Nice captures! Is this Hill Air Force Base? Looks a lot like it.

Well done, Diane!

The title is very fitting. Everything in the frame leads to the pipe, so the subject is visually clear. This is a strong example of texture; it almost feels like a composite with a grainy texture layer. The nearly monochrome color scheme adds to the stark feeling.

Overall, an intriguing image!

Thanks, Don and John Matthew.

Thanks, guys.

I do, too, Phil. In my quest to bring focus to the subject and eliminate everything that doesn't add to it, I've grown to appreciate greatly the power of reducing the exposure of distracting elements.

Lovely, Phil.

Thanks, bonjac.

Thanks, Barbara.

Thanks for the thumbs, Jack.

Lovely capture! The warm colors are so suitable for Joshua Tree!

Thanks, Greg. As flowers go, it’s not the most beautiful or shapely, but it definitely has character!

And before drying off.

Processed in Lightroom Mobile.

(Download)

But before drying off.

(Download)

I think perhaps you haven’t thought it through. If you’ve ever streamed a movie you already know some of the advantages. I have all my DVDs and Blu-Rays ripped. Here’s why. Some of these may not apply to you, but they certainly make my life easier.

1. It provides a backup in case the disc gets damaged.
2. With appropriate software I can watch the movie on any device anywhere in the house. This was useful when I had Covid, for example, when I was holed up in my room to not spread it to my family. I could watch on an iPad or laptop without leaving the room. Multiple people can watch movies at the same time without attached DVD players. We don’t very often, especially now that we only have one TV, but we have in the past when the adults and older kids wanted to watch something that the younger kids didn’t.
3. When the family is deciding on a movie to watch, the entire list is easily visible to everyone, just like choosing what to watch from a streaming service—but the movie never drops off the catalog like they do for streaming services.

If you never watch a movie again, buying a DVD is usually a waste of money and space. Renting from a streaming service is generally cheaper and then you don’t have to store anything. But there are movies we go back to over and over through the years because they’re really good and so much of what’s produced is garbage. Those we own.

The time cost to rip the movies is not really relevant. I spend a lot of time on the computer anyway, so ripping my DVDs can happen in the background while I’m doing other things—like editing photos, for example.

YMMV. But for us it’s really convenient.