Thinking Digital

 

Craw Stane located in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  Photo by KPS 2016.

A few years ago, my guru friend made an excellent suggestion to me – he was speaking about dealing with photos to be added to things like my blog. “Don't think about them as physical sizes” he said. “Think in pixels.”

I knew that he was right. But it's something I've never been able to do. I work with my hands. I am sort of capable of abstract thought. If you are talking spiritual things I'm good with it. But when you get into physics, quantum, digital...the things that are both physical and abstract? I'm afraid I'm lost.

It's all a portion of what has kept me from delving any further into the digital. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't quite understand it. It's like the phrase in the They Might Be Giants song: “And I've often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that's be you,
Be what you're like,
Be like yourself,
And so I'm having a wonderful time
But I'd rather be whistling in the dark “

Whistling in the dark is a pretty good description of how I feel about my forays into the digital world. I'm having a wonderful time...I actually am – I liked the feel of progress on the projects. I liked learning what I did. It felt like I was doing something, really making an effort. But I still can't say I actually understand it.

I've learned that the way around thinking in pixels is to find out what each site's suggested parameters are. Both in pixels and in aspect ratios. Then, just follow them to the best of your ability. It meant looking things up, making cheat sheets, learning how to use a program better, It meant finally realizing that I had to make a system for cataloguing images, both raw and manipulated. Creating files, rules for titles, lists of where things got stored. It made me realize that some photos, no matter how “good” they might be, just won't fit, they are not useful for certain applications and need to be retaken.

It has also meant learning how to break up work cycles. Digital is not something I can – or should – throw myself into the way I've done with other things. No working for 10 hours at a stretch because you are in the flow. I've still got a lot to lean on that front, but the cheat sheets and lists have helped. Strangely, for me, thinking digital has meant pages of notes and handwritten lists and lots of new files – both physical and digital. For me, everything digital seems to be a workaround, precisely because I don't really understand it.

It has done a lot of good. It has forced me to make headway, take stock of what I have and how I have it organized. It has made me think about better ways for things – from doing to storing. It has made me realize I need to go through the images I have and catalogue them (including my 3 trips to Europe...that feels like a lifetime project.) It has taught me to take better photographs. I have learned much more about how to manipulate them, though I still only do the barest bit of what is possible.

Above all, it has made me face the unknown and the uncertain. It has made me poke at things that make me uncomfortable, figure out how to handle them at least a little. It has made me more aware of the vast swaths of things I don't know about...and forced me to really admit to myself that I don't have to understand them fully, but I shouldn't pretend I can ignore them. (I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing girl.) It has increased my respect for those who work well in the fields, and actually do understand all this stuff. I can't say I understand them, but I respect them for doing the work I can't and don't like to do.

So, while I am much happier holding a hammer, a pair of pliers or a shovel than a mouse (not the live squeaky kind, those I'm fine with,) I guess I have to thank this journey for all it has given me. It may not be my proverbial cup of tea, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't put the kettle on.