Showing posts with label #365project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #365project. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 04, 2025

I just want to be popular...

 I was digging through my various archives today, looking for a specific photo, which I finally found.  But in the process, I came across a post from June of 2020, where I posted my Top Rated Photos at the 365Project site. Which predictably got me thinking, what's that list look like today?

So here you go, file name and date posted:


  1.  First Snow - 11/30/24
  2. Just Hangin' Around... - 1/26/20 - This was #1 in previous post
  3. Northern Flicker - 1/25/24
  4. Lost In My Mind... - 2/24/18 - This was #2
  5. Frosty - 11/1/19 - this was #3
  6. Bluebird - 1/19/24
  7. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - 7/13/25
  8. Lost In A Fog - 2/23/19 - this was #4
  9. Chickadee In Flight - 6/14/20
  10. Robin #1 - 11/29/20
So... what to make of this?  Well, obviously, bird photos are popular at this site, capturing 7 of the top 10 spots.  And all of the new entries since the last time I looks.  Won't change what I'm shooting, but it's interesting to kniw. 



Friday, October 25, 2024

The Ultimate Adventurer!

 I've posted a few times (here) about the Weekend Adventurer / My Adventure Challenge thing.  They offer a series of hiking challenges; you log your miles, and they provide a patch.  It's fun, and there's a Facebook community.


Anyway, I started January 1, 2023, with the Hiker's 365 challenge, to hike 365 miles in 365 days.  This was a really good experience for me, inspired me to get off my tush and moving.  As I was winding that up, I started with the 4x seasonal challenges:  Winter 100, Spring Fling, Blazing Summer and Fall 50.  I completed the last of these recently.  The completion of these 5 challenges gets you another patch, The Ultimate Adventurer.  I received that patch today:


It's een a fun 22 months. and I plan to keep on going to finish a 2nd 365 miles for this year.  After that, I'll have to find some other motivation to keep going.

Meanwhile here's a few photos from yesterdays (short) hike at The Gardens At SIUE:









Saturday, February 04, 2023

Overextended?


Looking back at my 2022 photo output, I realized that I’m spread over a bunch of places, and probably not serving any of them well.  These include:

 - - -

Lsquared Imaging:  My “primary” blog.  If you’re reading this post, you know this one.  I’m pretty sure I started L^2 in the fall of has been around since at least August of 2004, and was a continuation from a personal page at AOL (remember AOL?).  Only 76 posts in 2022, and many of them were not photo related.  But hey, almost 19 years!

Happenstance Photography:  My “other” blog.  Around since at least July of 2000.  IIRC, I originally started this to focus on my microstock experience, but in late 2012 it had evolved into just photos, and just B&W photos.  Only 34 posts in 2022, down from 78 in 2021.

Instagram – lsqrd42:  I actually started this account in spring of 2014, but it languished for a long time.  These days it is probably where I am most active.  Once they updated so you could update from a PC, my activity picked up.  I like the immediacy of IG, and frequently post phone-photos that don’t end up elsewhere.  I had 407 posts to lasqd42 in 2022, some of which included more than one photo.  But only 210 followers at the end of the year.

365project – Larry L:  I started this site as a “photo-a-day project in January 2015.  It’s just another place I post photos for the past several years.  But I like the community and the challenges.  I posted 228 photos here in 2022

Betterphoto – Larry Lawhead:  I was pretty active here back in the 2003 – 2009 time frame, but quit for a while.  I rejoined in December 2021, though.  This site is good for it’s contests, which provide nice recognition.  Thy also host my website.  I posted 158 photos to BP last year.

Lawheadphoto.com:  Started in December 2021, this is my photo website.  It’s hosted through Betterphoto.  I’m sad to say that it has been rather stagnant, I don’t think I’ve updated it in 5+ months.  I’ve never gotten any meaningful feedback through the site, don’t have any indication how much traffic it gets, and haven’t been thrilled with the template I’m using.  One of my goals for 2023 is to resurrect this effort.

Facebook Groups – I do post photos all along to my Facebook page, but nothing concerted.  I do belong to a couple of photo groups, but I’ve not successfully “clicked” with any of them. That was part of a goal to find a local community.  I need to decide on one (maybe 2) and put more effort into it.  These include:  Midwest Photographic Society, Riverbend Photography Group, St Louis Photography Group and Alton Area Photography Group. 

