Uses

These are the tools I use every day, or almost every day. To write code, as camera assistant, director of photography, and stills photography. They work for me and the way I like to work. Don’t take this as a blanket recommendation, just a starting point if you want to rethink your own toolkit.


💻 Main Computer

Hardware

  • 💻 Laptop: Macbook Pro 14” (M1 Pro, 16GB Ram)
  • 🖱️ Mouse: Logitech MX Master - Not used all the time but it is handy to have
  • ⌨️ Keyboard: Keychron k2 (with brown switches) - I love this mechanical keyboard
  • 📀 1TB Trascend Jetdrive

  • AirPods Pro (Gen 2) - These are my everyday carry. Great for podcast listening, great noise cancelling for the size, and great transparency mode for impromptu conversations. But it feels like they are meant to be disposable as I had to change and warranty them every 6 to 10 months in a spanned of three years (If you get these EarPods get the extended warranty you will need it).

  • Bose QC35 - Workhorse headphones. Bought them when they were release and can safely say it is one of my best purchases for me. Great for clearing out sounds from an environment like at school it was at the library, in New York streets, at the park, or at home, flying - anywhere I am it allows me to be in a quiet place.

    • Software

    👨🏽‍💻 Development

  • Cursor - My go to IDE.
  • TailwindCSS - I use tailwindCSS on most of my web-based projects, and the ease of use that it provide plus the intellisense is nice to have.
  • LiveShare - This extension is to share my local code environment and live code with a friend, or colleague.
  • LiveServer - This app creates an quick server for your apps, and auto-refresh it. I don’t use it much but I like to have it.
  • Prettier - Formatter for my code to keep it looking pretty.
  • ESLint - Lint for my codebases.
  • oh-my-zsh - Favorite terminal for mac.
  • Github Desktop - I know the git commands but sometimes GitHub desktop makes it easier to use.

    • 🌐 Browser Extensions

  • Bypass Paywalls - I use it because sometimes people share articles to a newspaper and I liked to read it or take a look without having to register.
  • React Developer Tools - React error helper tool.
  • SimpleLogin - similar to temp-box but instead of having an entire new email address this creates one time aliases for the emails that I already use.
  • Dozer - Menubar app that does one thing and one thing only. Hides my menu-bar items. It is open-source, and it is great at what it does!
  • Lulu - Security app built by objective-see. It is a great app to keep track of the internet connections that could be happening on your laptop, which apps are doing those connections, and where is that connection going.
  • Veracrypt - Open-source encryption app built
  • CoconutBattery - App that checks your Mac, iPhone, and iPad battery cycles.
  • Latest - App that check with all your installed apps to see which ones needs to be updated.
  • MenubarX - Browser on your menu bar. Cool to have but not really the most use of menu bar space really.

    • ☑️ Productivity

  • Drafts - Everyday notes
  • Obsidian - CMS, Personal knowledge management tool
  • Raycast - Customizable spotlight replacement for MacOS.

    • 📱Phone

    Hardware

  • 📱 Phone: iPhone 16 pro

    • Software

  • Tailscale - Easy to use and easy to setup VPN.
  • Arri Companion App - This app is supposed to be a beta app but it is reliable and crash free in the time that I have used it. The App is a necessity is working with a Arry camera because you can control everything on the camera, and even take screenshoot of the shot while recording.
  • MyLightMeter Pro - Light meter app for my phone. Simple to use and always on me.
  • Lumy App - Simple app that does a simple thing, beautifully tell me when the sun is setting, when it is rising, how much time I have for each.
  • Procreate - Awesome drawing app for iPad.
  • Libby - Easy to use and access audiobook, and ebook from your local library.
  • SomethingToDo - A place to keep track of all the places that I want to visit and have visited.
  • Jump - RDP app for iPad or iPhone. I use it on the go when I bring my raspberry pi and my iPad with me to do some development and or want to use my raspberry pi for something on the go.
  • Rescuetime - Time-tracker for every app that I use, and helps me keep track of how I use my time.
  • ProtonVPN - VPN self-explanatory need a VPN in public places to mascarede my traffic and ProtonVPN i use it because I trust their claims more than any other VPN company.

    • 🖥️ HomeLab

    Hardware

  • 🤖 Home-Server: Morefine M6 Mini PC (Intel N200, 16GB Ram, 4TB SSD) - Running linux
  • 5TB Seagate Hardrive

    • Software

    🖥️ Self-Hosted Services

  • Nextcloud - Google Drive or iCloud Drive replacement. I don’t want to rent their computers when I have many computers at home to store my data. Also I always know that my data will be where I left them at home, less prone to be access by any non-authorize person.
  • Immich - Google photos or iCloud photos replacement. Everyone should use Immich, it is that great.
  • Wireguard - Great for VPN’s and can run on anything really before I had it setup on a raspberry pi zero W and it worked great for browsing the web and that sort of thing. Now I use it as a backup connection.
  • Tailscale - Easy to use and easy to setup VPN.
  • Llama.cpp with a front-end - Self-host your own ChatGPT with ChatLlama, it is not as fast on my hardware it usually runs at 7 tokens per second on my Macbook pro with

    • 👾HandHeld, Portable & Smaller Computers

  • Raspberry Pi’s
    • Raspberry pi 4b with Internet in a Box
    • Raspberry pi 4b with ubuntu
  • Miyoo Mini Plus
  • uConsole - Raspberry pi CM4 based PDA type computer that I use to continue improving and learning about linux and HAM Radio.
  • Lenovo Thinkpad T480 ~Trying to test and figure out all the rave about thinkpads and its keyboard~

    • 📝Other Things I like

  • ✒️ Pens - Lamy ballpoint pen
  • Notebook - Fieldnotes: Everyday notes, photography notes.

    • 🎬 Camera Assistant & CamOP

  • Gaffer Tape - Gaff Tape can help you solve any issue that you might run into on a set.
  • Cinetools First AC bag
  • Leatherman - I have this kind of leather-man but supreme branded. It is great as an everyday carry, and AC tool.
  • Arri Companion App - This app is supposed to be a beta app but it is reliable and crash free in the time that I have used it. The App is a necessity is working with a Arry camera because you can control everything on the camera, and even take screenshoot of the shot while recording.
  • MyLightMeter Pro - Light meter app for my phone. Simple to use and always on me.
  • Sidus Link App - Control all of your lights from your phone, or tablet. Great tool for jobs where the light is hanging on a ceiling or there is just so many lights to keep track off.
  • Lumy App - Simple app that does a simple thing, beautifully tell me when the sun is setting, when it is rising, how much time I have for each.
  • Sekonic Spot meter - This style of light meter but used, and old. Great for getting accurate reading when my phone is not cutting it.

    • 📷 Photography

  • Leica M5
  • Mamiya RB67
  • Pelican 1510 case - Use this case mostly to keep my equipment dry and safe.
  • Manfrotto Be-Free Tripod
  • Capture One - Love using capture one, and not depending on adobe and their spyware for cull, and manage my photo library.
  • Procreate - Awesome drawing app for iPad.
  • Dark-room essentials:
  • C41 - Chemicals to develop negative color based film.
  • Bottles to hold the chemicals
  • Dark-Changing bag - great for loading film on cine cameras, and to bulk load film.

    • This tools list is somewhat similar to my favorite apps list the difference is that here I have the overall hardware use to run many of them, and that it is not Mac-OS focused but it is a holistic list of everything running on my home-server, iPad, iPhone, Raspberry pi, personal laptop.

    None of the links are affiliate links.
    Last updated on September 26, 2026