(Click on the thumbnail to view larger image)The more satisfaction (along with frustration and doubt) I face in the pursuit of this SoFoBoMo brass ring the more grateful I am for doing this as part of a group. I have long been fascinated by the component of the human psyche that frequently convinces each of us that whatever we are going through no one else is suffering it, or anything like it. Indeed, at our lowest and least enlightened moments (especially when we are younger) we tend to think that no one—ever in the history of mankind—has gone through whatever trial it is we are asked to endure. We are social animals and most of us take comfort in knowing that we aren’t alone in a trial.
Hey, that certainly describes my experience in the pursuit of my photo book. But now, when I lose my way, I can, with a couple of clicks of the mouse, read someone else’s report of a struggle eerily similar to my own. Invariably, I find an answer to a perplexing question, a question I should be asking myself, inspiration to stay with it, or just the comfort of knowing someone else is going through this, too. At any rate, I don’t so much waste valuable time fretting and flailing about. After all, to the right and the left of me, there are others whacking away at the brush having also lost their way.
All this got me thinking some wicked thoughts. For a few seconds one morning, I thought wouldn’t it be great if Paul Butzi declared a SoFoBoMo season at least four times a year? That would mean that pretty much whenever you found yourself with a block of time you could devote to this madness, you would find a community of photographers going through the process along with you. The more I thought about that the more I doubted its efficacy. Compressing the activity into a shorter period and creating a larger group of participants almost certainly results in greater diversity of personalities and levels of expertise, thus more current material available on the subject at a given point. More seasons would likely dilute the impact of the challenge.
Perhaps each time I tackle this photo book challenge, I will have to return to the blogs from the most recent SoFoBoMo season and re-read the wealth of material. I think re-visiting all the posts put up so far would make a great read. The pipes that Gordon and Paul L have set up make a big difference now. (I am enjoying my Google Alert set-up. This offers another easy way of keeping up. I am not certain at this point which I prefer.) Still, when the information is no longer current, I don’t want to lose easy access to it. It seems that everyone is tagging all their related posts to facilitate searches. I hope so. Later, those of us in need of inspiration can easily track down all the information. I find myself wishing that one of the web-savvy, software geniuses would just put together some terrific online encyclopedia that would gather up all this wealth of material. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?) In the meantime, I acted on impulse a couple of days ago and ordered a book by Stephen Johnson called, Making a Digital Book. I don’t expect it to be nearly as useful as the posts by the SoFoBoMo-ers.
Hey, that certainly describes my experience in the pursuit of my photo book. But now, when I lose my way, I can, with a couple of clicks of the mouse, read someone else’s report of a struggle eerily similar to my own. Invariably, I find an answer to a perplexing question, a question I should be asking myself, inspiration to stay with it, or just the comfort of knowing someone else is going through this, too. At any rate, I don’t so much waste valuable time fretting and flailing about. After all, to the right and the left of me, there are others whacking away at the brush having also lost their way.
All this got me thinking some wicked thoughts. For a few seconds one morning, I thought wouldn’t it be great if Paul Butzi declared a SoFoBoMo season at least four times a year? That would mean that pretty much whenever you found yourself with a block of time you could devote to this madness, you would find a community of photographers going through the process along with you. The more I thought about that the more I doubted its efficacy. Compressing the activity into a shorter period and creating a larger group of participants almost certainly results in greater diversity of personalities and levels of expertise, thus more current material available on the subject at a given point. More seasons would likely dilute the impact of the challenge.
Perhaps each time I tackle this photo book challenge, I will have to return to the blogs from the most recent SoFoBoMo season and re-read the wealth of material. I think re-visiting all the posts put up so far would make a great read. The pipes that Gordon and Paul L have set up make a big difference now. (I am enjoying my Google Alert set-up. This offers another easy way of keeping up. I am not certain at this point which I prefer.) Still, when the information is no longer current, I don’t want to lose easy access to it. It seems that everyone is tagging all their related posts to facilitate searches. I hope so. Later, those of us in need of inspiration can easily track down all the information. I find myself wishing that one of the web-savvy, software geniuses would just put together some terrific online encyclopedia that would gather up all this wealth of material. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?) In the meantime, I acted on impulse a couple of days ago and ordered a book by Stephen Johnson called, Making a Digital Book. I don’t expect it to be nearly as useful as the posts by the SoFoBoMo-ers.
