Why I blog.
The Truth!
First off, is blog a verb? 
This evening I thought about not writing. I didn’t feel that I had anything to say, but then as I surfed the usual suspects, I came about Meandering Passage and Earl’s post about making blogging a positive experience. He had some really good ideas and tips!
I remember why I started. I have a friend, Greg Cain, who turned me on to blogging. It all started right here. His blog, though still there, has not been updated in over 2 years! I loved to read about his misadventures as he got used to city life in The Big Apple. You see, Greg was just an Oklahoma hayseed, but he had a taste for the big city! We still keep in contact though.
Anyway, after reading about his misadventures, I started my own blog. I had no idea what I’d write about, no idea whatsoever. I started with Shutterchance. I posted pictures and got some comments, then I commented on others, etc. However, Shutterchance, just didn’t fit me. It’s hard to explain, but I wasn’t into the ratings, etc. Shutterchance was, IMHO, all about critiques and who could outdo whom. I didn’t want competition, just a place to hang out and share.
I wanted to do more than just post pictures, so I opened a blogger account and jointly ran a Shutterchance blog and my blogger account at the same time. At Shutterchance, I posted pictures, on blogger, I talked about photography. All of those posts have been moved to this site. If you browse through the archives, you’ll see that for the first couple of months, I wrote and wrote, but had not even one comment. Then, somehow, Micki found me. How she found me, I don’t know, but I was glad that she did. Of course, my wife read my blog each day and offered lots of encouragement, but outside of my family, my readership was a grand total of 1. Then along came Mark Graf, and then Reza! The population was growing! I wrote for the first 6 weeks without having a single comment. I didn’t even know if anyone was visiting! I was writing just for me.
Truthfully, I yearned to have more readers and lots of comments like other blogs that I had visited. I just didn’t know how to get the readership. I finally figured out that it was a reciprocity thing: You post on mine, I’ll post on yours. I did it for a short while, but it wasn’t fulfilling. So, I continued to run both of the blogs for quite a few months and only posted on a few other blogs that I found interesting. I finally settled, after a couple of more moves, on the paullesterphoto.com/Wordpress combination.
The wife chillin on a porch in the mountains
So, that’s the history of how I got to this location anyway. My wife has always told me, since early in our marriage, that she really likes my writing and my photography, so I figured that I might as well put them together and see how it works. So far, so good.
Do I ever feel like quitting my blog? Nope. That thought hasn’t occurred yet. I love this. Sometimes I just think that I’m going to run out of things to say, but the words always come. I’ve come to know that not everyone will like every topic, also, some people will disagree with my point of view. That’s cool! It always gives me something to think about. And, without fail, everyone has been very respectful. I’ve only had to delete a few posts, but that’s because someone was spewing nonsense, so I just deleted, blocked the IP address, and went on.
A Girl Scout outing in the park
It’s been a great 15 months and I look forward to more! I really appreciate all of you who take time out of your day to stop by and read my, sometimes lengthy, posts. I sincerely appreciate it! It’s also great that I get to go back and read my old post and see what I was thinking and how my opinions might have changed over time.
I’m still not in the category of some photoblogs that I see, like Daily Walk, which get 40, 50, even 60 comments per day, but like Cool Daddio said, my blog is like a speed bump in the road as he is making his rounds through the blogsphere. He always has to slow down when he gets here. I guess that’s good! No 10 second glimpses to be found! Here, reading is fundamental! Plus, I really like the well thought out, quality responses that I get.
It’s been tremendously rewarding. I’ve gotten to share so many experiences with you and have even had the opportunity to even meet some of you, or at least talk on the phone to you. I look forward to meeting each and every one of you in person and just sitting down and talking!
So, you knew I had to ask: If you blog, why do you blog AND have you ever felt like quitting???
Paul,
Thanks for the mention.
It’s always a pleasure to visit your “speed bump” in the blogsphere.
Hi Paul,
One regret I had on prior photo workshops, is that when you meet someone you enjoy talking to, after the workshop’s over, the connection fades as we each go back to our separate lives. When I found your blog, it was like talking to you again in person. Because you post regularily, I don’t feel that fading connection effect.
