One of my favorite inspirational stories comes from a motivational speaker I know and like very much. His name is Ed Gerety and he tells a story about two frogs that have fallen into a bucket of milk. Along come some other frogs and they sit on the edge of the bucket shouting and waving at the two frogs and say things like, “It is no use” “The sides are too high” “You can’t make it”.

One of the frogs ends up giving up and he drowns. The other frog leaps and leaps, each time getting closer to the top. Finally that frog hops out of the bucket. The frogs on the edge of the bucket are amazed and ask the frog how he did that when it was an impossible task. Well, come to find out the frog that made it out was deaf, he didn’t hear the disparaging words, but thought that the other frogs were shouting and waving encouragement. So he tried and tried and finally made it.

As Bloggers we often hear many negative things about what can and cannot be done. If we stop listening to the naysayers we will succeed. And I like to think of myself as one of those people who encourages rather than disparages. One of the ways I try to encourage is through tips and advice and taking the time to answer questions.

Taking and posting a photo every day on this blog (and the previous incarnation of this blog) has been a great way for me to stay disciplined and to blog daily. A photograph is a great way to start a conversation with your readers as well as with other bloggers (who usually make up the bulk of my readership). During these years I have encouraged other bloggers to start their own Photo-A-Day projects and I know of a few who have done so. I would never say that I inspired anyone to take up the camera in an effort to shoot a daily photo but I know that I encouraged people to do so.

I’ve been thinking about ways in which to share my knowledge of photography and photo hosting sites and placement of photos upon blogs. At my real (paying the big bills) job I am often asked to break down a script and make it so easy that anyone off the street could use it. A series of videos and instructions for bloggers are in the works in my mind. What I envision is an easy step by step guide for new bloggers and some experienced ones to make use of the visual richness of the medium of the Internet. How to add some interesting visuals to their blogs and do it in a very easy way.

For me, photography has been less about what I see and more about what my readers see in each photo. Sure, I am the one taking the photo and I decide what I think looks best for each day’s image however it is the interaction with readers that makes it very worthwhile. Conversations start over photos that I never even knew were of interest to anyone. But that is what is so interesting about photography and any art for that matter, it grabs your attention and pulls you in.

There is an opportunity for a paid guest blogging position with the IZEA blog. I really want that position. If I was chosen then I would put these videos and tutorials together for the benefit of all bloggers on that blog. I will do so anyway on this blog if I am not chosen for the IZEA blog. But If I was writing on the IZEA blog many more eyes would see the tutorials and posts and maybe I could spread my influence of encouragement to a much wider audience.