Seriously?

Is that all?

Twenty-eight days ago, we started a wonderful challenge of writing a post per day. Now, mind you, I’ve done this before. And not even with a challenge! Just blogging for a full month (or more) in a row.

It’s true, however, that when you put some emphasis on some crazy themes, it gets harder. Alas, it’s a done deal. As of the moment I hit publish on this post, I’ll have completed this challenge. For the second time.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Though there were some off-the-wall prompts this time around (I think even more than the first time), I’ve once again enjoyed it. Truthfully, challenges like this get your mind working and make you think about things in a different way. For the most part, I try and stick with reality on the prompts. I try and come up with something in the real world (though I did use Earl once). I find that to be even more challenging.

When one challenge closes, there’s always another ready to snap away!

But enough about me. Hopefully you’ve been with me for the past 28 days and you’ve seen it all.

I’ve really enjoyed reading and commenting on all the other blogs. Outside of the ones posted later yesterday (I’ll be getting to them) and today, I’ve ready pretty much every post people have done in this challenge. I can’t say I have commented on every post, but if you’ll recall there’s always reasons for something like that.

And though they may readily deny it, I know Nicky and Mike like this challenge. And I’m sure there will be a third one. Though, to be fair, it may have to be done without my prodding. I’ll just wait in the wings for the next one. Patiently, this time. Kind of.

I have a whole heap of new blogs I’ve really enjoyed going to during this challenge. And I’ve loved that there are several from the first go-around still there and going at it. I’ll be updating my blog roll soon with a few more of the ones I truly enjoyed and got to know.

No matter what, that’s the best part about this challenge — meeting other bloggers from all over with different tastes and styles. It’s made it fun and I look forward to continuing to reading some of their blogs in the coming weeks, months and more. So for that, I thank Nicky and Mike for taking this on again and I will look forward to a third — if and when it happens. This time next year, perhaps?

Still, I won’t lie.

I like challenges. It keeps me fresh with blogging things and forces me to sometimes think outside the box a little. I know Ziva, another participant in this challenge, does a 30 days of photography one sometimes. I like that idea because I’m a photographer. I just have a hard time posting 30 straight days of photos on this blog. So it got me thinking a bit. What could we do to intertwine photography and blogging?

Then the ideas instantly came — a monthly photo blogging challenge.

I initially ran the idea by Ziva to see what she thought of it because she’s done the photo challenges. She told me she was on board with it and would lend her “challenge” expertise if needed.

So here’s the deal.

On the first of every month, I’ll have a blog post about the theme for the month. Each participant will have the full month to take five photos to cover the month’s theme. Interpret it as you see fit. On the final day of the month, do a blog post about the photos for the theme and post it. Come back over here and I’ll have a link thing setup, much like Nicky/Mike and Ziva do for their challenges.

The beauty of this challenge is it’s one post, but it still gives you a challenge. And it challenges you with photos as well as words.

My post here tomorrow will explain the challenge in-depth and have the first theme.

This challenge will go on for however long. There will be no direct end date. As long as people seem interested and want to continue along with it, they are most certainly welcome. Who knows? Maybe it’ll just be Ziva and I doing it. Or just me. Or three or four. I have no idea.

So, in the end, I guess that’s not all for now.

Maybe for the current challenge. But there will always be challenges, whether blogging or in real life, that one will do or overcome.

I’ve enjoyed this challenge and look forward to the next. And for that, I’m thankful.

Hope to see some or many of you hopping into the monthly photo challenge!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

OK, folks, time to talk about blogging.

In this crazy thing we call blogging, you basically have only two or three “types” of blogs. You have personal blogs, niche blogs or making money blogs. Sometimes, the three can merge. Sometimes not so much.

I’ve been blogging, in some form or another, since like 2005. My blog is a personal one — a place where I might be serious, funny, or just have quick posts, such as a photo or a quite. I’ll dip into some niche things, but it’s all on a personal level.

This is my domain, so to speak.

In the years I’ve run this blog, I have 1,298 (including today’s) posts. In that time frame, my blog posts have also garnered 3,578 comments. That’s nearly three comments per post, if you do the basic math.

But there are many more posts on this site that don’t have comments than those that do. Sometimes, though, comments aren’t that big of a deal. I like it because it gives me reminders to visit others, or discover other new blogs. Or, it sometimes can be a fun conversation.

Blogging challenges are more than writing a daily post — it’s about experiencing everybody’s posts and being part of a community.

