Today is my 10th “Blogiversary.” I published my first post, Digital Native vs. Digital Immigrant on April 7, 2011 and today, I am publishing my 2,706th post [13 in 2011, 33 in 2012, 384 in 2013, 419 in 2014, 380 in 2015, 380 in 2016, 379 in 2017, 384 in 2018, 190 in 2019, 125 in 2020, and 19 in 2021 — so far…].
In 2011, I posted about education, music, movies, fashion, and of course, a trip to Paris.
In 2012, I focused on my francophila and participated in blogging challenges like Things I’m Afraid to Tell You.
In 2013, I began my six-year Project 365. I took a photo everyday and posted it along with a quote or my own musings. Those early photos are now rather cringeworthy, but they illustrate how much I had to learn. The quality is inferior since I took them all with my iPhone 5. The colors are over-saturated and the compositions are predictable. But Project 365 taught me to slow down, to be present, to pay attention, to rejoice in the unexpected. By repeating the process everyday for six years, I did begin to improve my technique. As my iPhone cameras got progressively more sophisticated and I learned to use a DSLR, I improved my angles, focus, composition, and lighting. I taught myself to use Photoshop to further enhance my images and to develop my own aesthetic. I also began to write again, to express my creativity in both words and images. I felt inspired, dedicated, and so very blessed by the encouragement of those who followed my progress. Although I repeated this project for six years, I also added additional challenges. In 2016, I dedicated the month of November to black and white photography, and by 2019, I had a designated color palette for every month.
What began with quick iPhone snapshots of whatever I found interesting, beautiful, or indicative of my current situation progressed as I learned the rules and eventually felt comfortable enough to break them. I loved the Project, but I often struggled to maintain the pace or to find new inspiration. Every year, I tried to shift my focus from quantity to quality while recognizing that it is actually the quantity of photos that lead to the quality I strive to achieve. In 2018, I also started participating in weekly photo projects to try new things and learn from other photographers. I did the Dogwood 52 Challenge in 2018 and 2019 and Capture 52 in 2020. When I lacked inspiration, I found that capturing familiar subjects helped me to experiment with camera settings, lighting, angles, and editing techniques, ultimately allowing me to grow as a photographer. Yes, my photos did get better, but let’s face it, you had seen a lot of flowers, trees, books, pastries, cups of tea and coffee, glasses of wine, critters with wings or fur, and one particularly photogenic beagle! And if I’m being entirely honest, it wasn’t always fun. There had been days when nothing captured my attention and nights when I was too tired to be creative or clever. In six years, I posted content while in five time zones, six states, and three countries. Above all, I sometimes wondered if I missed out on truly experiencing a moment by always trying to capture it in words and images. And, at the end of each year, I wondered whether I should reduce or even abandon my Project. I hadn’t miss a single day in six years — that’s 2,191 days (365 day/year + 1 Leap Year)!
Although it was time for a change, I knew that if I were to stop entirely, I would disappoint a lot of people — especially myself. I would miss the challenge, the careful observation, the creativity, and the learning. So in 2019, I decided to afford myself the flexibility to enjoy the process rather than hold myself accountable to strict guidelines. I continued to challenge myself with photo stories, themes, and colors. I created recurring series including French Fridays (to satisfy my wanderlust between trips), Links I Love (to share inspiration and to honor other writers, bloggers, and photographers), Currently (to serve as a mini-journal where I can reference what I’ve read, watched, listened to, planned for, felt, and enjoyed), and this year, since we have all be grounded due to a global pandemic, I started compiling Travel Bucket Lists.
A lot has happened in ten years. In 2011, I started working in Blogger, but in 2019, I built this more robust platform to share curated photo collections, to archive of all my work, and to continue creating new material. I still struggle to find a focus for this blog, so I have included a contact page for you to offer suggestions and ideas. Although, my primary motivation for continuing this work is personal, I really do appreciate your feedback. Perhaps my favorite thing about blogging “back in the day” was the active interaction between myself and my readers. I looked forward to and replied to every comment. I still do if you’re so inclined to let me know what you think.
In the meantime, cheers to 10 years of inspiration, learning, and creativity!