Then there’s Quilt Shops and Photo Ops, a little something my wife and I started ~3 years ago.  There’s a web page, an Instagram and a Facebook page.  But those have been quite stagnant over the past 2 years, and I’m not sure what we want to do with thise.  So I won’t include links.

Some other past or stagnant things include:

The World In Black And White:  This was a blog I was invited to join, with a limited group of people (25 I think) posting photos.  It pretty much died after the moderator left, the last post was fall of 2019.  I had quit participating well before that, and deleted all my photos from there.  The blog still exists, though.

Microstock:  I participated in several microstock sites in the between 2004 and 2009.  I think I was in 6 sites at one point, through the years, that’s evolved to just 2 (Getty and Adobe).  Even though I haven’t posted anything to them in 14 years, I still get a rare (small) check.  I should probably close them, the income aren’t worth the trouble (1099’s).  And while microstock was an interesting experience, I have no interest in plunging back in.

Sunday, February 06, 2022

2021 My Year In Photography - Part 4

I've fallen behind on this project, but have my template complete, so they should start coming faster.  Hopefully about 1/wk....  There should be a total of 7 parts.   This is Part 3 of a series of videos, showing all of my images from 2021 that received some sort of recognition.  Today is Part 4, covering April through Mid June 2021.  I'd love any feedback y'all have:




My criteria were:

Photos at 356project that were recognized as Popular or Trending.

Photos at BetterPhoto that received Editor's Pick, Staff Favorite, Finalist, or Winner (2nd place, 1st place).

As always, comments welcome!

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

2021 My Year In Photography - Part 3

 I'm continuing to get these posted, not quite on my goal of 1/wk....  This is Part 3 of a series of videos, showing all of my images from 2021 that received some sort of recognition.  Today is Part 3, covering March 2021.  It's a little shorter than the previous editions, I think I like the ~3 minute target.  What do you think?



My critea were:\

Photos at 356project that were recognized as Popular or Trending.

Photos at BetterPhoto that received Editor's Pick, Staff Favorite, Finalist, or Winner (2nd place, 1st place).

As always, comments welcome!

Sunday, January 09, 2022

2021 My Year In Photography - Part 2

 As noted last Sunday, I decided to do a series of videos, showing all of my images from 2021 that received some sort of recognition.  Last week was part 1, which covered photos from January, 2021.  Today is Part 2, covering February 2021 (plus a couple of  January leftovers).




My critea were:\

Photos at 356project that were recognized as Popular or Trending.

Photos at BetterPhoto that received Editor's Pick, Staff Favorite, Finalist, or Winner (2nd place, 1st place).

As always, comments welcome!


Sunday, January 02, 2022

2021 My Year In Photography - Part 1

 

I decided to do a video, showing all of my images from 2021 that received some sort of recognition.  As I got into it, I decided to break it up into segments that would run <5 minutes.  So here's Part 1, which covers January 2021.


My critea were:\

Photos at 356project that were recognized as Popular or Trending.

Photos at BetterPhoto that received Editor's Pick, Staff Favorite, Finalist, or Winner (2nd place, 1st place).

As always, comments welcome!

Friday, January 15, 2021

Instant Throwback Pt. 5

 Continuing the series of images from my 365project entries over the past 6 years that received a designation of "Popular" and/or "Trending".  I'm posting them to Instagram, trying to (as much as possible) match the day of the month.   Here's where I've posted batches.   

These were posted to my instagram between December 28, 2020 and January 4, 2021, the dates below are when they were posted to 365project:


12/28/2017
- - -

12/24/2015
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12/30/2018
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12/30/2018
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01/01/2020
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1/02/2018
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01/03/2017
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01/04/2020
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Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Before and After

 A simple image, but one I rather like.  Taken during a mid-day walk at Drost Park in Maryville, IL:



Taken with my iPhone, which I rather like for this kind of image, low perspective, emphasizing either the foreground or the sky.  Despite being a simple phone photo, there's quite a bit of post processing here, digital darkroom.  But subtle, not looking for something painterly, or wild.

I was inspired by a challenge over at 365project, from an informal group called "TheDarkroom".  They challenged: "This week we're showcasing our Photoshop, Snapseed, Affinity, and any other programs out there, skills to alter, enhance, change a photograph taken this week...  Be subtle to enhance or be bold and experimental.".  I went with subtle to enhance, but did a little more than I would usually do.  