As you all know by now, I’m in this crazy blog challenge. It’s the second time I’ve done this month-long challenge, run by Nicky and Mike at We Work For Cheese.

I truly am glad I stumbled across it the first time. Because in that time, I’ve found some great blogs and people. See, for many bloggers, blogging is a community thing. It’s a way to read about others, know people in an online world and go from there.

When you run a niche blog or one that makes money, sometimes I think the thought process is different. I run a disc golf blog and there are times where it’s overwhelming. Trying to find things to post and all can get extremely hard, even with the group of great writers we have there. And I just don’t have the ability to answer every comment there because the stories are sometimes there to elicit opinions etc.

But a personal blog…

I love when people visit this blog. I love comments. I love all that. I try and respond to each and every comment  though sometimes it takes longer. (And, to be fair, I usually don’t comment on my Snapshot Saturday posts because it’s usually all family having fun with one another etc.) But, truthfully, this blog isn’t ever going to have a month with 20,000 page views. I’m just not that interesting.

That’s why challenges, such as the one I’m currently involved in, are important.

See, when you have a blog such as this, you hope to get people to come visit once or twice, like what you have to say and then keep coming back. In turn, I look to try and find interesting people and want to keep returning to their blog. Especially if they comment. I always try and make it a point to go visit a blog of somebody who has commented on my site.

I’ll admit I can get lax about things, but I try.

After the last challenge, I kept up with visiting blogs for a while. But then time gets in the way. I still try and check several, though. And I try and comment as much as possible.

When I’m in a blog challenge, I go out of my way to visit every blog and comment. If I haven’t commented, it means the blog was either linked late or I couldn’t leave a comment one way or another.

Or, it means it’s later (time wise) in the challenge.

See, here’s the thing about challenges like this — if you are part of it, you better put out, too. By that, I mean if you expect people to come by your blog, you need to return the favor.

These challenges are nice because you get to see different styles of writing, different ways of interpreting a theme and some really good posts. The comments can be just as fun. But there are some (not all) people who don’t seem to visit (or, if they do, they don’t comment) too many other blogs. And that’s their loss as they aren’t getting the full experience of the challenge.

For the first 10 days or so, I’ll visit everybody. I’ll comment on most, though I’ll start backing away from ones who don’t seem to visit back. Why? Because if they don’t want to be part of the challenge, why am I worrying about being active on their part of the challenge? I want a sense of camaraderie  not just me visiting a blog and commenting. I do realize that there are days people just can’t get to all the blogs. And that’s understandable. It happens. I don’t penalize people for missing a few days. This is more about people who do the challenge as a way to have things to write about, which is fine, but I think they miss the overall experience of the challenge.

This is a community. Be a part of it.

It really is a shame, too. Because I’ve been lucky enough to find some great bloggers over these two challenges. I wonder if I’ve missed a couple because I’ve gotten to the point where I just have to do it the way I feel is right.

So you better put out. Or you might not get anything back in return.

And the best part of this post? Those who don’t put out won’t even know it was posted!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

It could have been worse — this could have been the soda you have been waiting 30 days to drink!

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor.

Yes, it could have been worse.

Too, it could have been better. But take it as it is.

With this being Day 30 of the writing challenge set up by Nicky and Mike at We Work for Cheese, I figured it would be good to look back at it.

It could have been worse — I could have been told that this was the last Guinness I would ever be able to drink!

After all, when one can sit down and write 30 straight days of a blog with pre-determined themes, I figure that’s a total win. There were times when I had a very hard time with the themes. Sometimes I pressed, but I always seemed to find something. It challenged me as a writer and I appreciate that.

The one thing I thought was great about this was challenging writers. Some of the themes were really out there and one had to think about things a bit. Sometimes I went for humor. Other times it was serious. But I always tried to find a way to do something.

It was also a hoot reading the posts from everyone else taking part in the challenge. Unfortunately, not everybody posted each day, but many did. And because of that, I found several new bloggers who I plan on visiting on a regular basis.

In reality, I’m not sure I’ll re-visit everyone. Maybe. Who can tell. I guess it all depends on where the Internet takes me, no?

Not everything was great.

One reason I got into this challenge was to find new cachers. Another reason was I hoped that also meant there would be more new people seeing my work and, hopefully, a few new readers. Though I didn’t succeed in doing so every day of the challenge, I always made an effort to comment on other people’s blogs. There was a pretty good group of bloggers who did the same, but there were some who didn’t. Looking back, I know there are several people I rarely saw comment anywhere else, let alone here.

