I started blogging 10 years ago today. In that time I have written two main blogs: this one when I was/am not in New Zealand and A Hebridean in New Zealand when I was living half each year in that wonderful country. In all I have published 3170 posts (and written a lot more that I never published). That's a pretty sizeable portion of my life if one takes into account the time used to take and sort the photos added to the fact that it usually takes me a while to write a post. As an aside I often wish that I'd had the mind of a journalist and not the mind of a bureaucrat when it comes to writing.
The principal reason that I started blogging was to keep friends in the UK au fait with what I was up to in my 6 months during the New Zealand half of my life and vice versa when I was back in Scotland. I thought that it would save me time on emails. Little did I know what it would blossom into and the beautiful friendships it would bring me and the wonderful places I would see through those friendships.
It had been my intention to trawl through the blogs and see if I could identify a post or two that stood out in my affections or the affections of you, my readers, but the task is beyond the time I have at my disposal given that I've already spent the best part of a day in total on it. That's not to say that I haven't been doing some reminiscing on my blogs. I have. It brought back so many happy memories and astonished me that I had forgotten so many things. If I am fortunate to arrive at old age then I shall be able to live again through those memories. I shall be sad sometimes but I shall also be happy.
The first image on this blog was a view from the house over the Minch to the Scottish mainland. It's a view I've shown many times since.
My first photo on the New Zealand blog was of The Handbag. It was my trusty steed in that country for nearly a decade
I'm sure that over the next while (what a vague statement) there will be some reminiscing on this blog but I shall leave you with my enduring view of the hills of Hawkes Bay
3 wonderful photos. Have you considered having your blogs made into books? I believe that for just a few copies, i.e. just enough to hand out to family, it isn't that expensive.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cro. I've made a number of photo books from my photos for the family and I've searched for a company that can just take a Blogger blog and, with some editing publish it but haven't found one that is seamless. Do you have a suggestion? If so it would be most welcome. A relative recently took his blog down and other relatives have been very upset at the loss of a lot of family information. I've heard of other people who have lost their blog. So I do back mine up frequently.
DeleteI was given the name Blog2Print some while back, but I must admit that I never followed it up. It could be worth looking at.
DeleteI've been blogging 10 years as well...my very first blog I kept private and only open to a couple of friends. I actually did some reminiscing the other day going through mine - it was quite interesting to read in some ways - I started blogging for a completely different reason to you.
ReplyDeleteYour blogs will as you say be great to look back on over the years. Books sound a good idea, I don't know how this works though. If like me your blog photos have been reduced in size the resolution isn't really good enough to print out.
Good point Serenata. I reduce my photos to 800 pxl on the longest side so they would be below the recommended size for a picture book.
DeleteHappy Bloggoversary! (or whatever the correct spelling might be) I joined the Blogworld in January 2009 and I think I started following yours in July that same year - having found my way here via your brother, and Heather. Originally I just created an account to be able to comment on a blog started by a pen pal of mine. Then, having set up the account, I thought I might just explore a bit further how it all worked - with no special purpose at all in mind. Had someone predicted that eight years later I'd still be blogging, and how many friendships and daily contacts with people around the world it would lead to, I don't think I'd have believed it!
ReplyDeleteThank you Monica. Yes. It's a great way of making friends, pals and just getting to know how some of the rest of the world ticks (which has to be a Good Thing).
DeleteWow ten years already ...time just goes by so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your blog immensely (although recently I have been too busy to hang out in Blogland) and I wish you many more years of blogging.
I have learned a lot from your blog and I am looking forward to learning a lot lot more.
I must thank you once again for inciting me to get started with my own blog.
Happy Bloggaversary GB!!
Thank you Vee. May we both meet in Blogland for years to come.
DeleteCongratulations on ten years of blogging and over 3000 posts. 3000 posts is a lot of writing. I enjoy your blog and hope you blog many more years. I would suspect if I went back over my blogs that I would find I've been repeating myself.
ReplyDeleteRed I'm darn sure that I've repeated myself. In fact it sometimes scares me when I write a post and then discover it's almost verbatim one I wrote years previously.
DeleteYou make me feel better. so I'm not the only one who repeats himself.
DeleteI met your blog in New Zealand and was so fascinated with your life spent in two so different countries I had to follow along as you went back and forth. I enjoyed every step of the way and thank you for the trips.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a pleasure having you along for the ride Jill.
DeleteCongratulations on your tenth anniversary as a blogger Graham. I am intrigued to learn that there are posts you wrote but didn't publish. The mind boggles as one imagines the controversial content of these unpublished posts. When you celebrate your twentieth anniversary as a blogger you will be 83 years old. Now that's a cheerful thought to end this comment with!
ReplyDeleteThanks YP that's really started my week off on a cheery note - the idea that my body will actually last that long.
DeleteCongrats, Geeb. Keep those posts coming,please
ReplyDeleteI'll do my best CJ as long as you are there to read them.
DeleteHappy 10 years! Lovely photos. I think your bird photos are the ones that impress me the most. I know how difficult they are to take!
ReplyDeleteKay I'd love to be a proper bird photographer but I'd have to spend more time and more patience than I have so I'm really an opportunistic one.
DeleteHappy 10th blogoversary, Graham!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad that, through John's blog, I have come across yours (both of them, plus the one with book reviews you used to write). Like you, I sometimes go back on my own blog and am amazed at what I find and have forgotten. Hopefully, this platform will continue for many years to come; I don't feel like giving up on my blog anytime soon, even though I seem to be blogging less these days.
Quality over quantity Meike!
DeleteThe first picture - to the Scottish mainland - is evocative and subtle. You have obviously been a wonderful photographer ever since you started blogging. (Do you, incidentally, find blogging makes you think about your photos in a different way?) I have enjoyed your blog for a long time but I wasn't there at the start - I'd like to see more of the New Zealand posts, for sure.
DeleteJenny, blogging has certainly made me look at what I photograph in a different way and it has also given me a purpose for my photography other than personal satisfaction and family archive. I'm glad that you've enjoyed my blog (as, of course, I have yours). I've taken photographs since I was about 6 and have a certain technical competence but I don't have the natural talent for 'that special photo' that you and some other bloggers (Pauline comes to mind) have.
DeleteI started my blog in May, 2006...and through blogging I've met some wonderful people and "travelled" to some beautiful places. People I would never have "met", and places I'd never physically have travelled to if not for my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteYes Lee, it does give us wonderful opportunities to 'travel' places and 'meet' people we might otherwise never have seen and met.
DeleteYou chose three great photos to go in this post, Graham. That view over the Minch to the mainland is unforgettable. As are the hills of Hawkes Bay. You have lived in beautiful places. Happy 10th blogaversary!
ReplyDeleteThank you Pauline.
DeleteTen years is amazing but it's gone so fast! I'm glad you started blogging as so many of us have shared your amazing journey too. Happy anniversary.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fi. A lot has happened to us both and our families during that 10 years.
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