January 1, 2009: that was a fateful day. But like many fateful days, I didn’t recognize it as such for quite a long time after.

January 1, 2009, was the day I decided to start a photo-a-day blog. I thought I try to do it for one year and see how it went. It was a stunning* success: at the end of that first year, I did have a total of five (5!) followers, placing me well into the single digits. For some reason, that dismal record didn’t deter me. I thought I’d give it another year, and then one more, and anyway, this year starts my 15th year of posting a photo every day.

Posting all those photos (~5,000 in total) turned me into a photographer. But the main thing that happened – and it’s one I never saw coming – is that I made friends this way. Good friends; some of my favorite friends are other photographers. It’s been an amazing journey, with a lot of good things happening along the way. So thanks to all my photographer friends, the ones I know and the ones I haven’t met yet. Y’all have helped make what was, frankly, a snap decision to post photos into a passion that means more to me than I can even say.

And I hope I’m still doing this in 15 more years….

Dochart Falls – near Killin, Scotland
11.18.2023

*Depending on how sarcastic you want to be with the word “stunning.”