It could have been worse — I could have been told hot dogs had become illegal!

To me, that’s disappointing.

Not because I just wanted more comments, but because I don’t think one gets the full feel of the challenge if they just post on their blog and let it run. One thing about not visiting and commenting on other people’s blogs is that those people might not visit yours.

I didn’t skip many blog posts. But I didn’t always comment for various reasons. And, I’m sure, there are people who stopped my blog and thought the same thing. I’m fine with that, too.

Such is the life of a blog challenge.

In the end, I hope others got out of it as much as I did. I had the chance to see many different bloggers and styles.

In the end, I’m glad I stumbled upon Nicky and Mike’s blog and discovered this challenge. And, I’m happy I dived in and decided to go for it and do it. I can’t say I’m disappointed it’s coming to an end though!

I look forward to reading several of the bloggers beyond this challenge to see how they shape their blogs beyond this challenge and I hope I’ve made some new blogging pals along the way.

After all, it could have been worse. Much worse.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor.

In photography, there are normal rules that many shutterbugs follow.

Such as the rule of thirds. Or depth of field. I guess they aren’t true “rules,” rather guidelines that many photographers follow. And I am a fan of these rules — when starting. But the beauty of photography, or any art for that matter, is that rules are meant to be broken.

The biggest rule is the rule of thirds. Basically, that means you should take your image and imagine it in nine equal squares. You should position the biggest and most important element along one of the lines that breaks the photo up — or where they cross. The idea is that there’s interest and balance in your shot.

In this shot, I basically stuck to the rule of thirds. What it does is gives the viewer a chance to absorb the shot and it gives the player the “space” where the ball is being thrown.

I do like the rule, but I probably break it more times than following it. I know some photographers who almost live by this rule. And there are times when it’s something that is better because of the look.

However, this is when I point out that they are more guidelines.

Or, so I thought.

As I perused my Flickr stream for this post, I realize I follow this rule more than I thought I did. Maybe it’s an instinct in certain situations. Maybe it’s the post-processing where I think it looks better. That being said, I don’t always follow it and will break the rule.

Take, for example, the shot below.

I don’t think this shot would be improved by the rule of thirds.

What improvements would be made if the above shot was in the rule of thirds? None. See, the moon is basically centered, so it would be in the middle of the center square. In this shot, with everything surrounding it, it works without the rule of thirds.

This is why breaking photo rules is important — it gives you a chance to mess around some.

Alas, this falls into another photography rule — framing. It’s where you use other elements (the tree) to frame the shot (the moon) you are taken. So although I snapped the rule of thirds, I got into the framing rule.

There’s always rules. As much as you try and break ‘em, there are more to get you!

Some of the other big “rules” in photography include (these aren’t all, just ones I like to utilize — or, at times, break):

Balancing elements — when you utilize the rule of thirds and attempt to balance it with another object on the opposite side of the photo. Basically, something to weigh the photo and even it out.

Leading lines — think a photo of a curvy road or river where your eyes naturally seem to follow the lines to the end of the photo. That’s basically a way for you to see the whole photo and you travel through the image.

Viewpoint — above, below, side etc. Changing the way you look at something can make photos extremely different.

Background — you might have the best image in the world, but if you have a busy background, it could ruin the shot. Or, at times, it could improve it.

Depth of field — whether blurry or crisp, that depth of an image can make or break a shot.

Cropping — How close or far away from the shot you are can be a big thing with photos. With digital as it is now, it’s a little easier to fix this one after.

But, as I’ve noted, not all rules are full and direct. Sometimes you can break every rule in the photography books and think you messed up, only to get one hell of a wild photo.

I botched many things with this shot, but in the end, I got something I thought was artistic and very cool.

And, like many things in life, this shows that interesting or good things can come out of breaking rules. Though many rules in society are a must and should, obviously, be followed, there are times when rules can be broken.

With photography, it’s a definite chance to break the rules and see what you can come up with.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor.

I have no idea why, but this prompt is really doing me in.

Nothing.

I’ve thought about it since the beginning and I can’t think of anything. Seriously. I’m sure there have been turning points in my life, but they aren’t anything I can get into right now. Mainly because I don’t want to figure things out until the next big turning point happens.

And then there was an attempt at some fiction and to try and be funny, but it didn’t work out so well.

So, I’ll leave you this this photo, which I took in Ireland in 2010.

A lot of turning points right here!

I think of turning points and I realize many happen in life. Maybe as many as on this sign post.

Hopefully most of the turns end up being the right ones.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!