Milestones and updates

Ok, this post is overdue. I have, as has been too often the case since I started writing online years ago, completely neglected this blog. This is the first post in several months despite multiple items on my to-do list with potential topics to write about. I could blame it on “being busy” but honestly, I’ve just been more focused on other things.

What’s motivated me to finally start typing a new post? First WordPress let me know that over 200 people are now following this blog! I certainly owe you more than just one post a year. Whether you found me organically or followed back after I found your own blog, welcome. Thanks for being here and I hope you’ll stick around. I’ll try to keep the pace of updates a lot more regular.

Since my last post in September 2021 (ouch, really sorry about that), I’ve started a new job. I’m leading business development at Placer.ai for our Marketplace. Great team, super product, and customers just love us. Couldn’t be happier with the move and the role so far. I haven’t been in the role for a year yet, though with our rapid hiring it feels like I’m one of the veterans. Lots more to come there later this year.

One of the other cool milestones is that as of early 2022, my photos on Flickr have received over 1 million views (currently 1.1 million, but who’s counting?). Now that’s not a lot compared to many photographers or social media influencers who get a million views per post, but it means something to me. I would have never hoped that when I got seriously back into photography around 2015 and returned to film photography in 2018 that my efforts would have been seen anywhere close to 1 million times by anyone. I really appreciate the support from everyone online that has encouraged me to keep shooting and sharing. Thanks.

I also want to call out one more photo milestone, though not explicitly on a photo sharing site. According to Google, this photo I took in 2017 at the Albina Press coffee shop in Portland has gotten over 100,000 views on Google Maps. The hot chocolate was good, but not that good. There’s a whole backstory behind the photo I’ll save for another post (soon, I promise). It is still a reminder just how big a firehose Google can be when your content comes up in their search results.

I have ideas for lots of other things to write about as well. For example, being on lockdown caused my camera collection to grow, which I blame on boredom and eBay. Looking forward to highlighting some of the new additions and explaining which cameras and lenses were sold to make room. I have some ideas for lens comparison posts (50mm Leica vs Contax vs Nikon, 60mm macro lenses across the same brands) and I want to share some thinking about coming back around to the (occasional) value of autofocus instead of being so stubbornly stuck on manual focus. I also have some trips planned to the Oregon coast this summer then Ireland in the fall, so expect to see quite a few pictures and travel posts as well.

Consider this my apology for not posting more frequently. I’m back and throughout the rest of this year I’m going to make a real effort to write more, for any readers out there and for myself.