Blog-versary

It's been 19 years today since I started blogging. Really. You could go back through my blogroll and read that first one if you want. I don't really recommend it since it's mostly focussed on training for triathlons. The first real blog (and it was a rant) is Feb 2010 about the Olympics. 

And actually, I just discovered I goofed, somehow. I started Oct 27, not 29. I only discovered that when looking up the URL for the 4000 blog, which includes links to other posts, which in turn will lead you down a rabbit hole.

From there it settled into whatever my fevered brain produced that day, every day and a half or so. It could be training, or racing, or trips, or rants on any number of topics. Lately it's been photos of nearly anything, some documentary, some with artistic (whatever that means) yearnings.

It used to be easy. Often I'd have a blog written in my head before ever I sat down at the computer, and it would appear on screen as fast as I could type. There weren't many photos at first, so that was easy.

I struggled a bit during the start of COVID. I was working from home on a contract that eventually convinced me I was the guy that should have retired at the end of the previous season, though my manager was happy with the work. Plus I was working through lots of New Zealand and Yukon photos.

As a digression, (all the best blogs have digressions) in case you haven't kept up with the story, I did retire at the end of that contract in mid 2021. For a while I got some calls or emails asking if I was interested in this or that. One was flattering, but it was more of the same and I was done. A few others were an easy no. I like being retired, able to do what I want to do. I'm busy with photography, volunteering for my community association, trying to be active and lose a bit of weight. 

Then in 2021 I started struggling with the blog. They came out less often. Somewhere along the way blogging itself became less popular, and I started getting fewer comments, and fewer visitors.  That's a death spiral that did in many bloggers, but I hung in. Force of habit maybe, and a few readers that encouraged me to continue. It's pretty well the only way to see my photos, since I bailed on Vero, don't log into Instagram anymore, and only drop in on Facebook once in a while.

Then 2024 was the low point, with only 93 posts all year. From a high of about a post a day, to a post every 4 days or so. Overall, I started 6940 days ago, and have published 4260 posts. That is a blog every 1.63 days. That isn't as low as I thought it would be. There's a few draft posts languishing in obscurity.

At the start of 2025 I decided that if I couldn't put out 10 posts a month on average, it would be time to pack it in. There's been a few months where I missed that goal, but others where I exceeded it, so on a yearly basis it worked out. That's good enough for me, at least for now. As I write this I'm slightly behind the target but anticipate catching up. There's a bit of writer's block happening just now. 

Eventually, of course, like all things, the blog will end. It might be Google pulling the plug on the platform, or the glue factory wagon catching up to me, or dementia, or just not wanting to do it anymore. Enjoy it while it lasts.

As another digression, I recently saw She Came to Me, where Peter Dinklage plays a composer who has really bad writer's block. That was the actual hook for me, not that it starred him, Anne Hathaway, and Marisa Tomei. Being pushed out of the house to have an adventure leads him to some strange places, as well as resolving the writers block. There's lots of stories where an adventure leads to good places, and lots where it's the opposite. I'm not a particularly adventurous kind of guy, so maybe it's just as well. Then again, being ravished by Marisa Tomei, hmmm.

To be honest I've been a bit blocked on photography as well, or maybe I'm just getting fussier about what I photograph. Just yesterday I developed 2 rolls of film. (Medium format, Delta 100, if you're interested.) The first frame was from the Carseland ramble with Sean, about a month ago. Considering I started the year hoping to expose a roll a week, let's just say that hasn't gone as planned. Of the 2 rolls, there's only a couple I'm really happy with, where what I got is what I intended. Some ended up being so-so photos of a place, or not quite what I saw or intended. One ICM and one inadvertent camera moves, and neither is interesting. I I tell myself I'm tackling difficult subjects, being long exposures, typically of moving water or reflections in water, often with deep shadows and some brilliant sunlight, making exposure plus reciprocity a tricky thing.

Since I've talked about the beginning of the blog, and mused about the end of it, I think a sunrise and sunset are the appropriate photos.

The Of the Day feature wasn't part of the blog at the beginning, so I won't do one today, but it will return.

Lastly, if you're discovering my blog through Bubbles, and would like to be notified of a new blog by email, leave a comment saying so, or email me keith@nucleus.com. I won't use your email for anything else.