Photography is tech-reliant. With cameras coming out so often, it’s easy to get lost in constantly upgrading your camera, lens, light, and so on. However, there is one thing that I am always upgrading as a professional photographer.
A modern trend that is taking over every freelancer is hustling. The mantra is repeated by some of the most popular productivity “gurus.” The more hours you put in, the more outcome you will get. However, following this hours = improvement idea is dangerous for your health, creativity, and ultimately, photography.
While most photographers use a drone to create aerial images, sometimes, that isn’t enough. Sometimes, you want to soar like an eagle, going 50 mph over the sheer face of a mountaintop as you photograph. If that sounds like you, then let me share with you the story of Bernard Chen, paraglider and photographer extraordinaire.
I woke up enlightened, inspired, and in slight disbelief. I had been elevated by Simon Bailey, instructed by Lindsay Adler, photographed by Mark Mann, and chatted up by Peter Hurley. I had watched artificial intelligence write, cull, and edit; and I partied the night away with over 10,000 photographers. Was this every photographer’s fantasy dream played out in my sleep? No, it was my first trip to Imaging USA. In this article, I will recount my favorite notes and highlights from Imaging USA. Alas, it’s not all glam: I’ll also share about the closing keynote which left the crowd shocked and offended. Let’s review my first trip to Imaging USA.
Over the history of mankind, the best way found to archive data was to carve it into stone, then bury it in the sand. Photographically, the most stable form of archiving is probably a black-and-white silver-based image on a glass plate. For digital data storage, there is no perfect permanent storage option. Most digital storage media can’t be confidently recommended to be dependable beyond 5-10 years.