Social Distancing! Home Quarantine! Isolation! Janta Curfew! Lockdown!

When you are to stay at home, what is it that you can do as a photographer? Here is a list of things that I have planned to do over the next few days. Some of these are tasks that I had been putting off for a very long time. Apart from spending some quality time with my family, catching up on some old books and trying my hand in the kitchen, this is what I intend to do –

(I noticed this puppy looking at me through two logs. Nothing special but his look made me capture this image.)

Organizing my Photographs

With the cost of digital storage going down so low, it is not a wonder that like most of the other photographers, I too have lots of memory for my cameras. In fact, I am one of the few who recommend using multiple small capacity memory cards instead of one large card. I also have hard disc with photographs from over a decade and some more stored up in back-ups. Though I consider myself fairly well organized, my photographs also need a lot of moving around to bring about some kind of order.

Apart from the regular housekeeping that I do with my photographs (Organize and BackUp), I am planning to get rid of some of my old memory cards as well. I still have 32 MB cards lying around. A relic in today’s period. Some of the present-day cameras produce raw files each of which is of a size larger than can be accommodated on these cards. Does anyone need these cards? Let me know, I’ll hand them over for free.

I have been lazy with backing up the data too. This also needs to be done soon. Maybe in a day or two after I have sorted out all my photographs.

(Nikon D200 with Nikkor 18-35 mm lens)

Creating new photographs from old files

I had written about it some time back. Check this out – Revisiting raw files. I have some very old digital photographs with me that I had post-processed over a decade ago. The softwares were not as capable as they are today. My own experience was not as good as I have today. Things have changed. I look forward to post-processing some new photographs too that I have been putting off for the last few months.

Apart from getting some beautiful photographs, this will also help me hone my post-processing and image-editing skills. Maybe, I can try some new methods and learn something more. I look forward to working with these long-forgotten image files.

(The Accordion Player)

Cleaning my Camera and Accessories

The way I use my cameras and lenses, they are prone to get dirty from outside. Some dust bunnies have appeared on the sensor too of one of my cameras. So, cleaning is required. I take precautions to maintain them clean, but on the other hand, I do not get panicky when they do get dirty. For me, a good camera is the one that gets used. I cringe when I see people who have bought expensive cameras but never use them. Someday, remind me to tell you about a friend of mine who owns some of the most expensive cameras available out there and uses them maybe once in a year or two! Sacrilege!

For those of you planning to clean your cameras, lenses, and accessories, do check out these two old articles of mine – Cleaning DSLR and Lens, Cleaning Camera Accessories.

(Spider and Web – An old photograph that I post-processed again)

Gear Sorting

Though I have minimalistic habits, but when it comes to photography, books, and music, somehow they seem to take a back seat. Yes, I too have been guilty of purchasing many items that I could have very well done without. Consumerism happening all around me coupled with shiny photographs on internet sites was enough to make me purchase them. I am planning to sort out my gear. Donate the old stuff and sell some of the things. Can you imagine, I have multiple versions of the same 50mm lens? Sometime back when one of them started giving some problems, I bought yet one more and later serviced the one with problems too.

I did get rid of some stuff a few months back, but now I have to do more. In fact, I did make a list of some lenses that I was planning to do away with when I changed my house. Interestingly, they are still there with me. (Clutter that builds up)

(Young Monks – Captured with Nikon D200 and Nikkor 50mm lens)

In-house Photography Projects

Once the things that I had been putting off has been taken care of, I am planning to click photographs around my house. Maybe some table-top compositions, some macro photographs in the garden, just some abstracts… there are ideas spinning in my head. If your hands are also itching to use your camera, why not try some of these ideas –

Clean up your table. Set up a table lamp and some colored plastic bags to use as gel-filters in front of the lamp. Use some common things and experiment with their placements and light.

Visit your garden or terrace and see if you can spot any insects. They can be fun to photograph or just observe.

Hang some decorative lights (rice lights / christmas lights) and play around with bokeh. Cut out holes in paper in different shapes. Place them in front of the lens and alter the shapes of your bokeh.

(The Ring of Fire – Nikon D200 with Nikkor 50mm lens)

Social-Media Presence

This is what I have kept for the last. I hate social media. They seem to suck up my time and energy. Still for business and marketing, I am forced to use them.

During this time at home, I am planning to prepare lots of photographs for my Instagram (Maini’s Mind – Instagram). I can then post them from time to time without actually wasting time on these time-traps. Same goes for Facebook.

I’ll also be using this time to add some more articles and photographs to Maini’s Hill Cottages website. Do keep checking from time to time.

(All the photographs on this page have been processed again from my old photographs)

Further Reading (some more ideas for free time):
10 Books on Photography – Must Reads
Top Movies for Photographers