The Times They Are A-Changin’

A belated welcome to the New Year. The festive season brings with it much time for reflection and planning for the year ahead. So what better time to roll up the metaphorical sleeves and make some changes.

Change #1 – My Twitter account is no more. It has become an absolute cesspit, amplifying the worst of humanity. The algorithms have been tuned to force extremely unpleasant voices to front and centre. Elon Musk’s moronic and ill informed interference in UK politics is deeply troubling. Enough! It’s gone.

Facebook and Instagram are on hold. For now.

I have moved to Bluesky which is a much, much better place. It’s a breath of fresh air. If you are not there already you know what to do.

Change #2 – My Adobe photography plan is no more. I was never a great fan of Adobe’s subscription plans and, at times, its business practices. I prefer to own the software I use. Having retired back in the Summer has made me rethink why I’m renting software that some months I hardly use. I’m now using DXO Photolab as a Lightroom replacement,  Affinity Photo instead of Photoshop and Darkroom for mobile editing. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses but so far all is working reasonably well. I’ll let you know how I’m getting on over the next few months.

It feels good to have made those changes and I’m really looking forward to the year ahead.

The photograph above is a long exposure of the weir at Snuff Mills. I used the Spectre camera app from the makers of Halide. Easy to use and worked perfectly.

PS: If you’ve made the decision to dump Adobe how are you getting on?