Processing , Reflections and Resolutions

Deformed Reflections

I'm still going through the photographs that I took this past weekend. I filled up a 4GB card and have just over 440 to sort through. When processing personal images like this I like to do a pass through then let it sit a bit and come back to it with a fresh eye and mind. There are mostly family pictures, but I did get to play around a bit as well. I think there are some good possibilities in the batch, both for family memories and photographically.

More after the jump.

Well, 2008 is almost gone. It doesn't feel like a year has gone by, but the calendar isn't lying. Time to reflect and look ahead or so they say. How was your year? Mine has had it's definite ups and downs. The one constant in it has been this photography hobby. I think it is what has kept me sane through the troubles of this year. It has certainly opened an avenue of expression that has helped to keep my attitude from sinking. I also started this blog back in May of this year. This marks the 98th post. Ok, so I haven't quite kept pace with a post everyday, but that was never really a goal of mine. I didn't start tracking site data until mid-July. So here is how stuff breaks down since then.

- There have been 3,015 visits, averaging out to 17.53 visits per day.
- November 18th had the most single day traffic of 58 visits.
- There have been 2,282 unique visitors so far.
- Visitors have come from 95 different countries / territories from around the world.

I suppose that the last item is what I find most intriguing. While the vast majority of visitors are from the USA, there have been quite a good representation from other nations as well ranging from Canada, to Great Britain, to Australia, to Finland, to Russia, to Ecuador, to Indonesia, to the United Arab Emirates, and many more. To those of you who have visited in the past and those who continue to visit, I would like to say ... "Thank you."

While I realize that those statistics aren't that impressive when compared to other photoblogs and websites, I can honestly say that they are quite a bit more than I expected. Through this blog I have met new people both locally in the Spartanburg, SC blogging community, to across the nation. I have received a few emails from people with questions about the area because I had posted some photographs that they found interesting.

Anyway, again thank you for visiting and thank you to those of you who have left comments throughout the year. I appreciate the time that you have spent here.

Now to the future. What would I like to accomplish this year? Hmm. I have never been very good as setting personal goals. However, I would like to continue expanding my photographic knowledge and capabilities. Perhaps, try to get a gallery showing or start some professional work locally. To that end I realize that I need to work on my portraiture and lighting techniques. So, I resolve to make those a priority for this this coming year. I resolve to shoot more, process more, learn more and post more images in 2009. I am at the stage where I could probably expand by working on a conceptual project. I don't have any definitive ideas at the moment, but I will explore this more in the coming year. I should probably resolve to be more proactive in some endeavors, but I realize that a bit of realism is necessary too. ;-) One step at a time here. Whatever I do photographically, I will document it here. So, here is to another year of blogging!

May your New Year be better than the year past, may all of your relationships be loving, and may all of your experiences fulfilling in 2009.

Keep shooting.