Lately I have amused myself by editing iPhone photographs of Hilton Head Island and by using AI (artificial intelligence) on all my devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro) to create images of heraldic shields. The capacity of both (photographs and AI) for novelty, simplicity and facility is astounding.  I recall for example at 18 years of age having bought my first 35mm camera, an Agfa Silette LK. My introductory experiment with it went badly. Unknowingly I exhausted an entire roll of film (but kept taking photos) before appreciating my mistake.  It was an unfortunate learning curve because I had been using the camera on our automobile journey from Stockholm, Sweden to the Arctic Circle and back through the Norwegian fjords to Oslo. From what I recollect I lost the last frame of film after sailing on the Baltic Sea and upon arrival at the Arctic Circle. I am quite certain none of the photographs would have amounted to anything in any event. I subsequently bought a Nikon but every photograph I ever took that had been developed has since vanished.

This of course doesn’t mean that the photos I am taking now merit artistic value. On my iPhone I have a collection of 5,783 photos which, as far as I can tell, go back to December 22, 2013 (featured image) which by coincidence is likely the first time we visited Hilton Head Island. I say this partly because it was that date which preceded my retirement from the practice of law on March 1, 2014. It was in that era that I transferred from Windows to Apple (but I suspect I already had transitioned from my flip top phone to the iPhone). During that period there were so many new technologies to absorb, including the software for accounting, real estate conveyancing and incorporation.  Windows had been the current legal vernacular. Because of my retirement at that same time I haven’t recollection what happened to the old desktop computers. All I recall for certain is erasing everything. My paper files were transported entirely to Evelyn Wheeler JD who bought my practice (with consent of the Law Society of Upper Canada). Meanwhile I had embraced the Apple computer to correspond to my intended run for municipal government election (an urge I thankfully abandoned on return that summer – prior to the autumn election cycle – from Fort Lauderdale).

Now – as I have said – I content myself with the far less egregious task of editing photos and playing with AI. While these petty occupations are nothing compared to public service, I feel I do a greater service to my community to have avoided that opportunity. Nor will I lessen either as a choice. Currency has always been for me most apt. Though I will admit to likening these photographic and AI enterprises as my version of model ship building; that is, a form of hobby. I am overwhelmed by the critical nature of the endeavours. The precision and clarity are incontrovertible.  I suspect it feeds my personal obsession for detail.