It’s been a busy few weeks off my blog. I enjoyed my break but I am glad to be back. While I was gone, I went on a safari in Tanzania. This is the first photo from that trip that I have edited:
ISO 800 200mm f/9.0 1/1000
It’s a Thomson’s gazelle in Ngorongoro crater. It’s fair to say that this was a trip of a lifetime for me. I think it’s also fair to say that I will be editing photos from this trip for awhile. This photo I straightened, did a levels adjustment, and sharpened a bit. It’s the latest addition to my Picfair portfolio.
I like to think that I am growing as a photographer and blogger. Over my break I changed the theme of my blog. If you have a minute to give it the once over and let me know what you think, I’d appreciate that. My older theme was retired and I was actually having some trouble getting my posts to look how I wanted, hence the change. Also, thanks to Jessie, I discovered a new photo challenge that I am going to give a try this year. I’ll probably incorporate most of those posts in with this weekly photo challenge, but it gives me something additional to think about as I am taking and editing photos.
I’m looking forward to another busy photography year. I do hope you will follow along. Feel free to leave a comment about my photo or my blog’s new look in the comment section.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
Wow, awesome shot!
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Thanks, it was a beautiful place.
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Sounds like you had a great trip to Tanzania. Looking forward to seeing and hearing more about it. I like the new theme – very fresh and also simple.
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Thanks Mabel for taking a look, I hope that all is going well with you.
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What a remarkable trip you got to take! I look forward to more photographs from it.
As for this theme: single-column themes work great for photo blogs because it lets the photos take center stage. So this theme works great.
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Yes, the trip was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I do prefer the single column themes for photography and other visual art blogs. I was also looking for one that cam with a search bar. A surprising number do not have that feature.
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I like both shot and blog theme – very fresh and easygoing. I do not think I will change mine anymore – because the reader keeps everyone away from it. Or at least I am convinced people does not see my front page anymore. A pity, because a new theme always feels refreshening and you put much work into it.
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I find it interesting that you are not getting hits on your home page. According to my stats, I get quite a few there, although I would agree that the reader feature of wordpress does decrease traffic to that page.
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I get hits, but wish there were more of them.
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Fair enough. It is true, changing your theme does require quite a bit of work, so it is nice when people take a look at it.
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Awesome, awesome! Thanks for your comment on my blog, so that I found you! I am looking forward to your Tanzania posts, as we will be going in early Feb.
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I’m pretty sure you will come back with a lot of photos 🙂 Thanks also for visiting my blog.
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I’m glad your going to try out the 52 challenge too! I sort of fell off the weekly photo challenge wagon and I needed something new to get me going again, should be fun! 🙂
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Plus, you have a new camera too right? The challenge will probably help you actually get to know it better.
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Absolutely great photo! Wonderful!
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Thank you!
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Thanks for sharing the “new photo challenge”. I was looking for something to take me out of my comfort zone and try something to spark my renewed creative spirit. I’ll probably also use my Daily Post entry for Week One, since it matches the theme of vision for 2018. 🙂
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Yes, I was thinking the two challenges are complimentary, but I also needed something a bit new for this year as well.
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🙂
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I’m looking forward to hear all about your trip to Tanzania!
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The short version, it was fabulous and my poor family has had to look through a lot of photos 🙂
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I’m sure they don’t mind very much!
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That’s true, they do tolerate me fairly well 🙂
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Lovely photo. The new theme also looks good.
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Thank you very much for taking a look and commenting.
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Hi — welcome back, Amy.
I like the gazelle edits and look forward to seeing more form the safari.
also -t hat new challenge sounds fun – I looked at the site you linked and it is pretty cool to see the full 52 weeks already set and ready to go. Best wishes with it and HAPPY NEW YEAR
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Thanks so much! It was nice to see the whole challenge laid out for the year. It makes it different from this photo challenge, and I am hoping to keep up with both.
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well right on – and looking forward to connecting in 2018 via artsy blog land
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Absolutely 🙂
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🙂
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oh yeah…
I did not notice the new theme because I usually view via reader and never really see themes for blogs.
but I will exit the reader and let you know.
🙂
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I checked out the blog theme – looks good – and only one suggestion – not sure if they offer it – but maybe do a rotating photo for the header?
even tho I love the one that you chose.
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It doesn’t look like it has that feature, although nothing to stop me from changing it up like quarterly or something. As usual thank you for giving me something to think about. I actually went through several photos before settling on that one. You do have to think about the format of the header and then also how it interacts with the title of the blog.
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yes – I forgot about how the title can change in appearance as the image does.
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I left Africa feeling that every person on earth should be required to go at least once as it is such a life-changing experience, don’t you think? Words don’t quite get the job done, nor do photos, no matter how wonderful they are. Nothing can prepare you for seeing a herd of elephants close up, or a tower of giraffes gracefully crossing the veld. Thank you for the magical reminder!
