Post 5,750

Can you believe that this is the 5,750th entry in the blog known as “An Artist’s Notebook”? Every 250 posts or so I like to take a moment to reflect on where this post has been and post a lot of meaningless stats.

As always on these posts, I like to start by quoting the very first “An Artist’s Notebook” entry that published on August 9, 2006. That first post that published 7,041 days ago.

That post that started with these words:

So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.

Since those words, I have posted 5,5749 journal entries. This website is still something of an “idea box”. Sometimes I’m just working stuff out here. I don’t know why, sometimes I need to work stuff out in public. But this website is definitely more than just an “idea box”. It is a place where I post a few thoughts and a ton of pictures. I’ve gone through a few photo projects on these pages. From THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT to the 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT to THE SELFIE PROJECT to the POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT to name just a few. This website has also created a community with THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Which is one of my proudest achievements. Especially since it sputtered and spit and barely survived in its first few years.

On these reflective posts, I like to publish a bunch of statistics that me and Joe Duff find interesting. So I might as well get to it.

Every post in “An Artist’s Notebook” is tagged with at least one Category. It is one of the easiest ways to navigate around the website. They are listed at the top of each post. Here are some statistics about Categories:

THE TOP 20 MOST USED CATEGORIES (The ranking from Post 5,500)

1. BLACK & WHITE – 1,351 (1)
2. FLOWERS – 1,120 (2)
3. ART – 1,021 (3)
4. ANIMALS – 922 (4)
5. JESSE – 852 (5)
6. TERESA – 794 (6)
7. MACRO – 731 (8)
8. CARLA – 725 (9)
9. ROAD TRIP – 713 (7)
10. SHANNON – 694 (11)
11. FORMAL PORTRAIT – 684 (10)
12. STILL LIFE – 663 (14)
13. WPC – SUBMISSIONS – 637 (13)
14. NATURE – 633 (12)
15. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – 562 (19)
16. CANDID PORTRAIT – 549 (15)
17. LOGAN – 544 (16)
18. KIM – 533 (18)
19. MOM – 483 (18)
20. MICKY – 478 (20)

Most likely to crack TOP 20 in in the next 250 posts are: ANDY, VEST, WILLY, SELF-PORTRAIT, and PHOTOSHOP.

THE TOP 20 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES

1. BLACK & WHITE – 1,351 (1)
2. FLOWERS – 1,120 (2)
3. ART – 1,021 (3)
4. ANIMALS – 922 (4)
5. MACRO – 731 (6)
6. ROAD TRIP – 713 (5)
7. FORMAL PORTRAIT – 684 (7)
8. STILL LIFE – 663 (10)
9. WPC – SUBMISSIONS – 637 (9)
10. NATURE – 633 (8)
11. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – 562 (12)
12. CANDID PORTRAIT – 549 (11)
13. SELF-PORTRAIT – 449 (15)
14. PHOTOSHOP – 439 (13)
15. HISTORY – 426 (14)
16. CHRISTIANITY – 413 (17)
17. NAIMA – 408 (16)
18. IOWA STATE – 375 (18)
19. WPC – REMINDER – 325 (19)
20. MUSIC – 319 (21)

The non-human categories most likely to break into the Top 20 in the next 250 posts are: NIGHT, TRAVEL, BOONE FUMC, RAILROAD, and ruins. NIGHT fell out of the Top 20.

THE TOP 20 HUMAN CATEGORIES

1. JESSE – 852 (1)
2. TERESA – 794 (2)
3. CARLA – 725 (3)
4. SHANNON – 694 (4)
5. LOGAN – 544 (7)
6. KIM – 533 (7)
7. MOM – 483 (6)
8. MICKY – 478 (8)
9. ANDY – 470 (11)
10. VEST – 463 (9)
11. WILLY – 458 (10)
12. DAWN – 417 (414)
13. SARA – 413 (12)
14. CATHIE – 404 (16)
15. JEN – 397 (15)
16. JAY – 396 (13)
17. ANGIE – 393 (19)
18. TAMARA – 389 (18)
19. BILL – 363 (21)
20. DERRICK – 362 (17)

The Human Categories with the best shot of cracking the Top 20 in the next 250 posts are: ELIZABETH, MONICA, MICHELLE, BECKY, and ALEXIS. MICHELLE fell out of the Top 20. So realistically, she probably won’t climb back in.

If you have spent any time on the Photography 139 website, you know that on the left sidebar, the “Top 100 Categories” are listed. I thought I would give a little bit of coverage to the Bottom 10 of the Top 100. There are currently 233 categories used on the website. I could cover the Bottom 10, but no real reason. Some of those categories probably need to be purged. I do like to cover the Top 10 of the Bottom 100 though.

