One year later

July 7, 2013 by Mike Powell

One year ago today I made my first posting on this blog, an image of a Blue Dasher dragonfly in a pose that I later learned was called the obelisk pose, and it seems appropriate on this anniversary to post a similar shot that I took yesterday.

I remember well that first day, when my photography mentor and good friend, Cindy Dyer, sat me down at her computer and helped me set up my account. She was pushing me to get more serious with my photography and she somehow sensed that a blog would be a good creative outlet. Given the fact that this is my 723rd posting on this blog, it turns out that she was amazingly prescient. I could not have done it without here constant support, encouragement, and inspiration. Thanks, Cindy.

I have learned a lot about photography this past year, but more significantly I have learned a lot about myself through all of these postings. I have also had the wonderful experience of being part of an incredibly supportive community of fellow bloggers, who have been extravagantly free in providing encouragement and assistance. I look forward to my daily interaction with so many of my readers.

Statistically speaking, I’ve had over 23,00o views of my previous 722 posts from readers in 85 countries. I am honored that 479 of them have chosen to follow my blog.

My audience is a diverse one—some of you take photos of the same subjects as I do, but many of you express yourselves in words and photos of different themes. I looked over some of the statistical formation that WordPress provides to see if I could determine what type of postings were the most popular, based on the number of views, and realized that there is no magic formula. Some photos with single posts worked well, but sometimes ones with multiple photos and a lot of text were equally popular. Creepy bugs and beautiful flowers—there seems to be an audience for all kinds of images.

I continue to follow the approach that I started with a year ag0, to post photos that I personally find interesting or beautiful and share some of my thoughts about the subject or the situation in which I took the photo.

Some of you may be curious about the posting that had the most hits this past year. I though about reprising the photos themselves, but I decided that it was better to include links instead, so that you could read the text that surrounded the images, in order to understand better the context.

Here are the ten most popular postings this past year on my blog, starting from the one with the most views:

The dominant theme that connects these diverse subjects my insatiable curiosity to know more about the world around me and to capture some of nature’s beauty in my photography. Somehow in the process of this ongoing journey of discovery, I have come to finally consider myself to be a photographer, and not just someone who takes pictures.

Posted in commentary, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dragonfly, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, obelisk pose, Pachydiplax longipennis | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on July 7, 2013 at 9:22 pm | Reply Teng R. Formoso

Happy Anniversary, Michael 🙂 It’s wonderful to know you in the blogs! Kudos to your blog and your photography. Cheers!
- on July 7, 2013 at 9:34 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. i very much appreciate you kind words of encouragement.
  - on July 7, 2013 at 9:38 pm Teng R. Formoso
    
    You’re welcome, Mike 🙂
on July 7, 2013 at 9:26 pm | Reply Another Perspective Photography

Happy Blog-iversary!
Glad to have met you in the blog world, and to share our passion for beautiful images together with so many others here!
- on July 7, 2013 at 9:35 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. It really has become a passion for me. Sometimes I intermix my warped sense of humor with my photos, and I can always depend on you to appreciate those efforts too.
on July 8, 2013 at 1:00 am | Reply lylekrahn

That beautiful photo is definitely worthy of a first anniversary post! Your wonderful curiosity and enjoyable sense of humour have led to many interesting and unusual photos and commentary. Along the way I have noticed a remarkable improvement in your photography. Well done. There is also one thing you left out of your remarks – all the effort you put into the thotful, humorous and insightful comments you leave on my blog and many others I happen to notice in my travels. Thanks for all of it and keep sharing your fun.
on July 8, 2013 at 5:51 am | Reply Stephanie

Congrats Mike!! Always look forward to seeing your beautiful nature images. Here’s to many more posts! !!
on July 8, 2013 at 6:35 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

Congratulations on your first year. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful and interesting things here, and I hope your second year is just as much fun as the first.
on July 8, 2013 at 10:08 am | Reply Ed

Congrats! Its been fun following a fellow nature photog with a blog..:-)
on July 8, 2013 at 6:28 pm | Reply Sue

Those are some impressive stats Mike — you have developed quite a following, deservedly so. And I very much agree with LyleKrahn that you are a dedicated responder to others’ blogs, and I, for one, greatly appreciate your insights and comments on my posts. May the second year of blogging offer you even more opportunities and learning experiences.
- on July 8, 2013 at 6:55 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Sue. You were one of the first to comment on the first posting that I did and, in fact, you pointed out to me that the pose was known as the obelisk. I love your approach that seeks to provide information along with the photos and have sought to emulate you, though I have a liberal arts background and had a military career, so my perspective is a bit different.
on July 8, 2013 at 6:28 pm | Reply Sue

Oh, and BTW, that is a beautiful photo of a beautiful dragonfly.