Beautiful Great Blue Heron + KonMari your Blogging Life

Great Blue Heron walking along the shore – babsjeheron.

It’s very easy to KonMari your online life. If you find a blog or site that Sparks Joy, subscribe and follow. If you find a blog or site that doesn’t? Well you know…

Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen beautiful blogs I’ve been following that have gone dark the past year, for whatever reasons. One fabulous wildlife photographer said good-bye to his followers this past spring because his page views had dropped off. He wasn’t feeling the love, wasn’t getting the validation that he needed from the reading audience out there. When an outstanding, Freshly Pressed blogger says good-bye, it’s not only his personal sense of loss, it’s a loss to us all.

The media right now is full of so much controversy, strife, anguish, and turmoil, some of which is necessary and important, some of which not so much.

If you come across a blog that brings you beauty and joy, let the blogger know and subscribe – it’s usually one simple click and done. Or if you’re already a subscriber, share the joy and pass along the post to others.

We are what we eat.
Why not consume joy?
Babsje 2016

Thanks to Ben H and WordPress for this week’s WPC Challenge: Rare. Above are ways to show appreciation to bloggers who bring beauty and joy to your screen – follow, share, comment, etc. There are other (fortunately) rare ways that are much less welcome. I’m talking about the professional media company that illegally copied a photo from my blog this summer, cropped out the copyright statement and published it in their newspaper. Fortunately, they weren’t able to remove the invisible, embedded watermark. I’m also talking about the fellow blogger who placed one of my photos on his blog without permission, but DigiMarc found it. I’m talking about the bloggers who liked a photo so much they posted derivative versions on their sites. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Why not find your own voice – you don’t need to appropriate mine. If you copy someone’s work, that will not bring joy, in fact, it will bring the opposite. And when something brings not-joy, unfollowing happens quickly. Fortunately all of these are fairly rare happenings.
.
.
From July 1 through July 30, 2016, I was the Featured Artist of the Month at the Summer Street Gallery. The Great Blue Heron photographs once again graced the walls of the lobby and theater in a one-woman show at The Center for Arts in Natick. In addition to the visual arts shown at the gallery, TCAN has a lively, dynamic lineup of upcoming performing artists.

A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2016 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN