3 Years down! What’s Next?

In the blogging community, a year is a significant milestone, as most bloggers don’t make it to this point.  Interests wax and wane, jobs and passions change, and audiences swell and sag as the community of readers often will gravitate toward new topics and content.  The idea behind retention of readership is to change with the times.  Here at CB/LDP, that has not been a problem. From the beginning, this blog has always been about sharing my experiences in photography with the larger community.  So, as new technologies develop, and I learn about them, the writing reflects changes and advances in my knowledge base.

It has officially now been three years since I started this blog!  For the duration, it’s been a way to “pay it forward”, and after three years of it (officially 3 years as of yesterday), I am amazed at how far things have come.  I’ve gone from writing occasional posts to weekly content ranging from hardware and software reviews, to articles and eBooks, and now offering up workshops and webinars!  It really is amazing to see the growth, development and learning I’ve gone through as the blog and website have literally transformed me on many levels.

I’d like to take a brief sappy moment and thank the community that has literally launched me into working within the profession.  Your continued support is so awesome, I really don’t know what else to say other than “Thanks!”!  For a little comparison between the blog then and now, I’ve looked at the Wayback Machine and had to chuckle at some of the earlier layouts versus what is being in place today.

Here’s a look from all the way back in 2008!

Really Old School!

I liked the idea of having a graphic in the header, and somehow incorporating the name, and overall purpose into the graphic, but after a time, it seemed very…well, amateurish, and I wanted to update to more of a “Web 2.0” look, so the next iteration was born:

More Recent - But Still Kinda Old School!

I copied the content over to a photography-based website (which is still active by the way, but receives way to little attention from me) over at www.jasons-photography.com.  The photo in the upper corner gave a regular image for people to see, and the RSS feed addition, as well as the calendar, and sidebar gave a little more of a professional look to the website.  After a while though, I decided it looked too much like a template and not very original, so I decided to move to a paid theme, which offered more customization and really sounded great because it would optimize SEO, Pagerank, and all that jazz.  The Thesis theme was born, and the concept of white space brought a new look to the blog and website:

The Most Recent Setup

As the site began its foundations as a business medium, I decided after a fair amount of time in delving through the code and Thesis hooks, that it was time to go to a completely custom look for the site.  I interviewed a few web designers, and friend-of-the-blog Erik Bernskiold offered to help me update the look to its present form.

It’s always interesting to see how the look and feel has changed over time.  Another facelift may be in store as the educational and writing elements of the website may take more of a front seat. (You know about the workshops, webinars, and eBooks right? 🙂  )  So, on this 3 year mark, I’d like to put it to the reading and listening audience.  What would you say are the “must haves” on the homepage?  Anything missing that you want?  Anything there that you don’t want?  Sound off in the comments…I’d really like to hear what people think!

In the meantime, keep on shooting (and writing too!).  We’ll see you back here again tomorrow for the beginning of the next three years!

The final notes for today:

1.  The upcoming Lightroom 3 workshop in Denver still has some seats left.  We’d really love to see you join us, so sign up today before all the seats are gone!  Here’s a link to register now:

Add Workshop

2.  The August Giveaway is almost done.  If you’ve not gotten an image uploaded to the Flickr Thread yet, this is your last chance (this week) to do it.  The winner gets a cool package of Polar Metallic paper from the folks at Red River Paper, so get in while the gettin’s still good!  Submit an image now

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