THE BOTTOM 10 OF THE TOP 100

1. BLOGGING – 133
2. JILL – 125
3. RUSSELL – 125
4. MARY – 119
5. NATE – 118
6. SIGN – 116
7. PUFFERBILLY DAYS – 112
8. LAYLA – 102
9. BECCA – 101
10. PASTOR SARAH – 99

The following categories have either fallen out of the Bottom 10 of the Top 100 or climbed out of it:

MINDI, SHERI, and FAUST.

The following categories have the best shot at dropping back into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:

STEPH, YOUTH GROUP, TOWN SIGN PROJECT, BETHANY, and SHERI.

Although I’m pretty sure SHERI isn’t falling back down any time soon.

The following categories have the best shot at climbing up into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:

FAUST, ANDREE, WRITING, HOUSE, and SELF-PORTRIAT PROJECT.

Although realistically none of them have a great shot at it. I’d say that DEANNA, AUTOMOBILES, or BOKEH have the best shot of climbing into the Bottom 10.

I’m now starting to track what categories have had the greatest gain. These are the ones that have the greatest gain since Post 5,500. It should be noted some of these numbers aren’t from straight gains in just the last 250 posts. Some of these are from me back-filling or modifying archived posts. So the gain might not represent a gain from the last 250 but from adding some of these categories to earlier posts.

For example, if somebody participates in THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE a couple times, I don’t make a category for them. They have to prove that they are going to stick around. Then when I think they have staying power, I will add a category for them and then go back and add their category to the entries where they submitted. I’m 100% sure only Joe Duff is reading this post still. Hi Joe!

TOP 10 CATEGORIES BY GAIN

1. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – 120
2. ART – 86
3. STILL LIFE – 73
4. SIGN – 73
5. TERESA – 59
6. LOWELL – 58
7. FLOWERS – 56
8. ANIMALS – 55
9. ANDY – 53
10. LOGAN – 50

TOP 10 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES BY GAIN

1. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – 120
2. ART – 86
3. STILL LIFE – 73
4. SIGN – 73
5. FLOWERS – 56
6. ANIMALS – 55
7. MUSIC – 43
8. TRAVEL – 41
9. BLACK & WHITE – 38
10. SELF-PORTRAIT – 38

TOP 10 HUMAN CATEGORIES BY GAIN

1. TERESA – 59
2. LOWELL – 58
3. ANDY – 53
4. LOGAN – 50
5. KIM- 50
6. DEB – 48
7. CARLA – 45
8. ANGIE – 45
9. ELIZABETH – 43
10. ALEXIS – 41
11. JOE DUFF – 41

If you are wondering what is your best way to improve your Photography 139 Score and crack the Top 10, it is simply to be active in THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE or go on trips with me or participate in various other photo projects or be related to me. Now these aren’t necessarily the 10 people that have influenced my photography the most, but these are the 10 people that have made the largest imprint on this website.

I can tell you the people that have influenced my photography the most, but that is a tale for another time. But I’m pretty sure you can guess who. Someday when I finish my INSPO page that tale will be told. That INSPO page is a winter project, so by the time we hit 6,000 posts, that page will be done!

TOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY 139 GALLERIES (SINCE POST 5500)

To View the Gallery, Click on its Representative Image

20. LOUISIANA, USA – 43,597 VIEWS
19. 2008 – JANUARY-JUNE – 44,301 VIEWS
18. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 45,129 VIEWS
17. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 6 – 46,105 VIEWS
16. CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT – 46,331 VIEWS
15. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 4 – 47,811 VIEWS
14. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 47,967 VIEWS
13. NAIMA – 48,803 VIEWS
12. PHOTO JOURNAL REJECTS – 50,672 VIEWS
11. DRONE – 51,115 VIEWS
10. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7 – 52,740 VIEWS
9. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 8 – 53,088 VIEWS
8.WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 9 – 67,585 VIEWS
7. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 10 – 82,348 VIEWS
6. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 11 – 138,589 VIEWS
5. TOWN SIGN PROJECT – 139,612 VIEWS
4.TENDERLOINING – 160,957 VIEWS
3. TOWN SING PROJECT AUXILIARY IMAGES – 168,246 VIEWS
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 12 – 217,977 VIEWS
1. LIFE- 260,682 VIEWS

If you are interested in checking out some of the milestone posts of the past, I got you. Click on any of the links below to check them out:

Post 1
Post 750
Post 850
Post 1,000
Post 1,101
Post 1,200
Post 1,447
Post 1,718
Post 2,500
Post 3,000
Post 3,252
Post 3,751
Post 4,000
Post 4,250
Post 4,500
Post 4,757
Post 5,005
Post 5,250
Post 5,500

I think that is enough. We will check back in, in another 250 posts.