One of the best deals around Black Friday is always storage drives and media cards.
Many times, the deals are on previous gen tech, but the prices can’t be beat.
If you have ever had a storage drive crash, you know what I mean. Back your work up as many times/places as you feel comfortable. Paid assignments need a triple back-up in my mind.
For physical drive storage, highly recco a RAID drive.
What is that?
Basically, an enclosure that house drives, HD or SSD in multiple of 2.
Why 2? In the most basic set-up, you store your files on 2 drives, so you have an immediate back-up.
You do need to buy 4 drives so this time of year is perfect to load up.
Personally, I have 4 RAID drives attached to my computer. And those connected drives allow the cloud services to always be uploading. See choices below.
The OWC enclosuresare a great option, and I have been using them for years.
Of course you need to populate it with the drives of your choice: HD or SSD. Continue Reading »
The travel season is upon us! And here are some products that will make you , or your giftee’s life better!
Hope you have your tickets, are all gassed up, or just have the itinerary laid out.
Here is a round-up of a few things that may help you enjoy your trip just a little bit more.
Plus some of these items are good all year round, right on the local front.
The new version allows for 2 headphone connections and has a volume control along with a longer batter life. Get one for family, friend, and of course, yourself!
When you are on the plane, might as well enjoy the carriers content wirelessly!
Seats are not getting any bigger, and not being tangled up in wires is the best!
Blue Tooth connect your headphones, and you are free as a bird.With the Plane Travel getting ack to normal, make that experience as pleasant as possible .This Bluetooth transmitter lets you connect your favorite headphones, plus your partners to your seats on the place with NO WIRES! Continue Reading »
And another season begins!
One note I’ll make is that usually the best deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday are media cards, batteries and software deals, which is why I’m starting here. In the US, tariffs have been affecting physical gear prices so keep an eye out special pricing.
Of course your year end purchases go to your tax bottom line, so this is traditionally a time to get the gear you’ve had our eye on.
To start let’s go with software deals!
You may already be set in your main editing software for stills.
BothAdobe Lightroom
There are things we have no control over, like when a loved one develops a condition, that there is no coming back from.
Chris Hemsworth, known for his big screen roles as Thor, lays bare his personal life as he grapples with the reality of his father, Craig, recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, slowly starting to feel the effects.
In an effort to grab onto his dad’s memories, and slow his cognitive decline, Chris embraces a method of social connection called Reminiscence Therapy to try to prolong his dad’s life and reduce the risk of dementia.
He did this by taking a road trip across Australia to common grounds and even returning to his childhood home, which was also propped out to replicate the way it was when he was a child.
This intimate, and sometimes heartbreaking documentary, A Road Trip To Remember was Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky for Nat Geo and Disney+.
The film goes between the motorcycle road trip to revisiting people and memories from his dad, Roger’s, past life in an effort to stave off an upcoming fog.
It is available as of Nov. 23 on Nat Geo, then Nov. 24th on Disney+, and Hulu
Of special importance is the visit to the old home where the art dept re-created by referencing photographs. Posters, appliances, furniture and more were able to bring the long-ago life and spark a cognizance and connection.
Chris asks his father about his memories from a childhood photo of them that is one of Chris’ favorites. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
Chris and his father Craig talk around a camp fire while on their trip. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
Chris’s mother joins on the home visit and you can feel the struggle of her seeing her husband going through this.
To put onto video, this emotional journey requires a very delicate and deliberate small film team.
There is an intimacy with this footage where as the viewer you get lost in the moments.
Only a few times do you see the effects of Alzheimer’s in full exposure, but very evident.
Chris and his father Craig meet with a friend, Spencer, in Bulman on their first visit back in 35 years. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
Chris and his father Craig take part in a blessing with Spencer. The welcome is a spiritual ceremony. The significance is to let the spirits know that Chris and Craig are back. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
Chris and his father Craig at a blessing in Bulman. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
Capturing this in video was the work of Jim Joliffe, director of photography.
Jim Jolliffe (courtesy of Jim Jolliffe)
There is a very gentle cinematic approach utilizing many tools in his kit.
You will see the father/son ride on the dusty trails of Australia, shot with a Russian Arm, not on a camera car, but basically a remote head on the back of a pick-up!
No time to get complicated.
In this intimate film, Chris goes on a road trip with his dad, who’s recently had an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, hoping to rekindle forgotten memories. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
When they walked around the recreated home, an Easy Rig was the perfect call.
Jim Jolliffe films during production of “Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember” in Australia. (credit: National Geographic/Craig Parry)
The artistry of Jim was shown in his ability to capture that honesty, without being intrusive.
