark on the planet with words, images and video. When I'm dead and burried that is all that will be left.

I've discovered a pretty cool tool for batch editing snapshots. Perfectly clear. It's exactly what I've been looking for. Here's the workflow.

1. Shoot photos
2. Delete the naff ones
3. Run through perfectly clear
4. Tweak any proper lush ones
5. Rename files
6. Upload to Flickr, Google Photos, FTP
7. Publish to blog if I feel like it

A pretty simple and slick process all in all. Frankly stuff that comes straight out of the camera these days is so good, that post-processing is a bit of a waste of time. Worth a go though.

Test

The infamous HELCH making the news

Spotted this news article this morning from the Guardian - Who is HELCH? How one graffiti artist made a lot of enemies 

A funny little article, but makes you wonder who this guy is. Most significantly he destroyed the well known work on the M25 - "GIVE PEAS A CHANCE"

I shot this pic in august 2015 (from the passenger seat). I must admit I would aways look for this and chuckle on the rare occasions I drove past. (It's not often I use that stretch of road).



I think it's pretty funny that people are getting up in arms about graffiti replacing graffiti and it's interesting how older familiar stuff can become iconic for some people

I'll be keeping an eye out for some of HELCH's stuff on my travels. I shoot a lot of graffiti and street art as I go about my life, so I'll see one of his (or her) work soon enough.

One thing that did make me giggle, was that some people don't want to remove the HELCH work because they think it might be Banksys, so would look to cash in if that ever was the case.

Be a net creator

Black Mirror, London

Since the internet came about, I've been dumbly consuming content like everyone else. On the whole though I've managed to be a net creator.

If you totalled up the time you spend contenting content vs consuming it, what's that look like?

For me I've always been a net creator. That's just the way I've been wired. I'm not saying that all of my content is worthy of accolades, I just like to be productive and create stuff. I get bored if I'm not writing, thinking, taking photos or creating digital art. Always experimenting. Way back in the day I was a moderator of a now dead minidisc forum, even then back in the day I guess that was creating - around 3k posts on that forum. I also used to trade minidisc mixes, building and curating playlists. Loved that back in the day.

Roll forward to the smartphone era, and wow am I going kinda crazy on content creation. 7k+ images on flickr, 3k+ images on instagram stories, loads of daily insta stories, blogs, Picsart, LinkedIn, youtube, tweets. LOADSA CONTENT! Where the hell does it all go and what's the point? Well mainly it goes into walled gardens that are the big internet companies, who then sell ads. I've alwasy been careful to have a back up of all of my pics and vids, so I'm not a slave to these companies.

I create content for me first, if other's happen to like it then all good.

So that's the real point. I just love creating new content. Trying new styles, apps and platforms. I'll continue to do so as I find the freedom in creativity one of the most positive things a human can do. Being a net consumer is soul destroying. Get out there, live life, look around, enjoy the moment and always be creating.

Black Mirror, Train

Why are commuters so miserable? Men in Black International

This big old advert is currently in London Waterloo. The idea is that you sit in the booth and get a picture from one of the agents. I didn't really hang around to find out. What I did observe is that most commuters we just blanking these guys like they didn't exist. Now I'm no raving MIB fan, but why not stop for a laugh.

I'm assuming people are just too busy, self conscious, or miserable.

I wish people unleashed a bit more fun in themselves and had a bit of a laugh. Commuting is soulless enough as it is!

Maslow's Heierarchy of Needs - Social Belonging

Maslow's Heierarchy of Needs

I've been thinking a bit this morning as I've woken up about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and where I am on the pyramid. I've definitely got the basics covered.

• Physiological needs
• Safety needs

Totally nailed if I'm honest. I can eat and sleep, I'm warm and I feel safe.
The next three I think is where I can work on:

• Social belonging
• Self-esteem
• Self-actualization

I don't know exactly how I would work on them or what I need to do to get to self-actualization. It's worth me pondering these over the next few days and weeks. Maybe then I can draw some conclusions on how to improve my life.

 Social Belonging : According to Maslow, humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among social groups, regardless of whether these groups are large or small.

I guess I do have that covered. I also guess that social media covered that for me a lot in the past. I used to be a social media fiend. I would post multiple times a day to Instagram stories. Sharing all sorts of mundane stuff, then check the views. What was the point in that. "Oh wow, my life is so amazing look at me" Fuck that, those days are over. I'm actually becoming more insular I rekon. I'm actually starting to care less about the wider world. I care less about social belonging on social media. I care less about Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Flickr. I really don't feel the need to share much more beyond this little blog here. But it's good to share and I'm relishing a bit of anonymity. Being online and in the spotlight of the world suddenly feels a bit creepy to me.

So how am I going to improve this area of my life? What practical things can I do to feel a belonging? Firstly I think it needs to start with my wife. She's the single most important person in my life, so if I start anywhere it should be there. Maybe I'll start a bit of a gratitude journal or something that will just improve how I think of our relationship. Maybe I'll come up with new ideas on how to improve this area of my life going forward