Lowering life’s min requirements: 📸 edition

I just let go of most of my camera gear I’ve acquired over the last 20 years – 3 camera bodies, 5 lenses and batteries, filters etc. I just cleaned them all for the final time, packed them carefully into backpacks for maximum protection and sent them all to MPB.

A part of me is sad to have let go of some of my favorite instruments I’ve used and taken care of – well. I hope they bring as much joy to their next owners as I had with them.

This is the first of a series of steps H and I are taking to lower life’s requirements. Since Om launched into our life, our default mode has been to add more resources to life as soon as it’s demanded it. We moved to a bigger home, bought a bigger car, paid for private school, bought him all the toys he wanted. We are thankful and grateful that we were able to do so. However, after a decade, it feels like we are carrying a lot of burden. There’s a lot of hidden costs – physical and mental to this acquisition syndrome. It’s going to be a quarter of shedding for us (stay tuned). Early signs are that the sages of the past were wise for a reason. There is a lightening of the load and let’s see how long that continues.

However, I am also a fan of endings. I wanted to use the opportunity and memorialize these marvels of design and technology and the joy they brought me.

Leica Q (Typ 116)

The Leica Q was a delight. I purchased it to take pictures of Om and family. It was a constant companion in the 9 years it’s been with me. I’d long wanted a Leica and with my recent experience with a Fuji X100 system, was fairly confident I wanted it to be a fixed lens system. The only reason it didn’t continue to be with me in 2026 has to do with its lack of weather sealing. For my plans in 2026 and 2027, I really need a system that’s well weather sealed. It also had a monster black and white mode that I am definitely going to miss.

Ricoh GR

Not many people knew about the Ricoh GR system when it first came about. This was back when fixed lens systems weren’t really as popular as they’ve gotten since the Fuji X100. However, the Ricoh GR was and still is one of the best pocketable systems in the world. It delivers absolutely delightful pictures and is the near perfect travel camera. Again, this specific one lacked weather sealing, which they’ve since corrected and I highly recommend a GR II, III or IV to anyone considering it.

Nikon D750

A lifetime of memories. Thank you! And onwards!

My gods, shredding old documents I don't need anymore is so damned satisfying.

For a good handful of years, I would do a semiannual "konmari" purge to keep things in order, but I fell off a couple years ago.

It is definitely time again. And it's so satisfying.

#minimalism #konmari #tidying

Hörnchenhaus Progress Update: Preparations are underway 🫡

#KonMari #Minimalism #TinyHouse #HörnchenHaus

Sparking Joy

I’ve been on a KonMari Method spree lately and I’m enjoying it.

Any entity that doesn’t spark joy – out of my face.

The original draft of this post had a lot in it, but I deleted the whole thing and chose to keep it short. The old draft didn’t spark joy LOL.

I’ve deleted pretty much every social media app from my phone. My twitter account is ghost town. I’ve deleted all of my tweets. I don’t think I’ll delete my accounts. I want them online for the sake of nostalgia.

In order to spark joy, I’ve been essentially using a hybrid of Elon’s algorithm and the KonMari Method. It’s a hybrid, leaning more towards the KonMari Method, but it seems to be helping A LOT. I feel generally less stressed. It’s crazy how many things around me were stressing me out on a daily basis and stealing my attention.

Attention is an asset you’re not flush with.

Mohnish Thallavajhula (2025)

I strongly believe in that. I’ve undervalued and wasted my attention for so long and I’m slowly trying to improve that.

#cleanUp #elonSAlgorithm #konmari #marieKondo

So sick of the normalization of grift. Ryder Carroll #bujo and #konmari both had ideas that were/are genuinely helpful to me. I bought the former's book and joined his community as a show of support. But now he, like Kondo, is offering *certification* for 4 figures. Most people who get certifications like this won't make their money back.

Many other examples, including coaching, in all its glory. Every good idea becomes an #MLM grift eventually, and I want to hide.

I just used the Tokimeki Unfollow tool,
https://tokimeki.erambert.me, to refocus my timeline. It takes some time, but I really enjoyed the process. It is nice to remember all the interesting people that I connect with through this network.

Also this time I noticed some people had stopped posting regularly. I checked if they were on bluesky and some were. I was glad to find them again!

#grateful
#konmari
#tokimeki

Filed all my papers into three folders: Now, Later, and Forever. #FountainPen is a Pilot Metropolitan with Diamine Sherwood Green #ink.

#KonMari #decluttering #analog

suivant les oblique strategies de brian eno, une bonne technique pour nettoyer son inbox consiste à modifier le filtre de classement, de chronologique vers expéditeur par exemple.

#inboxzero #konmari