In the spirit of showcasing my "skills" I also put together a before and after diptych:




Thursday, January 07, 2021

Instant Throwback Pt. 4

Continuing the series of images from my 365project entries over the past 6 years that received a designation of "Popular" and/or "Trending".  I'm posting them to Instagram, trying to (as much as possible) match the day of the month.   Here's where I've posted batches.   

These were posted to my instagram between December 23 and December 27, the dates below are when they were posted to 365project:


12/17/2019
- - -

12/24/2018
- - -

12/20/2020
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12/17/18
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12/22/2020
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12/19/2018
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12/18/2020
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12/20/2019
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Friday, January 01, 2021

2020 Review - 365project Themes / Challenges

 So, one of my photography goals for 2020 was to continue a focus on their ongoing themes.  I selected 9 ongoing challenges to target:

  • Scenes From the Road
  • Album Cover Challenge
  • Edit The Stuffing Out Of It (ETSOOI)
  • Song Title
  • Eye Of The Beholder (EOTB)
  • What Would You Do (WWYD)
  • Black and White
  • Technique
  • 365project Monthly Theme

So how did that work out?

Winner - Eye Of The Beholder #122

Of  the 9 targeted challenges, there were 101 editions which were completed in 2020.  I entered 74 of them (73% rate) which is slightly below 2019 (80% participation in the 9 categories targeted that year).  I was selected as Finalist 33 times (45% of entries), and was voted Winner 6 times.  That's a slight improvement in Finalists (up from 42%), and doubled the number of winners from 2019.  So all-in-all its pretty good.

Winner - Macro - In Nature

My best challenges were: Album Cover Challenge (7 finalists, 1 win), B&W Themes (6 finalists, 1 win), ETSOOI (6 finalists, 0 wins), and EOTB (6 finalists, 2 wins).  My worst were:  365-monthly (1 finalist in 7 entries), Song Title and Scenes of the Road  (Each with 2 finalists, and 1 win), and What Would You Do (2 finalists).

Winner - BW-54 - High Contrast

I also tracked 7 other ongoing challenges at the site.  Predictably, my participation rate and my finalist rates were both lower (56% participation, 30% finalists, 2 wins).  

Winner - Scenes Of The Road #17

Not bad, and an improvement over 2019.

So, what about 2021?  I'm not sure.  I will continue to do challenges, but will probably tweak the ones I focus on.  I've been disappointed in the way that Would You Do has evolved, with focus shifting away from darkroom techniques towards adding elements.  And Scenes Of the Road has shifted, after a bit of "controversy" over whether it sould be Scenes OF or Scenes FROM, and what those terms meant. Anyway, I'll probably deemphasize those, and step up on Macro, Minimalist and/or Mundane.





Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Instant Throwback Pt. 3

 Another in the continuing series of images from my 365project entries over the past 6 years and logged all of the photos that received a designation of "Popular" and/or "Trending".  I'm posting them to Instagram, trying to (pretty much) match the day of the month.   Here's where I've posted batches.   

These were posted to my instagram between December 16 and December 22:

12/16/2019
- - -

12/17/19
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12/05/2020
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12/19/2019
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12/20/2018
- - -

12/20/2020
- - -
12/03/2018
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12/14/2018
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Friday, December 25, 2020

Instant Throwback, Pt. 2

 I posted a few days back about my thing of posting "Popular" and "Trending" photos from 365project over at Instagram.  Details here.  

In my previous post on the topic, I included the first 5 instagram posts.  Here's a few more, with the original posting date (to 365project):


12/04/2020
- - -

12/10/2018
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12/10/2020
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12/12/18
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12/04/17
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12/14/19
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12/15/19
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Monday, December 14, 2020

Instant Throwback

I started a new thing this week, over at my Instagram page.  I did a review of my 365project entries over the past 6 years and logged all of the photos that received a designation of "Popular" and/or "Trending".  I'm posting them to Instagram, trying to (pretty much) match the day of the month.  I'll probably double up posts when there's more images than days of the month.

I'm hoping to do this as an ongoing project, depending on the reception.


Anyway, here's the first 5 posts, linked from the original 365project posts, with the original posting date:

12/7/19

12/13/15

12/6/18

12/3/20

12/8/16