After years of failed starts with a photography site and blog, I'm finally ready to call "uncle" on Wordpress.
Yes, Wordpress is an amazingly powerful platform that can, if you have some skills, allow for a completely customized web site. But along with all that power is complexity and cost.
The complexity is self explanatory if you've ever experienced the plug-in rabbit hole or tried to make even the most minor tweaks with CSS, and the cost, well, you can get a hosting service for relatively low cost and Wordpress itself is free, but once you add backup solutions, protection services against various forms of malware, or move beyond the basic free themes and plugins, the costs can really start adding up. This gets even worse if you put any value into the time it takes to maintain everything.
I've owned my domain since 2001, and have spent both money and countless hours over the years trying to resolve technical problems, remove bugs and create compelling styling. Despite my best efforts I have been forced to rebuild about six times over eighteen years even while never quite achieving the look and functionality that I wanted. It's time to (finally) wave the white flag.
I've hereby given up on Wordpress and am moving my domain over to Squarespace. I may have some limitations on the site function, though I would argue that lack of programming and design skills meant that I never fully took advantage of all that power anyway, and the pre-done sample templates available on Squarespace are simply gorgeous. On the upside, someone else gets to worry about things like backups and site security, and I get to concentrate on content and craft, which is absolutely where I'd rather be spending my time.
I'm starting over with a new photo blog and web site on a new platform for 2020. This, along with some other adventures (to be revealed at a later date) that I'm excited to pursue this vear. will drive me forward to create more content. Only by creating more on a consistent basis can we grow.
Along with new content, I'm going to run through a series of posts going back in time to review images that, while they may no longer be what I consider portfolio worthy (some are arguably better than others), I was once proud of them and they were my best work at the time, so the mere fact that I no longer want them in the portfolio says that they show my progression and growth as a photographer.
This will also be an opportunity to clear out the chaff and save some hard drive space from my archive. I have far too many RAW files that never again need to see the light of day. And I'm also looking forward to trying some re-edits, using new tools and skills and a new appreciation for composition. In those cases I'll post both the original and the re-edit. If you want to follow along with that process, I'll be posting all of those older images under the "Nostalgia" category.
If you've read this far, kudos and thank you. This site is (via the gallery) a collection of my best work and (via the blog) a record of my progress. I'm hoping you enjoy the images and the stories and join me on my learning curve to see where my work takes me next.
Please feel free to connect by dropping a comment, using the contact form, or finding me on social media.