Month: January 2015

Doing the simple things with consistency

Since the weather hasn't been conducive to outdoor photography, I took the opportunity to learn more about the photography tools -- Adobe Photoshop mainly -- I have at my disposal.

I watched videos and read articles on luminosity masks, layers etc. I tried my hand at editing a few images using the techniques I was learning. The steps are simple. Understanding the why and the when and developing mastery is NOT.

I grew frustrated and put my mind to other things. I wanted things to be easier. I did not want to struggle with this. I've struggled with learning all my life (undiagnosed dyslexia as a child and mild ADD as an adult).

Doing stuff is not easy. Reading stuff is easy. Finding stuff to read is simple. Doing what you read is not simple because it never is. John Saddington

The words above from developer and entrepreneur, John Saddington, along with what Gregory Ciotti wrote on the benefits of consistency helped put things into perspective for me1.

My goal is to stay consistent. Do at least one simple thing daily toward improving my photography. I will work on accepting that it may be challenging. That I may have to struggle. But if I stay consistent. If I keep pushing forward and learning and growing, I will make progress toward my goals.

  1. Is it coincidence that I read both of those post on the same morning within a few hours of each other? ↩

The Under-appreciated Benefits of Consistency

With constant work comes constant inspiration. Ideas are not a predefined bucket that you should live in fear of drying up. Work creates a state that connects new ideas. Often called the creative ear, when you’re regularly working on things you enjoy, the walls come down and seemingly insignificant moments spark inspiration. Just be sure to give yourself some space. Fires only burn when they have room to breathe.Gregory Ciotti

Consistency is something I will apply to all my endeavors in 2015. The worst that can happen is that I am inconsistent, inconsistent, inconsistent.

Quitting Family Sharing

David Sparks:

Family Sharing is not ready for the Sparks family. I’ve spent way too much time trying to make this all work and this weekend I’m officially throwing in the towel on Family Sharing until it gets better.

There are just 3 iOS devices in the Blanc family: my iPhone, my wife’s iPhone, and my iPad. They’re signed in with the same Apple ID for the store, and with our own Apple ID for email and calendar. It works great… for now.Shawn Blanc

The Williams family has 8 iOS devices: One iPad and iPhone for each of the four of us (two adults and two children). We each use a separate Apple ID for email and calendar but share a single Apple ID (mine) for purchases. We love being able to keep a shared Family calendar.

The “Ask Permission” feature has not worked as we’ve expected it too. I never get any notification when my kids want to purchase an app (they are willing to use pocket money for apps) so they still have to find me and get me to enter the iTunes account password. My wife gets the notifications but when she attempts to approve the request she is prompted to enter her Apple ID password.

Perhaps I did not set it all up correctly. I’m sticking with it for now.