Hamarana

Let me say this: I am not aiming to be a professional photographer… but I just love to have applications which let me pretend.

I’ve just discovered Adobe Lightroom. On the Mac, I could also choose to use iPhoto + Aperture. However, Lightroom has me completely transfixed. I think this is the first time I am seriously considering paying a vast sum to own a piece of software like this. I’m downloading the trial version of Aperture as I type, but right now, I am not sure why I am bothering… perhaps because its Apple software and I feel I ought to give it a tryout.

From the Lightroom website:

Enjoy robust support for more than 150 camera raw formats, and experiment with confidence. Adjustments you make to images in Lightroom won’t alter the original data, whether you’re working on a JPEG, TIFF, DNG, or camera raw file.
…
Fine-tune your photographs with precise, easy-to-use tools for globally correcting white balance, exposure, tone curves, lens distortion, and color casts.

Seriously, its like having a darkroom right there on your computer. And the changes are non-destructive… unlike in iPhoto where if you make a change it gets saved whether you want to keep it or not. There are ways round that but its a pain… I like the way Lightroom works… because it works like I do.

If you are even halfway serious about digital photography, you owe it to yourself to take a look, try it out. I haven’t been this impressed with a piece of software for a long time.

The GPP people made it possible to buy more endowment policies (yes, its not a pension, really… we are talking traded endowment policies) prior to the December closure. Many people in my downline have decided to go for it and as a result my referral earnings have trebled. This means that, all things being equal and payout being as they say and on time… I should be able to retire around mid 2008… and I can honestly say I am really looking forward to it.

They are still taking new members, which surprised me, I think they may have dumped the notion of sticking with 100k members, and they are offering another 250k policies up for sale to existing members… However they have set a closure date at 31st December, paperwork to be done by the end of January and payout in February.

I am not buying any more policies, I am doing nicely and I am keeping all my fingers crossed that this comes off. Its doable, its legal, but its in the lap of the gods as to whether its actually a scam.