In December of 2006 I wrote my first blog post using the Google blogging platform called Blogger. At the time I didn’t have a clear idea what I wanted to accomplish with blogging, but I knew that I wanted to find a way to share photos and memories with my family on the internet. Facebook was introduced to the public in September of 2006 but it would be years before it was adopted by my family members.
Blogger is free and easy to use, all you need is a gmail account. I made the mistake of creating multiple blogs, one for birthdays, one for political rants, one for photos. I confused myself and I confused my readers. In 2018 after hearing that Google was going to drop their support of Google+ and Google Communities I feared that someday they may do the same with the Blogger. I decided to switch blogging platforms and choose WordPress, an open source software product. I have to pay a bit for hosting costs but hopefully that can be offset by my advertising revenue.
The Family Slide Show
I’ve been reflecting upon my motivation for spending the time on this project for sometime and realized it was inspired by family slide shows.
My parents took black and white snapshots and placed them into photo albums, but two of my uncles took slides in full Kodachrome color. It was such a treat to see photos of my cousins at Niagara Falls projected on a six foot screen in a darkened room. It was just like being at the movies without the moving part.
Comedians would mock the idea of a slide show, the idea of forcing relatives to watch “Our Trip to Rome” with upside down slides and 12 pictures of an airplane wing.
What I liked was the shared experience of viewing family photos together, making comments and jokes. It was fun.
“My Strange Life” is my photo narrative. It is about stuff that has happened in my life or people that I have met. My life isn’t any stranger than yours, but if I called it “My Life” it would seem too pretentious. Thanks for reading, be well.
