
Life in the Days of Corona-Keep Busy
We have been home for quite a while now except for going to the local CVS to pick up our prescriptions. To keep busy, Jan continues to take Karma for walks several times a day if the weather permits. But in any case, they walk at least two or three times. If the weather is suitable, I take short strolls in our quiet neighborhood taking photographs.
The other day, I noticed a small cluster of crocuses blooming, took my camera, and snapped a few photographs. Seeing them so lively was rejuvenating in some ways. We will blossom once again, soon. Yesterday, Jan and I got in our car and I drove us around for about forty minutes to an hour. We sat in the car except for getting out in the empty parking lot of Rhode Island Mall. It was a bit eerie with only one car parked its owner recharging the batteries of his electric car. I am sharing some photographs from our quiet neighborhood and the empty parking lots. After the photographs, in the second section of this article, I will share some programs and some Windows 10 tips that may help in your work, at least they may keep you busy a little longer!
Click on the images to see them larger, uncropped, and read their titles.












Some Useful Tech Tools
Social distancing can be a challenge. But, if you have a hobby, consider yourself lucky. And, most of the readers of this site have a very engaging hobby and I am sure you are all going through old photographs, printing some, snapping new ones, etc. I want to share a few things that may help you pass the time and make some of your work easier. I will share some applications that offer benefits and help pass the time simply by trying them out. Please remember that most of the applications below are for Windows although some may have a version for the Mac platform.
Sharing and Syncing
You may already be using DropBox to share files with others and synchronize folders on multiple computers. DropBox is a good service but its free version limits your storage to about 2GB which you can increase by inviting others to join the service. However, if you want to start with a good chunk of free cloud storage, try Mega.nz. They start you with a whopping 50GB of free cloud storage and have a desktop application that can synchronize the files between your computer and the cloud. Fifty gigabytes will go a long way!
Search Your Computer
Although Windows has a built-in search capability in its file explorer, Everything is a program that does this more quickly. It can even search for documents or e-mails that contain particular words. The last feature can be slow if done as a computer-wide search but can be limited to a specific folder for faster response. Download it from the VoidTools site and install it. The initial indexing may take a little time but it is still very fast.
Take a Quick Look
When you browse folders full of files, you may wonder what may be inside a particular file. There are a variety of viewers for different kinds of file formats. Here is one that will give you a quick look into many file formats from Acrobat to ZIP and many in between. Just press the spacebar to show what is inside the highlighted file, and press it again to close it. That’s all it does, and does it very well. Get QuickLook from the Microsoft store.
View Your Images
For many years I used and recommended FastStone image viewer. Since I started scanning old photographs, I have had two problems with FastStone. First, it cannot properly display 16-bit grayscale Photoshop files although it can handle the same in TIFF format. Second, despite the 3-4 support e-mails I sent to them I have not received any kind of reply.
So, I switched to what I used to use before that, XnViewMP, which is also very good and has several advantages over FastStone. First, it can display the same 16-bit grayscale Photoshop files without any problem. Second, it renders color more accurately than FastStone’s for images with wider color spaces. Third, if I ask a question on the XnViewMP forum I get a response in a reasonable time frame. Download XnViewMP from their site and give it a try, you may like it very much.
I have a few more things for you to try, but I will save them for another article in a few days. Stay tuned! And remember, we will blossom once again, soon! Patience is part of the prevention and part of the cure against this virus.
Haluk Atamal
Thanks for the article, Cemal. Indeed we are lucky to have some sort of a hobby or two. Photography is great – as well as listening to some music you had not stopped by before. The Beethoven quintet with piano is one of those for me these days.
I am a subscriber of Mega, but I was dissapointed that, after a while, the extra 35GB folded back to leave me with the starter 15GB. 50 does not last long – unless I made a mistake somewhere. I am using the TurkCell cloud which is excellent and very secure (LifeBox) and I am not complaining for the small amount I have to pay every month.
Today I am planning for those stupid oil-drops-on-water shots, if Türkan will permit :)
I assign myself a different task everyday. Until???
Take care and be very careful Cemal. Regards to Jan also.
Haluk
A. Cemal Ekin
Good to hear you are all well, Haluk. I wrote about Mega three years ago and have been using it since. My storage capacity is still at 50 GB. I don’t know what makes a difference. Your upcoming project sounds interesting, keep it up. I am busy scanning old photographs.
Take care, greetings to you all,
Cemal
Dogan Basak
Iyi gunler Cemal Bey, ben Istanbul’dan muayenehanesinda “sakuller” olan doktor. Mesajlarinizi keyifle okuyup fotograf sanatindaki ustaliginizi hayranlikla izliyorum. Ayasofya kitaplarinizi ismarladim, gelmelerini bekliyorum. Size sormak istedigim ismini gordugum Haluk Atamal’in babasi doktor muydu? Cocukluktan bir tanidigimla ayni ismi tasiyor. Saglikli gunler dilerim. Sevgi ve saygilarimla.
Dogan
A. Cemal Ekin
Merhaba Dogan Bey,
Sizi ve muze gibi muayenehanenizi cok iyi hatirliyorum. Siteyi de ziyaret ettiginiz icin sevindim.
Evet, Haluk Atamal’in babasi doktormus. Ben tanimadim. Ama eminim Haluk da gorecektir bu mesaji ve sanirim size bir yanit verir.
Karanlik gunlerin yakinda aydinliga cikmasi dilegi ile, selam ve sevgiler,
Cemal
Haluk Atamal
Sayın Doğan Başak,
Öncelikle başta sevgili Cemal’e olmak üzere size de çok teşekkürler
Babam Üro.Opr.Dr. Süreyya Atamal. Yaşınız ileri derecede genç ise hatırlamanız lazım. 1927 Gülhane’den yüzbaşı olarak mezun olmuş, 1906 doğumlu. 1984’te bir başka dünyaya yolcu ettim kucağımda.
Ağabeyi Kadri Atamal İzmir Atatürk Lisesi resim öğretmeni, dans hocası ve ressam idi.
İkisinin de toprağı bol olsun.
Mail atarsanız sevinirim: [email protected]
Sevgi ve selamlarımla,
Haluk Atamal
Elk.Müh.B.Sc. ODTÜ 1978