gratitude – Dutch goes the Photo!

A Milestone and Gratitude

More than 10000 followers!!!

As I have many observant followers, you may have noticed that this little blog passed a (for me) significant milestone recently: over 10,000 people made the decision to follow ‘Dutch goes the Photo’!

First of a great, big, heartfelt Thank You!! When I decided to take a stab at getting earnest about running this blog in January of 2016, I had no idea that it could grow to this level. It’s been a bit of work to get here and there definitely were a couple of detours to find out what I can contribute that might be of interest to folks in the blogosphere!

Dora Bean thanks you too!

Dorothea Lange (aka Bean) relaxing on the couch…

This blog was actually started about 8 years ago, but I failed to make an impact with it. So, just under four years ago, I decided to take a WordPress 101 course that promised to teach me the basics of getting a blog up and running. The exercises in the 4 week course were invaluable and taught me a lot of the basics.

Beyond the basics there were a couple of other factors that have helped out:

Listening to feedback from fellow bloggers and readers to learn what might be of interest
Building a regular cadence to posting on the blog, which created something that readers would expect on a recurring basis
A bit of elbow grease…
Persistence!

Let’s see where we go to from here! Thank you again!

2017: A look back and Thank You!!

What an amazing year!

For this blog post, I had already planned to do a bit of a look back at last year, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the WordPress Daily Post Photo Challenge of 2017 Favorites.

First, I’d like to express gratitude to all of the wonderful readers, browsers, commenters, who have made running this blog so much fun! And, of course, a great bigh thank you to all of you who have participated in the Tuesday Photo Challenge throughout the past year; I never imagined that running this challenge could be as much fun as it is!

A couple of statistics to reflect the progress of 2017:

My fantastic followers went from about 1,000 to over 3,500! That alone blew my mind (I had set my goal for 2017 at reaching 2,000).
Views of this blog grew from 26,000 to over 42,000 during the past year.
Number of views per blog post went from 47.5 in 2017 to 126 in 2018.

As I restarted the blog in January of 2016, it is the wonderful response and feedback from fellow bloggers and readers that have helped me improve what I post. Also, I was humbled to be mentioned in WordPress’ Discover section for my 3rd post in a series about the Forum in Rome; this made a huge impact on the success of my blog.

As our trip to Italy was a big part of my photography this year, here are some examples…

Looking across the Forum

Looking over Massa Marittima

Fields of Tuscany

Looking over Volterra

Cupid and Psyche

Looking over the Valley

Connecting with neighbors

Alleys everywhere!

Looking toward the Capitol

By the temple of Augustus

View across Palatine toward Maxentius

Again, thanks to each of you for making 2017 a year of progress and growth! I’m very much looking forward to pushing forward in 2018 and learning from all of you!

Have a wonderful and happy New Year!

I received a Liebster Award!

Now this was a real surprise!

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I was pleasantly surprised when Angel nominated me for the “LIEBSTER AWARD”. Thank you so much for considering my blog worth this award. As I am just finishing up the Blogging101 course, I am truly honored and excited!

Thank you very much, Angel! Please check out her blog, where she has lots of uplifting posts and interesting posts, as she tries to make things of the hard things in life!

Now, for those who have not heard about the award, here are the rules:

Thank your nominator
Show the award on your blog
Answer 10 questions asked to you
Ask 10 questions to 10 new nominees (who have less than 200 followers)
Notify them

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Thank you once again, Angel, as I can’t thank you enough for this nomination!

10 Questions asked to me by Angel.

What was your first thought when you read about your nomination? I was simply overjoyed, as it came completely out of the blue.
What is your favourite thing about blogging? The ability to interact with other bloggers, and get their feedback on what I post.
Would you take more classes like Blogging101? Why? Blogging101 was a tremendous kickstart to finally get my blog out of the doldrums; I’m looking for additional classes to continue this drive forward.
Is there a specific thing you would like to blog about but have not yet? There are some drafts building up right now, so stay tuned for some completely new material.
What will your blog look like in five years? Hopefully, it will continue to evolve and become ever more inspiring to my fellow bloggers. As my graphic design skills improve, the look and feel of my blog should grow with these skills.
What inspires you? A unique view into the world around me. A moment of perfect stillness. Completing a tricky task. Inspiring someone else to stretch their abilities.
What drives you nuts? Mindless people, by and large…
If you were reborn – who would you be? I’d come back as an artistic scientist…
From today’s perspective: If you could change an event that happened in your life would you do it? There are lots of things that I might do differently with hindsight, but it’s not too useful to dwell on the past.
What is your inner child’s favourite activity? Musing over things, challenging myself.

The following bloggers are my nominees for the “Liebster” award, and I hope they accept it:

Nominees are kindly requested to answer the following 10 questions:

Why did you start blogging?
How do you feel about being nominated?
What is your opinion about Blogging101?
What are your hobbies other than blogging?
What inspires you the most?
Is this your first/only blog or do you have other blogs too?
How would you describe your blog?
What are the things that annoy you?
who would you want to be if you were reborn?
What is the message you want to give to your readers through your blog?

Keep on blogging!!

Thank you all!

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