I just spent the better part of this weekend renovating my pictures page to give it a nice new interface, courtesy of JAlbum, which is the first gallery program which supports the level of customization that makes me actually willing to use it. Of course, I posted a bunch of pictures as well, mostly from the GrX missions sendoffs, and other church events, not to mention digging up some old images dating all the way back to high school -- 10 years ago! =P.
Anyhow, it's recently come to my attention that my picture page is far and away the most popular section on my website. People, random strangers even, spend hours surfing it -- whether they have voyeuristic tendencies or just like what I shoot, is anyone's guess.
Why, I have no idea. Time-wise, I spend more time blogging than posting pics, and I do it rather infrequently. In my mind, it's not a gallery to advertise my photo skills, because I'm no professional. It's really just a visual extension of my text blog that you now are reading.
Still, interestingly, my picture page has also helped out various people several times. It is often referred to by people planning their weddings or receptions. Instead of describing their preferred wedding dress/venue location/atmosphere, they just refer to one of the wedding shots in my gallery. It's also helped reunite old friends, when people Google on their friends' names, and my pictures come up, then emailing me asking me to forward such and such a message. My travel pictures have been featured in the brouchure of a UK travel agency, which was surprising, since again, I don't consider my photo equipment and skills anywhere near professional quality.
Indeed, some people deem it an honor to make my "famous" picture page, and will greet their inclusion with much over-deserved rejoicing...
But in any case, as has been the case for the last 10 years, I hope someone enjoys them, and I hope something I write or shoot makes a difference in some way to someone.
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