At Home with Tech

It’s time to maximize the potential of all your gadgets.

Tag: beach

Can You See What’s Right in Front of You?

This close-up of our cute feline beast is one example of focusing on the few inches in front of your camera.

Life often teaches us to focus on the big picture. But it’s also a good idea to sometimes pay more attention to what’s right in front of you. I explored a photographic exercise to look more closely at my immediate surroundings and uncovered some cool imagery in the smaller spaces. Here’s what I found.

From the Lester Garden
This is the tomato we will eat tonight.

Aging Beach Fence Post
The rings of time are locked in by thick paint to help battle against the elements.

My Garage Door Light’s Motion Sensor
This sentry covered in cobwebs looks onto my driveway. The red LED indicates it has spotted its moving target.

HP Tango Printer’s Cylon Glow
The always-on light moves horizontally and changes color to communicate with me. My printer’s designers are clearly fans of “Battlestar Galactica.”

My Shirt Collar
They say it’s the little things. I am happy when my collar stays straight throughout my work day.

The Key to Control
Why isn’t this the alpha key on every keyboard?

88 Keys
Our piano demonstrates the art of collaboration to our son.

Bird on the Beach
This seagull walked up behind me to beg for food on Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT. Its piercing stare had the power of a Jedi mind trick.

Looking More Closely at my Life
Snapping these photos helped me to see more of what’s in plain sight during my day-to-day activities.

I highly recommend you try it!

Why More Beach Time Helps Me Stay Centered

If you live near the beach, I recommend visiting it more often. Not so much for the sun or swimming, but to simply soak up the larger space. Here’s why…

It’s been six months already. Can you believe it? It feels like forever. And yet, these months are just a blip in a much larger timeline. That’s been easy to forget when my world has largely been compressed into the safe but limited square footage of our home.

When I do get out, I’ve found it helps to remind myself to look about… really look around. That has recentered my perspective and helps me feel more comfortable enduring this marathon COVID-19 experience.

The Value of Beach Time during COVID-19
My family and I have intentionally spent more time at our local beach over these past months. Beyond the expected and soothing qualities of that primal environment, the beach is a clear reminder that much of the world carries on as it has for countless millennia.

Warm or cold. Rain or shine, it’s helpful to be in that space (and of course, while practicing social distancing).

That sense of a larger continuity may not provide complete consolation, but it’s a good reminder that we’re all players in a much longer game.

At the beach… you can feel the greater normal. And that helps me stay centered.

This group of visual moments is a reminder that even though many pieces of our day-to-day lives have evaporated, other basics are still firmly in place.

Slow and steady.

Feeling the Rush
In so many ways, we’re all rushing.

  • Eager to read more news of a vaccine
  • Hoping to get back to normal soon
  • Wanting to reduce all of the stress

Rushing to find a way back.

But of course, we can’t go back. Not really. Too much has already changed.

So, it’s actually all about finding a way forward… to something somewhat different and perhaps better.

That’s all we’ve got. And you can’t rush it.

Set your Pace
We’ll get there. But it’s like a marathon. You’ve got to pace yourself.

And spending a little more time at the beach regardless of the season and perhaps taking a few photos and timelapse videos are good ways to help stay balanced throughout all the disruption.

It’s worked for me, and I highly recommend it.

44 Seconds from my Surreal Summer of 2020

Have you begun to see life differently too? Here’s my view from the beach…

I’m not complaining. As I write this, our state is currently not a hot spot. My family and I are healthy and safe. But of course, this summer of COVID-19 is anything but normal.

Even a walk on our local beach early in the morning feels… surreal.

Avoiding the crowds yet also craving more human interaction. Enjoying the uninterrupted patterns of nature and flow of water, though unable to avoid the constant awareness of instability and global disruption.

It sometimes seems like I’m living in someone else’s painting.

This short video I shot with my DJI Osmo Pocket provides a sense of this experience that I imagine you may also be feeling…

 

Again, I’m not complaining. Not really. It’s just so weird. And if I’m actually inhabiting a virtual painting in some alternate reality, I’m happy it can be at a beach on a sunny Saturday morning.

#FindingTheBrightSide

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