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Here are links to various photo collections. Kim and I (plus friends & relatives) have been traipsing about the world; taking pictures wherever we go. If it so interests you - here's a glimpse into Robert & Kim's adventures. (Most of the photos are from places in Colorado, but you'll find a few pages of photos from other places as well.) Enjoy! See bottom of page for a 'History' of my photo galleries. |
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Photos of Colorado | |||
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Our House: After 20 years of moving around at the whim of Uncle Sam (See my bio for more details regarding my military service), Kim and I finally bought our first home in April of 2005. A home on the front range, a home where the Antelope roam (or the Pronghorn if you're really interested). It was a grueling process and we undertook it with much trepidation. In addition to the photos, I've also posted a web page dedicated to our new home. Our D&D Gaming Area - The place where we play D&D. Over the years (I've been playing since 1976), I've DM'd (Acted as the 'Dungeon Master') D&D sessions in many different settings. Some of the most cramped have been dorm rooms during the 80s. These extremely small settings meant many of us sat on the floor. I've DM'd sessions in Fire Stations, caffeteries, libraries, basements and the patio (enclosed/indoor) of my parents house back in the 70s & 80s. A traditional place to play D&D is the basement - and even more so "My Parent's Basement" (which used to be the name of a gaming store in Manitowoc, WI) - The quintisential place to play D&D / In the basement. As this is the quintessential place to play, my game is now situated in the basement. In the basement of the house that Kim and I bought in 2005. The basement play are has changed a bit over the years. I've assembled a couple photo galleries: |
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Friends and Family visit us in Colorado. Kim and I have hosted plenty of friends and family since we moved to Colorado. When they come to visit, we usually turn it into a vacation. Everyone has a good time (or so I've been told), and I usually take quite a few photos. Here are some of those visits/visitors.
So when will you be visiting? Kim and I are still waiting for a visit from our sisters. It sure would be nice if they could visit. We've got a big house, so there's plenty of room, and we're always willing to host our friends and family. |
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Birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations away from home. Sure, Kim and I get away during these special events. You may occasionally note the use of a term called an 'Annibirthday' - Well, Kim and I got married on my Birthday (Oct 26, 1985). Yes, that's right, on my Birthday - and it's a long story. So if you see that term, you'll know where it came from. Here then are photos we took during a birthday or anniversary.
Since moving to Colorado in 2001 and retiring from the military in 2005, Kim and I find that most of our Birthdays and Anniversaries (usually on the same date (see above)) are held in the Centennial state (or nearby states). |
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Colorado weather: 90% of the time it's clear blue skies and moderate temperatures. When the wind carries a change over those mountains it's anybody's guess what the weather will bring. In the span of five hours, the temperature can change by 30 degrees Fahrenheit. With it comes snow, rain, ice pellets, a rapid thaw and blinding sunshine. The mountains to our west sure do cause some unusual weather conditions. Here are some photos of Colorado's weather:
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On the trail: Occasionally, Kim and I take a four wheeling trip. A journey into the rugged back country with our four wheel vehicle. Here are a few of the more scenic trips:
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Our first documented trip in Colorado. An outing to Colorado's Royal Gorge near Cañon City. This park is a beautiful place to spend the day, and we've been back on many occasions. |
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Denver Zoo: Located in the heart of Denver, Colorado. Kim and I took a day trip. We spent most of the day (0900-1530) at the Zoo. This was our first trip to the Denver Zoo, and we had a really good time. I read the names of all the animals in these photos, but I couldn't possibly remember them all. Have fun making up your own names for the ones you don't recognize. |
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Six Flags: Located in the heart of Denver, Colorado. Kim and I took a day trip. We spent most of the day (1000-1630) at an amusement park. We went to Six Flags: Elitch Gardens in downtown Denver. We both had a fantastic time. Rode a bunch of roller coasters, had some goofy photos taken, felt like kids again! Six flags revisited: On the 22nd of July, 2005. Kim and I took another trip to Elitch Gardens. The event was an annual picnic sponsored by my employer. They provided cut rate tickets as well as free food, drinks (including Fat Tire beer), and prizes (little trinkets). Kim and I had a good time. We were there from 1700-2030. |
