I belong to Facebook, Twitter and a few other social media groups.  I am not very active but I still occasionally read what my contacts have posted and on rare occasions share a link to this blog.  I have only posted an opinion once on Facebook that I can think of.  If I share a link it is not political and is usually about some sort of photography or a charitable organization.   I treat this blog differently because blogs are made for opinions.  People have to make an initiative to travel (through cyberspace) to the blog.  The blog has my name on it and is mine.  Facebook and Twitter belong to everybody and several people can find my posts resting on their homepage when they visit these locations.  Why do some people think that all of their contacts want to read their political views?  Blogs can be obtained for free and people can decide whether or not they want to re-visit your blog once they have been there.   It is your blog they can expect your opnion.  Someone else suggested (correctly) that those that are always posting political opinions on social media usually offer up hate speech or a link to some politcal site.  In other words just more political adds.

Everyone’s got an opinion and a blog is a great non-invasive way to share it.

In other news concerning this blog, Composition 101…All About Rules continues to be the most read post on Earth Images. https://nelsonearthimages.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/composition-101-all-about-rules/ There is no question that when I write about the nuts and bolts (or art) of photography, or about top nature photographers, or about specific photography locations, I attract more readers than with any other type of post.  I actually attract the least viewers when I create galleries of recently made pictures.  Maybe it is good that I can only rarely create images anymore.

I had toyed with the idea of starting a second blog for political, social and pop culture musings.  I would then remove such posts from Earth Images.  I rejected those thoughts when I realized that I will not be operating a blog for that much longer.   It would not be worth the effort.

The readership of Earth Images continues to be sporadic.  A good number for a day or two and then it falls to just a handful of viewers.  I of course realize that when I don’t blog every day regular readers will leave, but unfortunately (fortunately?)  I don’t have something to share every day.

As I sit and write this blog my radio rings with an old song from the 1980s (I believe)  by Pure Prairie League called  Amy.   At that time in my life I was about to be divorced and was running with a pretty wild crowd.  A life of cigarettes and beer.  Those wild people were in fact all nice and there were equal amounts of males and females.  Amy was quiet but nice although I never took the time to really know her.  One night while she was home alone she quietly died.  I have never forgotten the woman that I never took the time to know.  God Bless you Amy.

When I look at how many years I have been creating images it amazes me.  I have incompletes in so many other things in life.  One divorce and dozens of short-term relationships.  I have had different day jobs and I have lived in several different places.  There are only two constants in my life from age 19 through today and they are photography and the fact that I have been inconsistent at everything else.  If anything in life is “meant to be” I think it is fair to say that creating images and sharing what I have learned, and exploring nature and sharing the joy of what I have found, is exactly what I was meant to do.  That and the friends that nature photography has blessed me with gives me an indescribable amount of satisfaction.

Many blessings to each of you.