Well, it’s done.  The 31 days of straight blogging for the month of October are finished.  To borrow a line from Rodney Dangerfield in  Back to School, “No more.  I feel like I just gave birth…to an accountant!”

Of course if a reader has followed this blog,  they know I have skipped a few days.  As I have explained before, I found that I have a hard time writing about subjects I have no interest in or excitement for.  Truth be told, on the days I have skipped, I have usually written a blog but sent it to the trash can.  Once I am done with a post, I always proof read before I hit publish, and if the blog is boring and pointless to me, it would certainly be boring and pointless to the reader. Move to Trash.

Here are a few observations about this 31 day venture of mine.

I started this journey into the blogosphere because all of the professional photographers say this is one of the ways to introduce myself to potential clients, to showcase my photography and to build the business.  And they, like me, have had those moments where they felt the only person reading their blog was their mother.   Blogging is recommended as one of the mandatory things to do to grow one’s business.  I am not convinced.

Since I started doing the blog, I have written 51 posts.  The most traffic I have had is 27 hits in one day.  The average is about 12.  I am pleased that one of my latest posts, a warning to brides about some of the pitfalls that happen with wedding photographers, was read by 10 people.   I am disappointed that a blog I really put all my heart and soul and writing skill into has been viewed to this date by 2.  Thank you Jessica and Ashley.

For those people that find blogging is one of the cornerstones of their photography business, I am glad it has benefited you. It hasn’t worked for me.  Not yet. As of today, I have not had a cat loving bride want to hire me because I am a cat loving photographer.

The 31 days are over, with mixed results for me.  How shall I proceed? I will continue to blog, because I like doing it.  I like writing.  I find blogging in someways to be therapeutic.  Plus I would hate to disappoint my 12 fans.

In the meantime, I am going to share a few of the pictures I took Monday night with the Photographers Adventure Club at a local haunted house.  Cue the music from The Exorcist.

The fog machine was on when I shot this.  I punched up the oranges and reds in post production to give it the “devil rising from hell” look.  I think of  Fire by Arthur Brown when I look at this photo.

I would like to someday shoot a bride willing to let me do some psychedelic effects on some of the photos.  Hey, I am a child of the 60’s.

Of course somethings are just spookier in black and white.

I kept trying to get the model to move totally out of the picture so I could get a completely ghosted image, but she would never move far enough.  Bad directions on my part.

Got the model to move a little more this time.

This haunted house had creepy music looped and this girl in a swing.   This place did a great job.

Probably my favorite picture of the night.  I love night shooting because it gives me a chance to experiment around with images.  None of these pictures were created through Photoshop, All of the images and effects were captured in the camera.  I did, however, do some cropping and editing for color, contrast etc.

Music of the Blog

The Exorcist (Tubular Bells) by Mike Oldfield

Fire by Arthur Brown

Timmy Note:  I read the book The Exorcist by William Peter Batty.  It is the scariest book I have ever read.  I had to sleep with the lights on at night for a week after I read it. I was 22 years old.  I have yet to see the movie.  No reason to scare myself to death on purpose.