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Yes, I do agree, this trip was quite unlike others I have taken. I also strongly agree that photos aren’t really quite enough to convey the beauty of the place. In fact several times, I just put the camera away and took some time to just be there.
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Magical photo! You captured a moment there. We went to Kenya many years ago and I remember the joy of seeing the animals so lively in the morning. I like the new layout of your Home page. It is clear and accessible.
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Thank you very much. I do certainly have a lot of photos to remember the trip by. Thank you also for taking the time to look through at my new theme, I do appreciate it.
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New theme! Looks great! So does the photo – super! Happy New Year!
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Thank you very much, I am glad to be back in this space. Happy New Year to you as well! Here’s to many fabulous photos this year for both of us 🙂
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I really like the new and clean look of the theme Amy. Your trip sounds astounding. When we went to Africa last year it was our dream trip and so can relate to the excitement. A beautiful photo and I look forward to many more.
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Yes, I remember your post about the African Wild Dogs. Unfortunately, we were not in the right part of the country to see them, but we saw a lot of other animals.
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Congratulations on the new theme look! Tanzania must have been amazing. I still remember my own safari experience in South Africa which forever changed my outlook on wildlife. A wonderful capture of the gazelle.
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It was an amazing trip, and completely unlike anything else I have ever done. Thanks for taking a look at the new theme.
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That is an extraordinary photo Amy. Can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us from Tanzania. The Captain lived there for two years (sadly, before I met him) and our boat (Amandla which means ‘To The Victory’ in Zula) is decorated with his beautiful wildlife images from there. The place sounds absolutely magical. While we will sail to Africa this year, I do not think we will make it as far north as Tanzania…so I’ll just have to go there next time around.
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Enjoy your time in Africa, I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t. I would love to go back, but I was grateful for the opportunity to be able to go. I have a bunch of photos so I will be editing for a while, what a nice problem to have.
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I love the new theme, Amy! It’s a great way to showcase your thoughts and your art. And – Tanzania?! how fun. I’m so excited for you. Looking forward to seeing your photos as the year goes on. Plus, kudos on doing a new photo challenge. I have something parallel I’m doing for a writing challenge in the new year, and maybe I’ll do a blog post on it, since I found your inspiring! 🙂
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Nothing like a new year and a new challenge right? I would be interested to read about your new challenge so my vote would be for you to write a post about it 🙂 Tanzania was an amazing trip! I was just so lucky to have the opportunity to go.
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I can imagine the Tanzania trip was stunning. So happy for you! 🙂
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It really was, I just loved the vast space, it was so beautiful.
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I Bet it was!
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Hi, I have read some of your blog posts and I absolutely love the writing and photos. I am currently a safari guide in South Africa and am trying to share my photos and experiences with everyone. It would be greatly appreciated if you have a look at my blog samhankss.wordpress.com and let me know what you think. Many thanks in advance.
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So, I took a look and it is a very interesting blog. I’m just wondering if on your “About Me” page if you might want to leave a contact form as a way for people to contact you about using your services? Also, it looks like the comments are off on that page, and maybe you would want to have them on. Also, you may want to consider creating some “categories”. Just another way for your reader to sort through content that might be of interest. Here is a link to how that would work: https://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories/
That’s a few things that jumped out at me on the technical end of things. I think you will find an audience pretty quickly, you have interesting content.
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Also, for whatever reason, your blog did not turn up as a link in the comments section, so I am trying to link it here: https://samhankss.wordpress.com in the hopes that if someone wants to visit you from here, they can do that.
Cheers!
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Thank you for taking the time to have a look and thank you for the advice. I will address the issues asap. Thank you again. Its greatly appreciated.
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I do hope you found it helpful and of course feel free to ignore my advice as well as it is your blog 🙂
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I really did thank you!
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I like your blog theme. Your photos and story gets the attention it needs, I like the simplicity and clarity. I was looking into changing my theme a couple days ago, but i haven;t found a new one that speaks to me yet.
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Thank you very much. Good luck finding a theme. It seems like such a simple thing but I find that it can really be a time suck.
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Thank you for the inspiration. After reading your post yesterday, I did make an effort to make my blog look “cleaner”, erased a few widgets, and …drum whirl…finally settled for a new theme! Thank you!
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It looks really good. I took a look through and then left a comment on your purpose page. I think that purpose page is really well written and gives a really good intro to the blog.
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Thank you! That means a lot!
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🙂
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Great shot
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Thanks!
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looks good. I am just finishing up my series on Kenyan safari. I am looking forward to hear and seeing yours. Cheers
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Thanks, I’ll stop by and see what you are up to.
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Thank you. Cheers
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