The Thursday Dispatch - June 26, 2025

I’m getting the photography bug again. This goes along with the other mediums I like to create in. It’s to the point that I added my Glass profile to the navigation of this site. Last night, I went chasing storms looking for something photogenic. I found myself just east of Fremont, Nebraska, when I pulled over to the side of the road and took the shot above. If you look from right to left along the horizon, you can really pick up on the wall cloud I was looking at. Also, thanks to some AI magic, I was able to remove a yellow cable that snuck its way into the shot.

I’ve been into photography since high school when I took a class for it. I learned the basics, including how to develop film in a darkroom. I learned more darkroom techniques while I was in college, as those techniques went hand in hand with the plates needed for printing presses. When it came to our content, I learned it was best to make my own, as public image banks back then usually cost money or at least had copyrights to deal with. It was at this point I bought my first camera, a Nikon Coolpix L3 five-megapixel point-and-shoot. It was good enough for the web and for smaller images like those in newspaper layouts.

I was getting out of college about the time the first iPhone came out. Original iPhone cameras weren’t great, but it meant having an easy-to-use camera in your pocket at all times. As time went on, Apple and other smartphone companies today put more emphasis on the cameras in smartphones to get us to where we are now, where most people have a pretty good camera on them. With a good eye and some decent editing, just about anyone can create good shots. Most of my favorite shots were taken on iPhones, including some I have on my wall now.

More and more, it’s getting down to the software. iPhone software does a pretty good job with composition. But this past week, I’ve been testing out the Leica Lux app, which gives users something of the feel of shooting with expensive Leica cameras by offering some of the recipes that come with those cameras. It’s something I’m actually considering the subscription cost of to continue using.

Speaking of subscriptions, there’s the aforementioned photo-sharing service Glass, which I’m using for my public photo page. I’m currently paying $40/year for a normal plan. There’s a “patron” plan, which gives you some extras like early access to features, but I can be patient with those things. What I do get with Glass is a beautiful-looking photo experience (you should see this on a desktop or iPad) and a wonderful and helpful community of good photographers. Some people might say it’s what Instagram used to be, but I say it’s even better than that. And it comes without all the data mining of Meta services like Instagram. I will cross-post my work to Instagram Stories and Mastodon along with posting to Glass.

This is in a nutshell where I’m at with photography these days. I’m hoping to do more and share more in the coming months.

Weekly Photo

I took this photo of Griffey last night after chasing storms. This was taken with the Leica Lux app. I like the softness of this photo, its depth of field, and the grain in it. Griffey was being a total brat in this moment, but you can still see his sweetness. It’s now one of the wallpapers I use on my phone.

Weekly Links

The end of the iPhone camera - Peter McKinnon talking about the Leica Lux app, which is why I’m trying it now now.

I’m biking 450 miles on a solar powered bike - Becca Farsace telling the story of how she’s biking 450 miles across New York State on a solar-powered bicycle. As someone who’s into e-bikes, I love every bit of this. Part two will come in the next week or so.

How Field Notes went from side project to cult notebook - I love Field Notes. I care one in my pocket everyday, as I’ve talked about before. But, I also love this story of ambition and doing what you love.

Songs In the Chaos

This is my weekly list of songs that either caught my attention or came to mind this past week. I post these throughout the week on a site called Crucial Tracks, where they’re also added to a playlist on Apple Music. Feel free to follow me on either space.