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Hiking in Boulder: I went hiking in the mountains just west of Boulder, CO. It was a military function, but there were only four people who showed up to hike. Oh, well. Despite the poor turn-out, I had a really good time. |
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World Forum: From 2002 - 2005, I volunteered as a driver and security augmentee at an event called the World Forum. The event was held in Beaver Creek, Colorado. I started taking photos in 2004, and took more in 2005. You can check out the photos or the web page where I provide more details about my participation in the World Forum. |
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Colorado votes - 2008: My first experience in the electoral process. After 20 years in the Air Force, I finally get a chance to participate in the democratic process. I participated in my party's caucus on the 5th of February. Super-Tuesday was a new experience for me. I vote, do you? |
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The Denver Auto Show - 2009: In 2008, Kim and I started making plans to buy a new car. The Passat (2001.5) has been paid off for quite some time, and we're kind of tired of it. Not to mention the fact that it's electrical problems have always been a thorn in our side. In 2009, we decided to pay a visit to an auto show in order to get that 'in the Driver's seat' experience. After attending the auto show, we put three cars on our list. Now it's just a matter of narrowing things down. Here are photos from the show. |
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Wilkerson Pass: Photos from a day trip (on the 11th of Aug, 2013) out to Wilkerson Pass, Colorado. Wilkerson Pass is (elevation 9,504 ft) located appx 50 miles west of Colorado Springs, CO (along U.S. Highway 24). Pikes Peak of the Front Range is located to the east, and the Collegiate peaks of the Sawatch Range are located to the west, just beyond South Park (a region of Park County in Colorado). |
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Kim and I occasionally get out to enjoy the sports events available in Colorado. It's a big sports town, and we're trying to sample our share. I doubt we'll ever see as many games as we'd like, but we can still have fun trying.
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Photos of Wisconsin | |||
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Wisconsin Winter 2004: In January of 2004, Kim and I went home on vacation. We spent two weeks in De Pere and Pound WI, visiting the folks, family, and relatives. I took some pictures while we were there. |
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Wisconsin Winter 2004 (Part II): As I was approaching military retirement, I had 60 days of leave to use. During that time frame, Kim (25 Nov - 1 Dec) and I (9 Nov - 2 Dec) took a well deserved vacation. I drove to and from Wisconsin, while Kim flew there and back. Here's a few pictures from the trip. For a more detailed synopsis, see my journal entry. |
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Wedding - 2006: Mark and Kary's wedding. Wedding and reception at the Palm's restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. Kary is Kim's sister. The Cloughs live in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. We flew in for the weekend, attended the wedding and flew back to Denver. We had loads of fun, but the travel was hell. Here's a few photos from the wedding. |
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Wisconsin Winter 2006: While visiting my parents for Christmas, I took the opportunity to capture these photos of the back woods near Pound, Wisconsin. It's a tranquil retreat from the hectic life of Denver. A place where I can relax, unwind, and stop worrying for a few minutes. |
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Christmas in Wisconsin - 2006: Kim and I were able to spend Christmas with family and friends in 2006. We drove to Wisconsin, and enjoyed our nine day vacation. Here are some of the photos I took while we were there. |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2008: Finally, Kim and I were able to visit Wisconsin in a season other than winter. We drove to Wisconsin, and enjoyed a vacation around memorial day. May 23rd - June 3rd, 2008. Here are some of the photos I took while we were there. |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2009: This time around, Kim and I managed to visit Wisconsin in the summertime! The first time we've been back to Wisconsin in the summertime since... what was it, 1992? We drove to Wisconsin, and enjoyed a vacation at the end of July. We celebrated Kim's birthday, and managed to visit all our family members. Here are some of the photos I took while we were there. |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2010: This trip to Wisconsin was planned as a surprise for Kim's parents. The sneaky Vaessens (Kim & I) flew into Milwaukee, rented a car, and drove to De Pere. We delivered some flowers and treated Ted and Sharon to a meal at the Republic Chophouse, for their 45th wedding anniversary. Surprise! |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2011: Kim and I drove to Wisconsin in order to spend Thanksgiving with our family. We stayed in Valders from the 19-21st, visiting with my Mom, my older Sister and her husband. We spent the rest of the time in De Pere visiting the Kuchta's and a few of my old friends. |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2012: Kim and I flew to Wisconsin during September of 2012. We took a long weekend (Thursday - Monday) to visit with family and attend my 30th class reunion (class of 1982). Our reunion vacation went great. The weather was perfect; we got to visit our family and the class reunion was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the 35th reunion. You can check out our vacation photos on my Gallery page or the new (as of 2012) Photo Stream. |
