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Gene Bowker's RustedRail's Ramblings! Who knows what we'll find along the backroads of life.
Hidden off of the main streets
Even in a small town like Greer there are some alleys to explore downtown.
Horses and Mules.. to tires and lawnmowers
Down in Georgia I saw a ghost sign which made me stop to take a picture or two. The faded part above the Coca-Cola sign was Horses and Mules. I found it interesting that the business had evolved with the times to start selling Tires and Lawn Equipment in later years. In business, there have been so many cases of companies which never could adapt to changing markets. They believed they were in the business of selling the product which had made them famous, even while the market was moving to whatever was next. Photography has been a lot like that. From large format cameras, to 35mm film cameras, to digital cameras to everyone having a great camera in their "smart" phones the technology used to make an image has evolved over the years. Who knows what will be next? Adapting to the marketplace in business and in our creative ventures helps us to remain revelant and in touch with the market. It's not a one and done activity, but has to be a constant journey of change to be successful.
Light and angles - perspectives
One of the things I find most interesting in photography is using light and angles in the composition of a photograph. At Hopewell Gardens in Aiken during a winter walk, I found this planter which happened to be in the sunlight sitting on the corner of a wall. As I looked through the view finder I realized that in the shadow was a curving wall as well as a tree trunk leaning in towards the planter. Even with a square format (1x1) I decided that I wanted to include the trunk, which put the planter off center, but allowed the other lines to flow. Life is about light and angles. Taking the time to look at things from different perspectives, seeing the light in the darkness and learning how they can work togther.
Data is our friend or is AI our friend or both?
The company I work for (FlexQube) is doing an internal contest about the ways that we can use AI (Artifical Intelligence) to help perform our work m more efficiently. When I think AI, I tend to think of chatbots like the help functions on amazon now. But artifical intelligence can also be used in other ways. My boss has been using it to help analyze data. I'll admit I don't have much knowledge yet about how AI will continue to improve our lives. I have questions about data security, but I'm quickly coming to realize that AI is a tool like any other in our arsenal. One of my personal goals this year is to understand it better and find ways to use it in my work. Like robotics, tools can help us to function better in our lives. I doubt it will soon replace the creativity that humans have as most AI generated art and prose is still very primative. I've tried it some personally on LinkedIn and found that it can take my words and make them into jargon sounding nonsense full of keywords. When I read an article online, I can quickly realize if the "author" wrote the article or if it was generated by a bot. Have you used AI in your work or personal life? If so, let me know in the comments below what you've discovered
Hello February
It's hard for me to believe that it is already February 2025. January flew by and here in the Upstate of South Carolina, it brought us our first measurable snow in the three years since we moved up here from Georgia. It wasn't much but it was cold enough to last a few days at least. We also had some very cold weather (for us at least) and another storm which missed us but dumped snow closer to the coast. At FlexQube, it was a month of trying to catch up with a full production calendar and some continuing challenges. We're expanding our production again, so I've been welcoming new members to the team and getting us ready for what should be a much stronger year. The cold weather and workload meant that I didn't get out to get new photos like I'd hoped but as the weather starts to improve I'm already planning to revisit some favorite locations this year and also hopefully explore some new places around the Southeast. My biggest challenge personally for 2025 is working on my work/life balance and getting to the point where I'm able to take more PTO to recharge. 2024 was a year of constant change and 2025 will be a year of growth both personally and in my career. I'm going to focus on making more time to write my thoughts here and share the adventures and challenges with you.
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Rustedrailimages - Gene Bowker 2024
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