Photo of the Day – What’s in store for 2009

Hi There! As 2008 comes to a close I thought I’d take a moment to reflect back and then look forward to 2009 in regards to the Photo of the Day posts I have started here at The Carey Adventures.

I started Photo of the Day back in March of 2008 after failing to find any kind of regular RSS feed of photos to keep me inspired. I’m a bit of a tech geek at heart and wanted something automatically delivered to my computer that would get me thinking of photography regularly. I also wanted different perspectives and subjects to keep myself challenged.

The problem was I couldn’t find it. National Geographic has a Photo of the Day feature but it is not delivered and you have to remember to visit their site every day. I’m too lazy for that. As I often do when I find a void and had a want, I attempted to fill it.

At first I started posting some pictures from Hidden Creek Photography, a photography site Kim and I started in 2007 which is slowly becoming just my photos as Kim takes her inventory in another direction. The amount of photos was sparse and I thought this would be a good way to get me to flesh it out. If I had to post something every day I’d quickly run out of our own material and be forced to post most from the tens of thousands of photos we have on the computer (425GB and counting).

But then I got super ambitious. I wanted to share more with a broader range. I started a site called Focus of the Day to host various feeds including my personal favorite subject matter; 4x4s in action, random, Nepal, Ireland, national parks and so on. It was ambitious and I was getting some traction with about 20 or so subscribers for each feed. But then life got in the way of keeping the site updated and it fell into disrepair over the summer. By the end of August I had decided to scrap the idea and pull in the reigns.

I brought Photo of the Day back to The Carey Adventures and simplified so I can stay consistent. The content is now more random than any of the regular feeds on Focus of the Day, but I’ve also been able to increase the quality. Plus it is serving the original purpose of getting me to go back through all those old photos and get them posted, share them and maybe make a buck or two. I was able to keep the posts rolling while Kim and I spent three weeks trekking in Nepal and I was able to post from the road during a trip to Peru. I’m now a bit more confident I can keep the photos coming day after day and keep myself enthused about photography all the way. And since restarting up Photo of the Day on this site back in September/August, the amount of subscribers has steadily grown from 2 to over 75 today. When I add in the subscribers to the old Focus of the Day site, it’s over 100 people a day. To me, that’s incredible.

Here now are my goals for Photo of the Day for 2009:

Post 365 photos, one a day (it seems obvious, but it’s good to state it!)
Post exceptional photos that encourage people to explore their world, ask questions and learn more about what’s around them.
Grow subscribers to over 300 by year end (you can help!! See below)
Encourage more subscriber participation. I want this to be a bit more than you just looking at my photos each day. Feel free to post comments with links back to your own photos when the subject matter seems appropriate. The idea is to share and encourage more photography, travel and general understanding of our world with pictures.
Have more ‘specials’, such as the one starting off this New Year, January 1st through the 7th, called Panorama Pandemonium.
Have Guest Photographer Weeks, where I’ll feature anyone with great photos for a week.
Grow the income from photo sales to help cover basic website expenses. If you see a photo you love and there isn’t a “Buy A Print Of This Photo” link, please ask! While I am doing this for the love of photography and item #2 above, I wouldn’t mind selling some photos as well. :)

And there you have it! If you have any friends, family or complete strangers who you think would like to receive Photo Of The Day to their inbox or feedreader, just send them to this post or send them a link from below. The first link will allow anyone who wants email subscriptions to enroll.

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