His work has taken him all around the world, from shooting with the eagle hunters of the Altai mountains in Mongolia, to living with a Masai Mara tribe in northern Tanzania, to learning arctic survival skills from the Sami tribes’ people of northern Lapland.
IN addition, he was DP on the final episode of Limitless another Chris Hemsworth series.
No doubt that experience working together helped in the trust that allowed Jim to capture moments, reserved for the closest people.
This is a portrait of a man seeing his father slowly going into decline and trying to find a way to not only stop time, but to relive parts of his life while he was still able.
It’s a story of a family trying what they can to keep their loved one present.
Chris Hemsworth knows that Alzheimer’s is hereditary and no doubt embracing an effort not only to slow down the process with his father, but to perhaps understand his own future.
If there is one publication that has been part of my life forever, it’s National Geographic.
Long known for quality and impact of it’s images showing the world around us, this is the pinnacle of the photographic world.
When a photographer can add the credit ” National Geographic Photographer” to their bio, it is a badge of honor like no other.
This year, National Geographic is also celebrating PICTURES OF THE YEAR across social media by inviting global audiences to share their own photos and videos of the year using the hashtag #NatGeoYourShotPOY25 from now through the end of December, with a chance to be featured on @NatGeoYourShot. Nat Geo photo editor Anne Farrar will select her favorites by Dec. 31 to be shared across Nat Geo’s social accounts.
(WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nov. 18, 2025) – Today, National Geographic unveiled PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025, highlighting the images that most inspired and defined the past year through the eyes of its photographers and editors.
This year’s collection showcases 25 extraordinary images that span the breadth of National Geographic’s storytelling, from intimate wildlife portraits and sweeping composites of changing landscapes to groundbreaking scientific discoveries and compelling human narratives. The photographs capture nature’s most remarkable moments, cutting-edge exploration, and the diverse experiences of people around the world.
The standout images include the first underwater photograph of a great white shark in Maine,
Photographer Brian Skerry has been chronicling marine life for decades, but this image represents his first run-in with a great white shark in the Gulf of Maine, a place he did not expect to encounter one—especially from four feet away. Sightings of sharks like this 10-footer are increasing from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, perhaps due in part to changing climate patterns. (Photo by Brian Skerry)
the largest religious gathering in the world, the last Indigenous people of Europe;
In the misty highlands of Angola, entry to one of southern Africa’s least studied ecosystems is controlled by King Mwene Chivueka VI, leader of the Luchazi people. For generations, his community has venerated an elusive herd of elephants native to the area—which outside scientists have only recently begun tracking, with the king’s permission. (Photo by Jasper Doest)
the planet’s largest land migration documented by drone, a female polar bear feasting atop a sperm whale in Svalbard,
the new benchmark record set for a nuclear tokamak reactor,
With an eye toward solving the global energy crisis, scientists are developing powerful nuclear fusion devices called stellarators. This model was created at a German lab where international researchers built a much larger one that generated an astonishing 54 million-degree-Fahrenheit reaction. For a record-breaking 43 seconds, it was the hottest entity in the entire solar system—including the sun’s center. (Photo by Paolo Verzone)
and the precise moment an egg transforms into a chick.
For years, photographer Anand Varma has attempted to document when an egg yolk can still be seen but a bird form has clearly emerged. He experimented by incubating embryos in artificial shells before finally capturing the transformation at 12 days old. Varma separately raised some embryos to chicks, which he donated to people in the community. (Photo by Anand Varma)
A sunflower chimney bee rests on a pillow of velvety ochers in the early evening, likely already snoozing after a long day’s work pollinating plants. This species of bee often nests at the base of sunflowers, moving with commercial farmers as they rotate their crops. (Photo by Karine Aigner)
While each image was selected from hundreds of thousands of images captured in the field this year, the final PICTURES OF THE YEAR collection of the top 25 photos paints a sweeping portrait of a changing world as seen through the lens of Nat Geo’s global network of photographers across more than 20 countries.
“PICTURES OF THE YEAR is a project that is always inspiring and thought-provoking,” said Nathan Lump, editor-in-chief of National Geographic. “Each year, our photographers and editors sift through thousands of images, searching for those rare moments that stop us in our tracks. Individually, these photographs speak to beauty, fragility, and wonder. Taken together, I see a collective sense of urgency — a call to preserve what’s in danger of being lost, as well as a reminder of the poetic beauty to be found in carrying on, in daring to dream of a better future.”
The full selection of National Geographic’s PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025 is available now at natgeo.com/photos and in the December 2025 issue of National Geographic.
This year’s retrospective also includes behind-the-scenes anecdotes, including the unique process behind photographer Stephen Wilkes’ day-to-night images. Looking forward to that!
Published on November 23rd, 2025
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