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| Nikon Z MC 105mm 2.8 | @1:1 | |||
| Z7 | 1/200 | f8 | 64 ISO | |
| Godox | M | 1/128 | 20 mm | |
| Godox | A | 1/128 | 20 mm | |
| Laowa 25mm 2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro | @2.5:1 | |||
| Z7 | 1/200 | f4 | 64 ISO | |
| LED | on | |||
| Godox | M | 1/16 | 20 mm | |
| Godox | A | 1/16 | 20 mm | |
| Laowa 25mm 2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro | @2.5:1 | |||
| Z7 | 1/200 | f4 | 64 ISO | |
| LED | off | |||
| Godox | M | 1/16 | 20 mm | |
| Godox | A | 1/16 | 20 mm | |
| Laowa 25mm 2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro | @5:1 | |||
| Z7 | 1/200 | f4 | 64 ISO | |
| LED | on | |||
| Godox | M | 1/16 | 20 mm | |
| Godox | A | 1/16 | 20 mm |
Pictures set-up
Pictures results
Scanning high quality handwriting or scanning of important certificates always leaves me with the trouble of removing scratches or blot. I think the best way is to mask „away“ the dirty background pixels. That used to be so easy with PaintShopPro but with some whistles it can be done in Photoshop, too. Here comes the recipe:
Cleaning scanned documents with Photoshop masks weiterlesenUganda as well as Indonesia rank very low on the transparency international corruption perceptions index with 144 and 96 respectively. The structural corruption, patronage, and nepotism is visible every day from police checks on the road to natural resource deals with top politicians:
“These days, Indonesians have rather a low tolerance for real corruption, for pure, self-serving greed […] That other type of ‘corruption’ – the one that leads to bad appointments and bad roads – is complained about endlessly. And yet no one gets voted out of power for that kind of patronage (In the 2004 elections in South Sulawesi, eleven of the thirteen provincial parliamentarians who had previously been convicted of corruption were re-elected”) That’s because everyone continues to expect their Big Men to deliver to their clan.” Pisani, Elizabeth. Indonesia, p.158. Granta Publications, London, 2014.
And as you get more involved, the boundaries of corruption and “a deal” get very blurry, particularly in Indonesia, a nation that has been successful in trading since the 12th century. I have never seen so many “Middlemen” helping to serve but also taking their proper share of “the deal.”
Last but not least, I enjoyed taking my photo equipment and skills to its limits. During my sabbatical I took 6,107 pictures with my Nikon. Trees and animals from the very small to very big, under Uganda heat or Indonesian humidity.
I learned (again) that my photography obsession is capturing magic moments with all the empathy for the people around me. This is my humble “thank you” for your accompanying my sabbatical.
In the public knowledge, Bitcon is the slowest, most expensive, and most energy consuming database on the planet. From my perspective this problem is solved with switching from “Proof-of-Work” to “Proof-of-Stake”; although Bitcoin will continue with “Proof-ofWork” – maybe even there are some interesting Bitcoin climate options.
Crypto technology and organizations promise or already offer:
and will therefore be relevant for the CO2 removal market. Both the crypto technology (see unofficial state-of-the-art messari report) and the CO2 Removal market are in early innovation phases. I dived deeper into both rabbit holes and captured three possible benefits of crypto technology for the CO2 Removal market:
The real revolution behind crypto and web 3.0 is its new approach of highly motivated people to collaborate fast and intensely: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).
But on the down-side, both rabbit holes share a major communication problem: It is impossible to understand what is going on here without learning the special tribal language and concepts. My recommendation is to start with the Carbon Removal Primer and Normie’s Guide to Becoming a Crypto Person. Good luck, don’t get stuck too long in the rabbit holes. I did!
My next trip in April to Borneo, Bali, Java, and Flores introduced me to the “improbable nation” of Indonesia: 273.8 mio people of 1,300 ethnic groups with 719 languages live on 6,000+ of 16,000+ islands across three time zones.
My last international pre-Corona trip was in November 2019 and I felt free again when we took off to our journey in Uganda, at the end of January 2022. “But the forests of Uganda, for magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life—plant, bird, insect, reptile, beast—for the vast scale and awful fecundity of the natural processes that are beheld at work, eclipsed, and indeed effaced, all previous impressions.” Therefore Winston Churchill concludes with “Uganda is the pearl.” in My African Journey.
As I belong myself to Generation Golf, working in the automotive business for several years, I dived, during my sabbatical, into the UN Sustainable Development Goal: #13 Climate action. The clock is ticking:
Synchrodestiny! The Fairventures CEO Johannes Schwegler invited me to join the software spin-off TREEO for some months as a volunteer and mentor. TREEO’s core idea is to empower millions of smallholder farmers to plant trees. Farmers will then sell CO2 removals to net-zero companies via a smartphone app like they sell bananas or cocoa on their local market. In order to lock the CO2 for 50+ years, the harvested wood will be used in the building sector or in Biochar, serving as a long term CO2 sink. Potentially, 205 GtCO2 can be removed additionally with planting trees world-wide. Particularly, in areas with rainforest climate due to the amazing quick growth of trees. The German TV-show „Das schaffst du nie!“ planted 1,000 trees on 24h in February 2019. After 24 months, in April 2022 the Sengon trees have grown up to 29 cm diameter (DBH).
Climate impact: CO2 Markets & Trees weiterlesenHey everybody,
Just back from my 4 months sabbatical this week and I want to share my retro with you here. When I mentioned that I am “off” for a sabbatical many people reacted interested, disturbed, or jealous. This leads to my first learning I will share in several blog posts over the next few days.
In our hyper efficient western business world, there is no room for hiatus or idleness:
“Idleness is the beginning of all vice”
For me, the sabbatical was a time of poor productivity but a source of new energy to marshal the next phase in my life. I did this consciously after finishing my master degree in the US in 1995. Then, my three month trip in the US and Canada from east to west and north to south was not only a great culture and nature experience. It gave me a clear mind & heart on my future professional and family life.
Similarly, in my 2022 sabbatical I reflected on my “first software career” and how family life changes with grown up kids. Do you remember the time you finished your last university exam and now looking forward towards a bright future expecting new opportunities? This is how I feel today, fresh for a start in a second career: 51 years old still 15+ years to go 😉
Taking off 2-4 months has tremendous value, and I asked myself: Why didn’t I do this earlier? The Bosch Sabbatical program is so easy to implement and well thought through. I think the biggest hurdle is the expected social pressure. Hence, it is your decision which people you allow to judge you. My recommendation: allow yourself a valuable time window between two phases in your life.
The following posts guide you through different topics during my sabbatical:
Overall, I have re-calibrated my perspective on humans and earth, from the very tiny to the wholistic. From July onwards I will concentrate my energy on Climate-Tech by joining the start-up TREEO.
During my last trips I have imported my Nikon Z7 pictures to Lightroom on my MacBook Pro. This allows me editing and sharing of pictures while traveling quite useful in the plane or while waiting. But once back home, I want to have the new collected pictures in my main Lightroom catalog on my iMac. There are multiple ways how you can do it all with its pros & cons. Phil Steele shares them in a great tutorial.
