I had the following comment sent by Friko at Friko's Musings to one of my posts and I wanted to single it out for a more formal reply. It deserves some addressing to many of you.
"I come across your photo in the followers column of many, many bloggers. Some interesting ones, some ordinary ones, some photographic sites, and many of no particular focus. I am curious to learn what makes you pick one blog over another. I have visited your blog and left appreciative comments from time to time, even followed for a while, but you have never reacted. I'm sure there's nothing personal, after all, bloggers don't really know each other at all. It would still interest me how people choose the sites to look at. I've recently written a post on blogging and I would like to explore the subject further. Congratulations on a very successful blog."
Fricko
First let me say, I am sorry I did not acknowledge your appreciative comments. That is really the most important thing I want to say here and I am glad I can address this a bit because I am horribly neglegent in this area. Truth is, ... I am receiving far too many positive responses to answer with individual Thank You's to everyone. I just can't keep up with all the kind comments and that is why I periodically thank everyone in my written posts. I am very serious and DO want to thank every member personally but I typically don't respond to them individually UNLESS a specific question is asked ... and sometimes this takes days based on my schedule. Many people write personal comments to my email address asking for advice for oppinions. It does take time but I DO respond to each of them if it is needed. Either way, I KNOW this is an area I am weak in handling but I must take care of so many things as I travel. I am not trying to make excuses in any way but I really don't know how to handle this personally every time. BUT I am glad you brought it up so I could at least address it here. Thank you Fricko and my heartfelt appologies. Es tut mir leid. Mein Deutsche ist sehr schlecte.
Now, as to how I chose the sites that I look at. Wow! Probably many other people wonder how that nutty NikonSniper ended up here. Well, I do not own a television any more. I was bored with it and it generally depressed me. I was a notorious channel flipper when we owned a TV. I probably watched segments of 15 shows in 30 minutes.
I can say that the root of what I look for in a blog begins with photography ... but from there it carries into so many hobbies and interests I have no way of knowing exactly what got me to where I was when I have hit on another 20 sites to explore. I believe photography is the best of hobbies because no matter what your hobby is ... you will probably want photos of it (unless "thinking" is your hobby). I often enjoy the photos in a site even though it has nothing to do with photography. I might see someone who is stark raving bonkers for handcrafts, cooking and jewelry and love looking at how they chose to photograph them. Lots of other times I have joined the blogs of those who have chosen to follow NikonSniper. And I may end up discovering their friends listed on their blogs. You see I doubt I can help you much with specific methodology. I am a channel flipper I guess.
Thank you for your kind comments and I hope to be forgiven by the hundreds that leave comments wondering if I read them. I DO! And am so thankful for all of you. I just know I need to spend more time shooting than anything because that's where I find peace and quiet in my life. I hear nature speak to me. I am trying to record as much as I can photographically in order to keep a high volume of different subjects coming to NikonSniper. The actual blogging part of this is by far the most difficult and time consuming aspect. To me, the fun is in the firing shots. The work is the blog. If it was all blogging I wouldn't do it at all.
On another note, ... there have been several who have sent personal emails requesting my oppinion of why there are so many followers. I can't say for sure but I will venture a guess for those of you who wish to expand your follower base.
Reason #1 to me is getting on to others blogs and trying to encourage what it is that I like with comments. It is that old thing that the postman said a hundred years ago ... if you want letters - send letters. This is the most important thing. I believe there is no substitute for time in building a blog.
Other possible factors that may help are as follows:
a. I mix my photos up from all over the place. I want to spread color, subject and special effects. I like the fact that when you scroll down on the front page ... you have no idea what you will see from one photo to the next and I constantly look for new subjects to bring into the mix so I can do this even better.
b. I don't under estimate a neutral color (shade of grey) in a background. Aqua is a beautiful color but portrait photos or earth tones may or may not show up well with an aqua border. Some will, some won't! Black is my background of choice because I believe it shows all photos to be better in this form of media.
c. I am nearly brain dead now and pop-ups nearly make my head explode. I know they can earn you money (which is nice) but I am trying to create a place that is simple and about photography. I am looking for ways to add better organizing and even some cool movement without having 15 things pop up in your face.
d. Why are my photos smaller than what most people want to see? It allows you to scroll down and see what the next photo looks like. YES, all of these photos look better if you click on them to make them larger but some will have no interest to you and you can usually see that you are not interested with the smaller version. It may be the the next photo you will spend time looking at.
e. I don't write a lot! I spend time giving each photo a title but usually that's all I say. My photos mean different things to each of you. I don't want to cloud out what a photo means to you by explaining what every photo means to me. I let you do that for yourself. In doing so ... it is your comments that are actually the majority of the text in this blog. When I do write ... It is usually about my faith in Christ which matters more to me than my next breath. I am aware this bothers some people but I am certainly not willing to keep my mouth shut about Jesus! Some dear encouraging people have quit following because of my expressed words of faith and I respect them for their decision. But as for me and my blog ... we shall serve the Lord! God bless.
All the best. NikonSniper Steve
