How do you like me now?

Peeples Valley Cemetery Dawn

Spoiler alert: it really doesn’t matter, especially as I get older.

I do want to balance that lone wolf attitude with an effort to take advantage of the benefits of sharing, especially on social media.  Perhaps I can raise awareness about wild places and their conservation.  I also hope to share peace and beauty for their own sake, and for everyone’s benefit.  Maybe I can also participate in the social media network of inspiration that has helped and motivated me so over the years.

In any case, it’s not about the “likes.”

That being said, I never can tell what will be popular, though snapshots of my dogs (past and present) do seem to reliably get folks’ attention.  I’ve especially noticed how bad I am at predicting images’ popularity since I’ve been branching out into tabletop photography to shore up my mental health as I spend so much time at home.

 

Martin Skull

Perhaps the skull images shouldn’t have been a surprise, but they were.  To me, these borrowed gems are positively elegant.  Apparently, I’m more or less alone there; At the Out Of Chicago Live conference, Mike Moats said, “people don’t like dead things.”

Flowers are often a hit, but the backlighted Gerbera series and morning photographs in our local cemetery (the opening shot) really took off.  Who knew?

I posted this lichen image from a recent camping trip to the Mogollon Rim, thinking (as much as I love it) that it would be a social media dud.  It turns out that you liked it, too.

 

Mogollon Rim Arizona

The lichens were, in fact, much more popular than the landscapes.

This shot from Kofa National Wildlife Reserve seems to have been deeply moving only for me.

In disclosure: I’m no influencer, but am thrilled to connect with those who show up, no matter what they like.

Mostly, my deepest rewards come from the images that move me.

There’s more on the website.