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Wisconsin vacation - 2013: In May of 2013 (May 26 - Jun 3), Kim and I took a short vacation. We drove to Wisconsin in order to attend a high school graduation and visit with our family. We drove Kim's car (it gets way better mileage than the XC90) and stopped at my Mom's place first. I posted the photos from this vacation on my Gallery Page and Apple's iCloud Photo Stream. |
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Kuchta Family Reunion - 2015: In July of 2015, Kim and I attended a 'Big Fat Polish Family Reunion'. It's the first full up family reunion Kim and I have attended (on either side) in a very long time. I took approximately 350 photos, pared them down to 150 or so and created a photo gallery so that the family could view, comment and add to the collection. If you were there, or you're just interested, you can find all the photos on my Gallery page. | ||
Photos of other places | |||
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Sunny San Vito: Kim and I lived in southern Italy from 1985 - 1992. My first assignment in the military, our first overseas base. It was the best tour we've ever had. The mission was worthwhile, the climate unbelievable, the people were genuine, the food was sinful, and the friends were the best of all. Here is a photo journal of our time in that fabled far away place from so long ago. |
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West Berlin - 1990: Back in 1990, I spent nearly a month in 'West Berlin'. I was still in the Air Force, and I was lucky enough to snag a primo TDY. I was doing really well at my job; winning numerous awards and accolades, impressing my commander and supervisors. As a reward for my performance, my unit - the 6917th ESG (of San Vito, Italy) sent me on a TDY (Temporary Duty) to West Berlin. From the end of July, through most of August (returning on the 25th), I spent nearly 30 days in the divided city. Here are some photos from that amazing time. |
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Architectural Porn: Unintentional porn? Architecture that looks like something else. Does a strong buttress do it for you? Perhaps your a Gazebo fan. A play on words, or playing to the eye? Is it sinful or artful? |
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Photo-painting project: In 2005, I began work on a project to create a painting of the mountains for display above the fireplace in our new home. The project was quite an undertaking, but the results are well worth it. The project isn't finished yet, but you can read all about Our Mountain View if you're interested. |
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Hawaii vaction - 2006: Kim and I vacationed in Hawaii from Feb 15 - 25, 2006 - Kim and I and Kim's parents (Sharon and Ted) had a great time. We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and my retirement from the USAF (in Jan of 2005). Ted & Sharon came along to help us celebrate. It took a long time to plan and save up enough money for this big vacation, but we finally did it. After 20 years of poverty we finally managed to spend some money on ourselves. |
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Yellowstone and Grand Tetons: In September of 2012, Kim and I drove North to Wyoming in order to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. After a 10.5 hour drive we arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There we spent four days exploring the National Parks and 'some' of what they have to offer. Unfortunately our stay was far too short. Next time we'll stay longer and possibly camp in the parks in order to get closer to the park attractions. With wild fires burning near the parks, the sunsets were spectacular. We had a really good time, and we're looking forward to a return trip. |
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The Island of Rota: In June of 2014, Kim and flew half way across the planet to a tropical island just above the equator. We flew to the Island of Rota, an island in the Northern Mariana Islands. We spent six days on the island and a couple on Guam. It was a awesome vacation in a tropical location. A scouting trip for a retirement destination and a complete escape from the big city that is Aurora, Colorado. We had a fantastic time. I hope we're able to return. This photo gallery was created using Exhibeo (A standalone application that allows you to create fantastic looking web galleries and slideshows. Designed for the Mac, it intergrates with Freeway web authoring software or allows you to create drop-in HTML galleries for any website. <https://www.softpress.com/exhibeo/> |
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La Jolla, California: In June of 2014 (15 - 18 June, 2014) I went on a business trip (with some co-workers) to San Diego. We stayed at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines while we were there. Arriving on a Sunday, we spent most our time working. When we weren't working we managed to visit a few of the local restaurants (Fidel's Little Mexico - Solana Beach, CA (North of Del Mar); Piatti - La Jolla shores; Sushi on the Rock - La Jolla), the hotel grounds, the golf course (Torrey Pines - no we didn't play while we were there), and the Torrey Pines state natural reserve. Here's a few of the photos I took while I was there. |
