As hard as I try, it isn't always easy to find every link that's made to my site, ever. But, as best as I can tell, 7 of you wonderful people "linked to me":http://revjim.net/2006/06/29/100000-views-on-flickr/ just "like I asked":http://revjim.net/2006/06/29/a-place-to-click-a-poem-about-linking/ yesterday. It means a lot to me. Really. A lot.
However, I will admit that it's a bit depressing when I consider that 398 people in roughly the same amount of time liked my work enough to click on a link and view a larger version of "held softly":http://revjim.net/2006/06/29/held-softly/ and yet, of those 398 fans, I only manged to muster 7 links. Or that of the 20 or 30 people that I consider close personal friends that read this site and have websites of their own, I only managed to muster 7 links. But, Let's not concentrate on the bad…
I managed to get 227 visitors (so far) to "my announcement":http://revjim.net/2006/06/29/100000-views-on-flickr/ and from that announcement sold three images which, after costs (though not counting my time or gas), will bring me about $33 in profit which is $33 more than I had before.
It's clear to me that I need three things…
# more experience
# more images
# more exposure
The first two I work on almost every day. I'm learning to step back from the work I usually do and consider it in other ways in order to help me make images that go beyond what I've ever done before. I continue to find new ways to push myself beyond my limits and always make new observations on composure and framing. Further more, I'm pushing myself into new types of photograph, new thematic elements, and setting new and different personal measures of success.
While this site should serve, in part, as a tool to gain more exposure and to help grow my talent it is, in fact, having the opposite effect. The mish-mash of topics keeps many would-be fans from visiting my site, and the personal relationship I have with many of its readers causes me to hold the feedback I do get too close to my heart. The lack of creativity in this space and lack of focus doesn't allow photography to become the greater part of a whole. So, as "I've discussed before":http://revjim.net/2006/06/20/where-to-be/, the images on this site will be moving to a new home. Unable to make a decision on my own, the 16 of you that responded to my poll have indicated that you are undecided as well. So, I'm simply going to pick one and move forward.
A big part of the reason that I seem to fail at making any form of progress in difficult situations is that I pay too much attention to detail, am too concerned with perfection, and I care too much about the past.
That's what I was getting at with my poem "the first step":http://revjim.net/2006/06/28/the-first-step/. I feel like finally, after 28 revolutions around the sun, I've almost learned how to make a choice. When I finally do, no longer will I be doomed to stumble toward some unseen goal until finally reaching or missing my mark and crashing into a wall. Instead, just as I now walk, as I get closer and closer to my goal, I'm able to make new choices, change my path, or seek a new goal altogether. My first choice in a chain of choices no longer matters as much. My starting stance is no longer as critical. My tether to the past and where I came from have been unleashed.
So I'm moving and things are changing. Again. If all goes as planned, the photograph I post today will also be on my new site. And, again, if all goes as planned, I'll continue to post photographs here next week, pointing over to my new site each time, after which, I'll stop. I'm sure I'll loose a few viewers in the process. People who can be bothered to subscribe to a new site, or visit a new bookmark. I'm letting myself be okay with that. Part of that whole change thing.
