It’s been awhile… Too long... Part 2

So, why did I fall off of the radar?

It was kinda the “perfect storm” of events.

First, my 3 daughters (that I’ve shared on the blog here, here and here) graduated from high school  (all within 12 months) and not only was I extremely unhappy about how my role as a dad changing, I also had done next to nothing to come to grips with that change and start the transition from the "old" dad into that "new" dad role. It was hard going from being an integral part of my girls lives every single day to just a sidebar.

I would give anything to have to drive them to soccer today.

Shortly after this, my 24-year marriage came to an abrupt end. Obviously, I knew things weren’t going well, but that point was driven home hard one day when I was served divorce papers in a parking lot. So, I went from having a minimal family role to no role at all. I went from living in a house with a gaggle of girls to living alone with my dog Bonnie.

After this, to be honest, I was not the happiest guy in the world, there seemed to be more rain than sunshine. There were days I never left the house (heck, there may have been weeks that I didn’t leave), but slowly things seemed to work back to a semblance of “normal”.

Then last year, just when things seemed to back into a good place my girl Bonnie left me. I think only dog owners will get what follows so the rest of you can skip ahead (kidding). When I posted about my dogs I would often include "A Dogs Ten Commandments” and when Bonnie got sick it was time for me to walk the talk, I had to obey commandment #10 (When it's time for me to “go on ahead”, please stay with me. Don’t say “I can't bear to watch” because I won’t want to face it alone. Everything is easier for ME if you are there because I love you so.). And it was truly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Bonnie was my first dog (EVER), had been with me for 15 years and it felt like she was the last thing I had that still represented us as a family, of who we used to be... and now she was gone.

Its been almost a year and I think of her everyday… But now I smile more because she was here than cry because she is gone, though I haven’t been able to bring myself to put her dog tag on my keychain yet, but I think I will soon.

But that was then.... and this is now.

So…. Moving forward what can you expect from me?

You can expect one post a week on the blog, a video (or two) a month on our YouTube channel and one interview a month on our podcast.

I already have an armful of products to review (software, gear, and videos) and once the reviews are done we will be running contests to give it away to you, our phenomenally loyal readers!

Again, thanks for being here and see you next week!

It's been awhile… Too long... Part 1

Yes, it's been awhile... almost 4 years since I've written something here on Weekly Photo Tips.

In "the day" I was posting (almost) daily, on occasion I would even have multiple posts in a single day, not only was there a huge following... heck, there were even multiple publications and websites that listed Weekly Photo Tips as a "must visit" photography blog, once we even made it inot the top 10!

Then suddenly and without warning, it all came to an abrupt end.

No explanation and no hint as to why... the only thing clear was that life had come to a completed halt here at Weekly Photo Tips.

And it wasn't as if this was a fly by night blog, I had been faithfully writing for 7 years. Between the time of my first post in 2007 until I dropped off the map in 2014 I had written almost 1,400 posts (1,386 to be exact), had two and a half million views (along with another couple million our our YouTube channel and our podcast) and (most importantly) had developed relationships with so many kind readers, the type of people who would always send birthday wishes and even the occasional gift (one year I even received a beautiful lens for my birthday from a very generous reader).

But know it wasn't just here that things stopped, dust collected on my camera gear, software became outdated, I stopped shooting weddings and turned down any of the photography jobs that came my way. Bottom line, photography died for me.

But it wasn't just photography, a lot of the things that had been an important part of me, that defined who I was were no longer part of my life.

The folks who had followed this blog for so long (and remarkably after years of absence still do) deserve at least a modicum of an explanation.

They also need an apology, as many people had left comments on the blog and others emailed me directly to check on me, wanting to make sure I was OK, and asking if there was anything they could do for me. Sadly their very thoughtful outreach went unanswered and that was rude of me, ignoring the kindness of others is not how my mother brought me up.

So to everyone who attempted reached out to me I'M SORRY, to everyone I just left hanging I'M SORRY... truly I am... and thank you all for your thoughtfulness and you deserved better, I should have responded to your kindness.

In the next post, I will share a bit about what transpired, why I'm back and what you can expect at Weekly Photo Tips going forward.

Thank you for reading this, thank you for being here.