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Baltimore, Maryland - 2014: In July of 2014, I spent a week in Maryland (in the Baltimore area) on a business trip. I didn't have much time to enjoy the sites, but I did manage to eat some Blue Crab (appx $8.00 / crab!) and visit Baltimore's Inner Harbor (too bad it rained that evening). |
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Honolulu, Hawaii - 2014: In August of 2014, I spent a week in Hawaii (On the island of Oahu) on a business trip. I spent the whole time on the Island of Oahu visiting various customers. We stayed in Waikiki, not too far from the beach. I drove around the island several times, and we saw some pretty cool spots. The beaches on the military bases are amazing; mostly abandoned, but perfect white sand beaches, with no crowds at all. If Kim and I go back for a vacation I know just where we can stay. Here's a few of the photos I posted on my website and the iCloud. |
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England - Sep 2013: In September of 2013, I went on a business trip (with a few co-workers) to England. We weren't there very long; from the 15th through the 19th, returning on the 20th of Sep, 2013. We flew into Manchester, took a taxi to Harrogate and spent the next four days working in the area. We spent most of our time working, but we were able to get out and about a little bit. Visiting a few of the town's pubs and restaurants. One of these days I'll visit England for pleasure instead of business. Kim and I have been planning a European vacation for several years, and England is one of the stops we're looking forward to. Here's a few of the photos I posted on my website. |
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European Vacation - 2015: In May of 2015, Kim and I (and Kim's parents: Ted & Sharon) embarked on a 16 day European vacation. The biggest vacation of our lives. A whirlwind tour of Western Europe. It was a guided tour (via bus) of eight countries (U.K., France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland) and I can't remember how many cities. I took nearly 3,000 photos, so it took quite some time (142 days?) to go through all of those photos, but now there are pictures. |
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I hope you enjoy the photos I've posted to my web page. Photo's were taken using one of my digital cameras (listed chronologically (sort of)):
History of my Photo Galleries:I created (many of) my photo pages/photo galleries using Apple's photo cataloging software; originally iPhoto, now Photos. Photos was once part of the iLife suite - Apple's 'Creativity' suite, now it's distributed as a part of the Operating System (iOS and macOS). I extemsively used an iPhoto plugin (originally produced by 'DroolingCat Software') called BetterHTMLExport: A highly customizable plugin for iPhoto that allowed users (of iPhoto) to create web pages/web galleries from iPhoto galleries. It allowed you to control the web page output much more efficiently than the built in iPhoto web page output controls. It provided serveral additional output options, including the ability to use (or create) templates in order to create professional (if a bit unpolished/definitely early 2000s) looking web galleries. BetterHTMLExport was originally created/sold by 'DroolingCat' software. In March of 2006, the software was sold to 'DroolingCat Software', and they continued selling the software for some time. I purchased my last version (2.1) of BetterHTMLExport from 'Geeks R Us' in March of 2006. The last functional version available was 2.3.4. (build 31). DroolingCat discontinued sales (with no further development) sometime after 2009. BetterHTMLExport stopped working with the release of iPhoto 9.2.1 (released in Oct of 2011). iPhoto 9.2.1 included a new 'feature' which automatically disabled incompatible (unsigned) third-party plug-ins, including BetterHTMLExport and others. The BetterHTMLExport plugin was definitely worth the cash. It saved me countless hours of manually tweaking my photo web pages. Unfortunately, the creator sold the software and stopped development. The changes to Apple's software made BetterHTMLExport unusable going forward. Unfortunately, that plugin (and iPhoto) are now gone. The 'new' version of iPhoto; Photos, is so difficult to use (to generate an externally accessible/exportable photo gallery) that you really can't use it for much. I've pretty much given up on using it for anything useful. The current version (Photos 4.0) doesn't have a gallery or 'web page' output option. It does offer a 'Slide Show' option. But I don't want a slide show. I want a static gallery. There is an option to make a 'shared' album into a public website... but that doesn't give me what I want either (there are lots of limitations and restrictions, including how many people are allowed to view the photos). I think the Photos application really has two purposes: Forcing you to buy the 'professional' version of Photos - Aperture, which was discontinued in 2012 (It had a decent photo gallery output/but it's gone now) and pushing users to subscribe to a 'Photo Stream' plan, which stores your