Ambiguity, Photographers, and Notebooks
The Passing of Two Great Photographers, A Wonderful Bank Paper Notebook, An Article on Pareidolia and Its Relation to Creativity, Customization of Keyboards with Karabiner and Goku, Touch Typing Speci
A few things worth sharing from my previous week:
On Photographers
It was a sad week for those who like documentary or street photography. We lost two important people: Larry Fink (on November 25th), and Elliott Erwitt (on November 30th). Both of them have had a big impact on my photography journey. I have Larry’s book On Composition and Improvisation, for example, which taught me a lot about composition and gave me many insights on making images that stand out. I have several of Elliott’s books, but one of my favorites is actually the very first one I got of his, Between the Sexes, where he shows the differences between men and women in a candid and humorous way. His work has always stood out to me not only because of his amazing sense of curiosity and portrayal of funny moments, but it’s just so personal. Both photographers were truly an inspiration in their own way, and it’s a shame these masters are gone.
On Notebooks
For a few years now, I’ve been really into both, journaling and trying to improve my penmanship. About a year and a half ago (maybe even more), I found some great notebooks from Musubi, a small company in Singapore that makes really good quality notebooks with fancy paper. I’ve mostly been using their Cosmo Air Light A5 Notebooks inside a Galen Leather Cover, and I loved using them. But, I’ve been wanting to use my favorite pen (a Pilot Falcon SEF) more, and the Cosmo Air Light paper doesn’t work well with it. It just makes the lines too thick, even though the ink looks great on the paper. I tried Tomoe River notebooks before, and they didn’t have this problem, but they had a lot more pages, which was a bit overwhelming for me. The Tomoe River paper is thinner, so the notebooks have more pages. Then, I found out about Bank Paper which seemed like a great option. Unfortunately, Bank Paper has been out of stock for a while with Musubi, especially the dotted option. After looking around, I found The Paper Mind, a business started by Blake, who runs a YouTube channel with LOTS of reviews on premium quality notebooks—among other related things. I ordered five of their Bank Paper notebooks, and they arrived just two days later. They are wonderful notebooks, and I’m really happy to use them for journaling in the next few months.
By the way, someone who took my Skillshare class on journaling wrote to me last week and recommended Nanami Paper Notebooks. Most of their notebooks have Tomoe River paper—which is really great—but as I mentioned earlier they have a lot of pages. If you’re not worried about that, then I think these are a pretty good option too!
On Creativity
I read THIS ARTICLE that talks about “pareidolia” and how this is related to creativity. Very interesting for those with enough imagination to see figures in the clouds or around nature. Some things that stood out:
Creativity isn’t just about thinking; it’s about seeing. The scientific study of creativity —and the popular understanding of it, too—often focuses on the conceptual aspect of creativity, the phase during which we’re coming up with ideas. But the creative process begins well before that, in the way we look at the world around us.
Creativity is about tolerating, and making use of, ambiguity.
Ambiguity in the outside world draws out material from inside us—emotions and beliefs and memories of which we may not have been aware. When we are confronted with an indeterminate or incomplete stimulus, we ourselves supply the missing parts, and those parts are drawn largely from our unconscious.
On Keyboard Customization
I’ve been exploring this topic for several days now. After receiving my NocFree Split Keyboard and experimenting with its customization using Vial, I thought I was finished. However, when I switched to my laptop and tried to type something, I felt completely lost because my customized layout was very different from the default one. I ended up undoing most of the customizations from Vial and then redoing everything with Karabiner-Elements. I hadn’t used this app before, and it’s not very user-friendly for making advanced modifications, but it does allow all my customizations to be universal. Essentially, I can switch between external and internal keyboards, and everything remains the same. This is important for someone like me who uses a lot of keyboard shortcuts and macros.
Karabiner Elements can do some very powerful things with your keyboard, such as making any key a modifier that can trigger a new set of keyboard shortcuts. I read this article and it has given me some inspiration. There’s also THIS VIDEO which may be an easier overview to follow. If you want to delve deeper and learn more about Goku (mentioned in the article), there’s THIS other article that offers a good introduction.
If you’re interested but don’t have time to learn all the formatting in Karabiner Elements or Goku, I found THIS WEBAPP which is very convenient and provides an interface similar to what you get with Vial for customizing mechanical or external keyboards. BUT WAIT, let me tell you something even better. If you want to save yourself lots of time, Chat GPT-4 can help you code whatever modifications you need for Karabiner Elements. It’s familiar with its syntax.
NocFree’s Kickstarter Campaign is now live, by the way, and they already reached its goal. The more I use this keyboard the more I love it, and if you are interested I suggest you get it while the campaign continues live (until the end of December), because the discount you get in there makes the price pretty fair.
Past week I watched THIS YT VIDEO which taught me more about mechanical keyboards. This was more out of curiosity for the fascination that there seems to be with these tools. It is then that I realized that the amount of customization and time you can spend with this truly has no end. So… watch out.
On Typing
I learned Touch Typing in middle school, but I didn’t bother learning all the symbols and characters that need special keys. One reason I didn’t learn them well was because I moved to the US and had to use both Spanish and English keyboards. Switching between them made it harder to remember. Now, as I explore mechanical keyboards and customizing layouts, I’ve realized it’s important to learn the correct position for all those special characters. That’s why I’m trying to relearn the English ANSI keyboard layout. A website that has been a huge help is Monkey Type. To practice the symbols, just press ESC on the site, go to funbox, and then select ANSI. There’s also a “special” option in funbox, which is similar, or “58008” if you want to start with numbers. If you need something even simpler to practice, I found TypingClub. You can start at lesson 317 for symbols or special characters, or lesson 245 for numbers. Although I’m not a developer, THIS PAGE is also very useful.|
On Apps
I found and am currently testing Superkey. This tool is AWESOME. It lets me click on any text on my screen using a command bar similar to spotlight or Alfred. I need to get used to it, but it seems great for saving time by not having to move my hands away from the keyboard. I recently used it to add specific keywords in Lightroom Classic, since there are no keyboard shortcuts for this. If you know about Keyboard Maestro’s or BetterTouchTool’s ability to click on recognized images, this is similar, but it all happens with OCR and in real time. Pretty amazing.
I found out about Superkey while reading THIS ARTICLE by Alin, the developer of Clop. The article mentions several other apps and tips. If you like apps, shortcuts, and optimizing your system, I highly recommend it.
I came across this FREE avatar creation web app that uses Dall-E 3 along with Chat GPT’s vision model to create an avatar for you. This isn’t as good as having a custom model trained on your own images, or even as good as having a picture-to-picture image generation. What’s actually happening is that Chat GPT describes the image you give it, and then Dall-E generates an image based on the description, so it may not be very accurate all the time. But it’s still okay. You really can’t complain about this little and free utility. I think it’s a good way for anyone to get into the world of image generation with Dall-E.
On Music
I received Spotify stats from my music in 2023 and I’m stoked! Take a listen if you haven’t already. I haven’t come new music in a while but it’s still amazing to see the audience growth with every passing year.
On Michael Haneke
This past week I watched THIS YT video that talks about Michael Haneke’s films and why are they so unsettling. I’ve been a fan of Haneke’s work for a long time and really enjoyed this analysis. A few things that stood out:
In his films, subtle off-screen violence, when executed effectively, can serve as the perfect scene to deliver the final blow. Additionally, he often delivers impactful moments by leaving conflicts unresolved.
The film doesn’t focus on uncovering the mystery, but rather uses the mystery as a catalyst to actively explore the themes of guilt and violence.
As a viewer, the answer is in what you feel, not what you decode.
On Cinema
Ninjababy (2021). A “dramedy” that deals with the topic of unexpected pregnancy and the confusion or internal conflicts around that. Synopsis: A baby has lodged itself unnoticed in Rakel’s stomach, and if there’s one thing that Rakel knows, it is that she doesn’t want it. The life-hungry young woman has a blooming imagination and spends time illustrating her everyday life. The Ninjababy accompanies Rakel through the madness that is called growing up.
My Girl (1991). A classic. I watched this as a child several times and just decided to watch it again with my wife, who had not seen it. It’s crazy that this film is totally different than what I remember it to be. Synopsis: Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is “allergic to everything”, and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada’s father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse…
The Lesson (2023). A decent mystery thriller. Synopsis: Liam, an aspiring and ambitious young writer, eagerly accepts a tutoring position at the family estate of his idol, renowned author J.M. Sinclair. But soon, Liam realizes that he is ensnared in a web of family secrets, resentment, and retribution. Sinclair, his wife Hélène, and their son Bertie all guard a dark past, one that threatens Liam’s future as well as their own.
Hour of the Wolf (1968). A classic psychological horror. I had this in my waiting list for a long time. The most impressive thing from this film, to me, is its imagery. Synopsis: While vacationing on a remote German island with his pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
If you liked this you may also enjoy some content I have up on my YT Channel! I don’t hang around social media a lot, but when I do I’m on IG or Twitter. You can also check out some of my online classes, listen to my music, or in case you haven’t already, subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Thank you for reading!