September Cometh
Well…..that was a pretty intense few weeks. The summer is finally coming to a close, and I’ve managed to get through it in one piece….sort of.
Without some enforced weekends off I think I’d be a nervous wreck right now. My colleague James has successfully transferred almost all of my Durham/Tees Valley jobs to his diary, and my mileage has dropped by a miraculous 50% as a consequence. I’ve still managed to shoot 60+ jobs in both July and August despite taking some valuable time away to spend with my family. In early August we took a few days to visit a caravan up the coast that belongs to one of our friends, then last weekend I spent 3 days wild camping with my youngest in the Scottish Southern Uplands during Storm Lillian (which was interesting).
September is traditionally the busiest month of the year for me, with the last few years providing a winter buffer from the desolation of the inevitable winter hiatus. This year I’ve already got that buffer despite being faced with a twenty grand tax bill in January, so I can look forward to some R&R in the colder months. I’ve even considered booking a holiday to warmer climes to celebrate my 60th birthday just after New Year. We’ll see.
The huge investment in a new Mac Studio computer has been a wise one. It’s now paid off in full, and it runs like a dream. Cutting a few minutes off every post-production job makes life way easier, and I’ve now got an AI-assisted workflow that automates pretty much everything. I’m struggling with one last task of copying the name of a property, and an associated tag from one folder to another. Chat GPT just can’t get it right, so I’m looking at alternative methods. That’s a winter task I think.
I’ve been dabbling with some image production software called Luminar Neo, which uses AI algorithms to create HDR composites among many other things, and I’ll report back when I’ve put it through its paces in due course. Anything that improves productivity is a welcome addition to my toolbox.
So…let the final battle begin. Hopefully, September will be the most profitable month in the history of my ongoing RE photography career. I’m going to put everything into it, so I’ll get back to you when it’s over. Wish me luck!