photos in the 'iCloud' and costs upwards of $9.99 per month (as of 21 Nov, 2018). This $9.99 per month storage plan gets you 1TB of storage (for all your iCloud storage needs) is an outrageously high price when you consider the fact that you can buy a 4TB hard drive for under $100.00. I haven't even considered using iPhoto or Photos for photo gallery output since 2011. My experience with it's output has been nothing but negative. The galleries I created with iPhoto were limited and crude (very difficult to control layout style or specific details). Later attempts using Photos resulted in galleries that were difficult to share with anyone outside the Apple ecosystem. That's the part that really turned me off. Apple kept insisting that they host or store my photo galleries, and they kept making it more difficult to share them with non Apple users. Remember Apple's MobileMe* service? It had some awesome photo gallery software, but that's another service that Apple discontinued. In my opinion - Apple can't be relied upon to produce or maintain Photo Gallery software - You'll just end up being disappointed or locked into a solution that you don't control, can't use to effectively share your photos, for a recurring and never ending fee. Eventually, I turned to a php/mysql powered application called 'Gallery'. This application was distributed with the 'Softaculous' suite of server-side applications/scripts. These 'Softacluous' applications/scripts are included for free with many web page hosting plans. The application/scripting and associated files are hosted on your web host's server. You can use the Gallery application/script to create photo galleries on the 'server-side'. All the database entries and formatting are done on the server. You still have the original photos on your computer (the 'client-side') but all the details and database info is hosted on the server. This Gallery application is powerful and flexible, offering more options and display control than the BetterHTMLExport plugin. It's not as tightly integrated into my workflow as the abandoned MobileMe* Galleries, but it works quite well. Allowing fine control of the galleries on the server-side. It even allows for comments by visitors (admitidely this is/was seldom used by any Rob's World! visitors). Unfortunately, it has a couple of problems.
After some research and serious consideration (in November of 2018). I decided to go with Exhibeo (by Softpress - Makers of freeway website development software). The updated version (v2.0.3) of Exhibeo provides numerous improvements, tweaks to the interface (it's far more intuitive than before), new and improved themes and more controls for image editing. I'm excited to get all those 'lost' photos back online using a new 'Photo Gallery' application. So excited that I've already started. One of the galleries that was destroyed by my client to server sync was a collection of photos from a business trip to Hawaii (back in 2014). I've since (in November of 2018) recreated that photo gallery. This new one was created using Exhibeo (on the client-side - on my Mac). It's more 'polished' than the Gallery version, but it's missing some of the features that the Gallery version offered (such as commenting). The best part about client-side creation/authoring is the fact that I can tweak the output using manual controls (on the client-side), and I have a backup (actually I have several backups (four versions - the original on my Mac, two backups (a full clone of my system disk and file level backup through timecapsule) and the version that's on the web host's server (server-side)). If anything ever goes wrong on the server-side, I can upload a backup from my computer. If I decide to move to a different hosting provider, the code is portable. I don't have to worry or wonder whether I will be able to migrate the photo gallery from one hosting provider to another. In addition to Exhibeo, I might also use GraphicConverter to create some photo galleries. It's output is a lot like that of the discontinued BetterHTMLExport. It's not as sophisticated/polished as the Exhibeo output, but it does allow me a fairly sophisticated level of control over the html output. GraphicConverter is an image conversion and editing application. I've been using this application since the 90s! The support and developement has always been outstanding. I've created multiple catalogs using the GraphicConverter software, but I often want something with a bit more polish, something that's more professional looking. I've posted a sample of one of my GraphicConverter catalogs online so you can see what the typical output looks like. In the future, I'll be using a combination of Exhibeo, GraphicConverter and other applications (including Dreamweaver (as long as my current version continues working under macOS) and BBEdit) to create and edit the photo galleries that I make available via "Rob's World!". I'll upload and/or sync all the photos/galleries to my hosting server via sftp; that way I've got good backups and more control over the creation, editing and file management of my photos. Some other applications I've used/might use in the future (to create photo galleries): Shutterbug (now free/discontinued), the GIMP, PicFrame, Capto, iWeb. If you're interested, I also have a page devoted to my favorite software (for Macs). <https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/>
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