Joining possibly thousands of others, no trip to Ayers Rock (or Uluru as its known by its original name) is complete without a photo taken of this monolith at sunset. No editing tools available to me right now (except cropping), so I can't (yet) remove the sign reflecting light. I'd like to process this a bit more, but this is for all those who just love looking at rocks.

(Download)

Last night I had the pleasure of watching Opera Australia put on a performance of West Side Story at the Handa Opera, an outdoor venue on the waterfront that overlooks Sydney Harbour. Photography was not allowed, so I have no photos to share of that event, but I did manage to capture this shot. Not the greatest, considering the lighting and being handheld, but it's a bit of a different view.

(Download)

One can pay (up to about $200, I believe) to climb the bridge. The cost in time and effort was too prohibitive for me to attempt, not to mention my ever-present acrophobia. Still, people do it, and you can receive recognition for doing so. Just to give you an idea, if you check the download, you can see people at the top (the angle skews the perspective a bit, but the flags fly at the top of the bridge).

Atop The Bridge

(Download)

Some quick hit-and-run shots taken by me today of landmark Sydney, Australia. Later this week I'll be getting a tour of the Opera House and attending a show. But for now, this is a taste.

From the harbor

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No visit is complete without a view of the Opera House

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View of the Harbour Bridge from atop the southeast pylon. You can see people climbing in the download.

(Download)

I'm on another trip now, with eleven others, and only one of them is carrying a DSLR (a Sony, but I don't know which model). Everyone else is using their phones. Of course, none of them has confessed to being a professional photographer, so their phones are serving them well.

As is mine. A very rainy day today in Wellington, New Zealand, and I don't have to worry about my lens getting spotted, fogged or water seeping into the camera body as I trek around (I'll post some photos when I've had a chance to offload them to my computer).

I like #2. My money says natural intelligence beats AI this time.

Let's start by going backwards: You said Photoshop and Lightroom. That indicates either Windows or Mac and eliminates Linux. So then the question becomes one of hardware. 64GB RAM is a good start. What else will you be using the computer for? If it's not dedicated to photo processing, you'll want to make sure you have storage (you said 1TB). External storage is also handy. External SSD up to 4 or even 8TB are available. So far, the only item untouched is the GPU. NVIDIA is making bank by powering AI with their GPUs, so if you're not going Mac, which includes the GPU of their specification, you should look into that.

This may ruffle some feathers, but if you're not going Mac, you might want to check out a Micro Center or similar store where you can get one built to spec. No, it's not going to have a label saying "Dell" or "IBM" or "Lenovo" or similar, but what you save on the name can be made up for in components.

Personally, I'm a Mac guy. I rarely read Mac users complaining about the performance of Adobe products as long as there' enough RAM on board.

I don't know if it helps, but it should give you some food for thought.

Here's a little more information (with pictures) for those interested. A modest knowledge of computer technology helps, but Raspberry Pi (RP) has documentation that doesn't assume a PhD in computer science.

This is the latest iteration (generation) of the RP, the 5. As you can see, the basic hardware is really just a circuit board. It includes the necessary components to be considered a computer: 4GB RAM, an ARM Cortex A76 quad core processor and the I/O circuits to plug in a keyboard, etc.



All this goodness will set you back a whopping $59.99 US. If you don't want to assemble a box like a set of Legos, you can buy a "starter pack" for about $99.



There is even a Raspberry Pi computer contained with a keyboard, requiring only a monitor (and cable). It consists of Raspbery Pi 400 with 4GB Ram, Micro SD Card Slot, 2 USB 3.0 Ports, 1 USB 2.0 Port (power is needed for USB C). The cost? About $69.99



I'm reminded somewhat of the ancient Timex-Sinclair T1000 (I had one) microcomputer. You could only program BASIC, save to cassette tape, and connect to a TV.

For the money, anyone not sure if they're into computers, it's a pretty nifty way to get introduced.

Raspberry Pi is a very good solution for single-purpose computing. One of our techs built one for a demonstration of our software product using an ID card scanner to look up the person's identity and if confirmed, would open a door.

Not very complex, but it made a workable demonstration of several technologies centering around identity management. Raspberry Pi computers are very small and often run a form of Linux. Great for hobbyists wanting to learn more, or for dedicated, specific purposes.

Great stuff! I recently posted some photos I took at the St. Petersburg, Florida Chihuly Museum. A side benefit was to attend a glass-blowing demonstration by the affiliated Morean Art School. Incredibly unique pieces!

I think Linda said it best. I shoot photographs to capture memories, and try to do it in artful and creative ways.

She's either chilly or there's still that AI blue cast to her hands and feet.

That it has straight dual exhaust pipes indicates there's been some work done on it besides cleaning up the body. I suspect it's a project car, given the mismatched wheels (mags would look so much better than the moon caps). A nice photo, and I find it interesting that the car is parked in what appears to be a shielded, wooded area. A find!

The same saying is used in the software development field.

I've used Nations Photo Lab with superb results. I also use CG Pro Prints, if anyone is searching. I had them make a metal print of a photo my daughter liked, as a Christmas present. It hangs in a conspicuous place in her home.

I would probably pick her, too! Nice work.