I enjoy my visits to your site and its now part of my daily routine as well – its a nice way to keep up with what you’re up to. Sort of like me stoping by to visit with the neighbors on their porches in the evening on the way to the mailbox – its a community thing. I’m sorry I don’t have the discipline to reciprocate with a blog, but really hope you keep it up.
Looking forward to seeing you in October, and catching up in person!
I enjoy reading your blog and enjoy your images alot…
At first I started a Blogger site because I thought that the old man (Monterey) had accumilated a pretty cool collection of photos, videos, etc., and I wanted one to. All of this was easily shared on the web. Cool. I started my own. I continue to do it because my family and friends, of whom may not comment on my site, do make wonderful comments in person. I also like having the record of events. Then I felt that I wanted to post what I thought were some of my best photos. More of a photo only type of thing. I actually liked your previous pixel post site a lot and decided to start my own. WJW Photography was born.
Blogging is a verb.
I look forward to your blog when I have the time to sit down and visit the blogs that I do. I always feel like you connect to the readers, like you are talking to us personally not just writing for the sake of writing. You always have some very insightful things to say which make me think and that’s a good thing indeed. The mind that doesn’t get exercised becomes atrophied.
You are like a speed bump, I also have to slow down and get into the right mindset when I open your page and read. It’s refreshing.
Paul, I enjoy reading your blog regularly (I subscribe to it in Google Reader). I like the fact that you, like me, combine photography and spirituality in your blog. I can’t remember whether I’ve posted any comments on yours yet, so here’s one for you. I started blogging at first just to see what it was about since it was all the buzz at the time (2004). I never went public with my first trial blog. I was just getting the hang of writing my thoughts out in such a format. It petered out after four months and 11 posts. Then a year or so later, a friend of mine started a blog on poetry & faith, and invited me to join her in the endeavor. That was a year and a half ago, and we’re still going strong, though the blog has morphed into the arts more generally, philosophy, etc. It has given me the opportunity to write a bit about photography at times.
I started my own photography blog, Space For God in November 2006. It has been a very satisfying experience. I get an average of only 19 unique visitors a day, of whom 3 are returning visitors and 16 are people who have randomly stumbled on my blog. It’s fun to look at the stats to see how they found it. I get very few comments, but I still find it worth blogging for myself, whether anyone is reading it or not. It helps me formulate my thoughts, develop my writing skills (I’m more likely to write well for a potential audience, however miniscule, than I am in my private journal), gives me a reason to keep working at my photography, and is a great way to procrastinate. There are times when I get too busy with other things and let my blog lapse for more than a week, which was never my intention in the beginning (I started it out hoping for it to be a “daily photo” sort of blog). But the realities of life and my lowering expectations of myself have let me relax with it. I have no plans to quit. I don’t feel it is a burden, because I have the freedom to put it aside whenever I want to. I’m not ever going to be one of those famous bloggers who has a huge following and lots of expectations from a demanding public (at least I don’t aspire to ever be like that). It’s fun to return to blogging after a brief hiatus. There is always a risk that I’ll lose readership if I let it go too long. But I can always email those regulars I know about (all of whom are friends and family) to let them know I’m back. Besides, other new readers will come along later if I keep up my strategy of letting potentially interested people know about my blog by posting comments on other similar blogs.
Well, when I dared to start showing some of my pics to more than close friends (they still talk to me!), I posted them in a couple of forums. That soon became a bit unsatisifying, as I started loosing track of what I posted where, who commented when, etc… So, my own playground was asked for.
I still haven’t lost interest, even thinking sometimes of extending the site. Problem is, that all time that you devote to the site is lost for taking pictures. So, keeping the balance is the trick. As always…
Paul, thanks for being the speedbump! You’re sometimes so awfully productive (writing-wise), that it’s hard to keep up the pace… But, keep up the pace!
“Paul, thanks for being the speedbump! You’re sometimes so awfully productive (writing-wise), that it’s hard to keep up the pace… But, keep up the pace!”
Thomas, are you saying that I talk a lot?!
I know that I do. There seems to always be something to say and I make sure that I carve out a few minutes a day to write, even if it means sacrificing some sleep.
I’m glad to hear that you’ve not lost interest. Keep going! Balance is necessary, but, in all, I don’t do much of anything else. I like to read books, take the dog for a walk, shoot pictures, write, talk to my wife and kids, and that’s about a full day. The 1 hour or so that I spend writing is but a small part of my day.