Better late than never

Been a while it seems. Well, better late than never.

Since I last posted, I've moved more in a photography direction with a lot of my work. As you may expect, this comes with its own challenges, but so far has been rather enjoyable. The biggest thing I've learnt with this is that no amount of megapixels will make up for an image that's out of focus or way too sharp. What is annoying is that certain software packages over-sharpen by default, which can result in images which are out of focus appearing as if they are not. Adjusting the sharpening level down in the software is an easy fix to this though.

Another big thing which you don't realise until you don't have it, is live view imaging. With the advances in mirrorless cameras this is much easier to achieve and is not as problematic as it can be on DSLR's. The aforementioned cameras have gotten so good as well that most manufacturers aren't developing DSLR technology anymore. Whilst it is a shame to see this area fade away, I can understand why. 

However, the live view is something which eliminates so much guess work surrounding placement of documents. Gone are the days of assuming that your document is in the same orientation, only to find it wasn't and your map stitch is off. Please don't mention stitching... it's one of the bane's of my work.

Despite all these changes though, the essence of photography has not gone away. Imaging still requires skill and technique to be able to achieve good results. The days of trusting AI and smartphone images are not upon us yet. Nor do I hope they will be anytime soon...

Audio Visual headaches

It seems that whatever I end up doing, audio and video follows me, and with it all the annoying niggles that come with it.

Audio and music have always been a part of my life since I was young. I've been a musician since the age of 4 and have become a multi-instrumentalist able to get a tune out of practically anything. Video came along a bit later along with photography and for the past 4 years I've been doing both audio and video for a variety of different things. One of the biggest undertakings I did was making a short film for a Uni project which, at the time, I thought would be really easy. How wrong was I!

Melting the macbook one video at a time.

However, despite working with them for a few years, there are still some headaches which can cause projects to become derailed. One of the most common, and coincidentally one which is plaguing the day job, is software issues. The software we currently use has a unique bug in that it will just stop recording after an undetermined length of time. This can be right at the start, 10 minutes in or, in the worst case, 2 minutes before the end of the tape. So far, I've been unable to figure out why and despite a recent audit of software and updating outdated drivers, the bug persists. 

Another headache which follows on from the software is the hardware limitations which can cause an already lengthy process to take even more time. I remember when I was attempting to edit some video on my old Macbook pro and the temperatures on the CPU hit over 100 degrees (see photo). Thankfully these days I have my trusty Mac Pro 'cheesegrater' to edit on but hardware obsolescence can be just a big a problem as the software. Take the VHS for instance, sure you might still see some of them every now and then but the devices to play them are becoming increasingly rarer.

Audio can suffer from the hardware problems described before as well. One of the most common can be the scarcity of a device that is able to play the item, let alone allow it to be digitised. Formats such as DATs and Tape reels are sadly becoming more difficult to work with due to many machines capable of playing/reading them either being out of budget to acquire, requiring specialist parts for repair or simply being beyond repair. 

The issues listed above are just some of many which I've seen affect archives ability to digitise their 'at risk' media. Whilst there are programmes being organised, with one of the most prominent being the British Libraries "Unlocking our Sound Heritage", there is still the possibility that “any tape not digitised by 2025 will in most cases be lost forever.” (Deadline 2025 - Collections at risk, 2017) 

Snow Joke

After a few days of there being snow in a lot of other places in the UK, winter finally decided to arrive into the fine city of York today. Whilst in my younger years I would have welcomed it, I can't really say the same of it these days. The problem I have with it, is that it's not a proper winter. Let me explain...

Back when I was a kid and living in the states, the winter months were some of the best there. Sure it was cold and you had to get all wrapped up, but when you're 5 and it means that you get to play in the snow, you don't mind it as much. I still have fond memories of playing in a 8 foot deep snowdrift left over from a snow-plow and digging a hole so I could have a snowball fight. Yet despite it being cold and there being a lot of snow, people didn't really complain about it and stuff kept open and running. Even the airports remained open, I remember flying into Chicago and landing in the middle of a snowstorm. That was an interesting landing...

In the UK however, as soon as a few flakes of snow hit the ground the entire country shuts down. Railway companies cancel trains, roads get clogged and the whole populace starts moaning and groaning. Whilst it is true that we don't get as heavy snow as some places do, surely we should be able to keep things running? A country with a GDP as high as it is should be able to cope with a bit of frost and a small scattering of snow.

Whilst I understand the world has changed since I was a kid, I still think that the winters that we experience now in the UK pale in comparison to some of the ones which I experienced in the states. I will grant that it is cold though, the duck lake was frozen over this morning, we've finally had some snow stick and I finally saw it Snow after not seeing it snow for nearly 2 years.

Revival or retrieval? A short intro post

Welcome!

Thank you for coming to this area of internet. I can't promise many posts, or if they will even be consistent. All I can say is that if content does appear, there will some overall theme to it. I cannot guarantee high quality posts, but you may learn something :)

To end then, thank you for visiting and I shall see you in the next one.