2022. On the twelfth month, she rested.

Posted on by Alessandra Chaves Posted in PhotographyTagged , , , , ,

Holiday season has sure kicked in and I must confess that I am not ready for 2023 just yet.

This week’s #WordPrompt is “ lost” and I wanted to play before my brief exit.

It’s been a very difficult year for me. And after all that happened, I lost my mojo and I feel lost. I am taking the rest of December off from blogging to wrap up a few things before the new year. I hope to see you all again in 2023. I plan to resume posting on January 10, 2023.

If you want a summary of my blogging statistics this year, keep reading below. If not, skip to the end for a very special holiday message to you.

A 2022 BLOG SUMMARY

In 2022, I wrote 64 posts, totaling 25K words, which resulted in 7500 views and 1K comments. I have short of 200 followers, counting e-mail followers. I suppose half of the comments are my own replies, so my posts received approximately 500 comments.

My most important referrer is WordPress.com feed, followed by Facebook (I publish my posts there), and google search. Apparently, trying to announce blog posts on Instagram is not worth my time, since only 50 views, out of 7,500, came from there. 

My most popular posts, in this order, were as follows:

• Fun with pepper photography in black and white;

•  Photography opportunities at the Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville (California, USA);

•  Working in projects and series- winter tulips, part one;

•  Inspiring botanical photographer – Kazumasa Ogawa;

•  Photographers who have inspired me- Charles Jones;

Among my posts with the fewer numbers of views, I must highlight those tagged #wordlesswednsday (no words), and various other posts with few words accompanying a picture. 

Surprisingly unpopular in number of views were also my series of more philosophical posts, for instance the ones about photography critique, or questioning why take photographs for the sake of shooting. However, the quality of the replies on those posts, and the conversations that arose among my followers, make me consider writing a few more of them next year.

Undeniably, in the short-term (4-6 months), the date of the post does influence the number of views to date: more recent posts tend to have fewer views for obvious reasons. In the long-term (6+ months), however, few posts continue to receive views and engagements, except for those mentioned below. 

Posts highlighting local places with photography opportunities and those mentioning books and the work of other photographers seem to maintain a small but steady frequency of views after six months. They are picked up by search engines. Conversely, “oh look at my clever botanical photo” types of posts are ignored by the same search engines and steadily lose audience after a week or two.

Very rarely did people click on links provided in my posts. This includes links with supporting information, for example to Wikipedia or other informative sites, or links to YouTube videos and to my previous posts. This makes me wonder about the usefulness of providing links, but I am not going to necessarily stop including them when they contain information I am not willing to repeat. They certainly do not hurt.

Although I realize that my statistics are not impressive, and do not indicate success, I am a happy blogger. And I owe all my blogging happiness to my loyal followers. Thanks so much for following me through 2022, and for the kind support and feedback you have given me. More importantly, I am grateful that I have found several interesting blogs to follow on a variety of subjects, and for the chance to participate in discussions on various issues that include, but are not limited to, photography. 

THE LEAD PHOTOGRAPH

The lead photograph is from a mural in Sacramento’s open walls. It is called SLEEPING GIRL WITH ADORABLE PANDAS, and is located at the Burgers and Brew Parking lot (1616) J street Sacramento, California.

A HOLIDAY MESSAGE TO YOU

In this holiday season, don’t forget to hug those you love and to tell them how important they are to you. It could be your last Festivus, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, or whatever you celebrate, together. Resolve issues, forgive, make peace. Life is short, it goes fast, and tomorrow is not guaranteed.

______________________________

Wall Art Botanical Images

Wall Art Photography projects

Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous

________________________________

29 thoughts on “2022. On the twelfth month, she rested.”

  1. Reply
    Steve Schwartzman says:

    Your thoughts about the past and future brought to mind the Portuguese expression seja o que for and then the Latin saying Vita brevis, ars longa, which resonates with people who strive to make images that will last. Your closing paragraph inspired the motto “Better hugged up than hung up.”

    Given what has come your way this year, not feeling a little lost would be the strange thing. Wherever you’ll be spending the next month—perhaps Brazil—Bom proveito.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Reply
    Mark says:

    I wish you a peaceful and rejuvenating rest, Alessandra. The changing of a date on a calendar has always been a perplexing time for me. Somehow society expects us to have a reflection and set goals. I think we all can do that in our own ways in whatever time feels right to us, but we still place this internal pressure on ourselves. So I get it. I wish I had words of wisdom for anyone coping with loss because I have never found them for myself. I’ve always enjoyed the posts you make, even though I might not always have something intelligent to say.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Reply
    jim hughes says:

    My enthusiasm for blogging definitely waxes and wanes, and like you said, the posts I feel the best about don’t necessarily get the most notice. However I’m seeing a slow but steady upward trend. With the ongoing meltdown at Twitter, many people are rethinking the whole social media thing; so lets look to 2023 for a renewal of interest in blogs. I think it can happen.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Reply
    Anne Sandler says:

    What can be said about 2022? It was a tough year. You especially had a difficult one. You do seem to be rising above and handling your loss as best you can. I’m hoping that you thrive emotionally in 2023. As for me, I’m looking forward to better health and enough energy to enjoy photography again. Take care.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Reply
    Steve Heap says:

    I wish you all the best for the coming month(s) and look forward to your blogs again in the coming year. Your final comments are very appropriate as well – we so often rush around and are absorbed in ourselves. It is very important to make the best of relationships while you can.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Reply
    shoreacres says:

    The title of this post is so clever, and the decisions behind it so wise. Life is filled with rhythms — sunrise and sunset, the turning of the seasons, the ebbing and rising of tides, waking and sleeping — and being sensitive to those rhythms is the important thing. Emotionally and creatively, we live out certain rhythms, too. They’re different for each of us, and we’re the only ones who know how best to spend our days.

    One of my favorite quotations comes from Annie Dillard. I think her words are so wise and so true: ““How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.” Sometimes, taking things an hour at a time is the perfect approach.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Reply
    Steve Gingold says:

    I hope that this break brings a few things to you. Peace, of course. Solace as needed. Understanding that life offers loss and gain. A recharged desire to create.

    I am also taking a break. Cannot say by choice but the drive to photograph and blog is at an ebb right now. For some reason sharing on FB is easier, at least for the time being. Accomplishing other things that ordinarily would be passed over is the goal temporarily.

    Since you’ll be absent here for the holidays I hope you have as lovely a Christmas as you are able and that the New Year brings some joy to you.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Reply
    WritingfromtheheartwithBrian says:

    In the most sophisticated and academic voice that I can muster, I say “phooey to blogging statistics!” Statistics and page views say nothing about the quality of a blog. And frankly, I’ve found that my happiness with my blog has no correlation with blog hits. I’ve loved blogs that others may or may not have noticed. I’ve hated others that many folks have liked. What matters is what you think. For what it’s worth, I’ve definitely appreciated your blog and look forward to reading more in 2023. Best wishes for the holiday season and to an exciting 2023!

    Like

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