Between 2011 and 2018 WordPress.com provided daily prompts, to help bloggers think of new posts while joining in together to write on the same theme. As well, there were weekly photo challenges, challenges getting bloggers showing photos. It was helpful to have this focus, for bloggers on WordPress.com joining in the same pursuit.
When the photo challenges ended on May 30, it left a void! I was undecided what to do, as I was running this blog both as a little hobby while tying it to the work I do for Maple Lawn Cemetery (often in stages of development).
I live in a small town, which means there is some concern about being creative without seeming odd. Quora has been helpful in ascertaining how to make a decision to continue. An established author on Quora – Jennifer Marshburn–https://www.quora.com/profile/Jennifer-Marshburn– suggested that I keep dabbling in photos if it has been established there is a potential to do this.
It is like starting from scratch, but that’s not a problem. I am sure it will be similarly examined to how it has been when I was working inside the structure of the prompt challenges.
I have thought that I could include photos I’ve shot myself, and also present stock photos, to draw parallels between what I think is right for this, and what a professional photographer might have thought of and made available. I know stock photos seem artificial, but I enjoy selecting photos as much as taking them.
The blog I have may or may not be effective, but it’s been a curiosity so far. Occasionally I worked on the challenges from WordPress.com the last few years, and I was surprised, like everybody else, when they finished this very spring.
If something happens where I am no longer useful, I change, but it hasn’t happened yet. I usually explain that my blog is nominally tied to the business because a small business rightfully should have a blog. That being said, I am “on the fence” in case an unforeseen problem arises that means that I have to abandon what I have been doing. I shouldn’t think so.
In any case, I appreciate the feedback I get from visitors.
The photo I am featuring today is of one downtown bus route, where the bus heads to the campus and to the biggest shopping mall in town. When I was younger, the odd time I would be there at these places, but no longer.
The way back from the busiest places
It’s all changed so much! The offices of the local newspaper are across the street from where I stood.
I am optimistic I will have more ideas.
It was Father’s Day I took a picture of my parents, and maybe my ability is better suited to photos of locations rather than of people. I will remember I have to watch what I photograph, and where I go.
If I think to take photos at the cemetery where I work, I will include some of those as well. We are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LouthUnited
Occasionally I add my photos to the Facebook page for the business and I occasionally post links to sites I feel could be of interest.
Photographer: José Martín
I suspect the result I get will be determined by the quality of the content I post on Facebook and to the blog. Both will remain a dedicated hobby, I think.
It is a work-in-progress.
I am grateful, it bears saying again, for responses I receive, so to speak, the gift of a visit. This is what sparks interest in writing a blog. Have fun and thanks!
“let us remember that ending poverty is not a matter of charity but a question of justice.”
— UN Secretary-General, António Guterres
A few weeks ago Facebook faced a big data breach, which isn’t helping, I understand, in efforts to keep people’s trust invested in the social media platform.
I probably shouldn’t have overlooked the existing structure for receiving donations when I published this post this summer. I meant to say that the volunteers who run Maple Lawn Cemetery, where I work, don’t presently ask for donations on Facebook, because we are only a small page and we don’t have the budget with which to work.
Perhaps in the future, but admittedly unlikely, we could bring onboard someone younger to help with carrying out our operations with the help of Facebook, but at the present I am aware of the mess Facebook has run into owing to its exposed dealings with Cambridge Analytica and what that has done to Facebook’s credibility as a social media platform and to its use for small business (and in recent news the data breach). I want to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt that they will continue to improve their situation and remain effective as a tool for small business. I am optimistic that it will remain a good idea to publicize our work on Facebook.
Now is almost certainly not the best time to try to begin raising funds on Facebook, as the bad publicity is undeniable, I feel, but with Giving Tuesday still ahead in November I do want to keep my hand in the game in case the situation changes for the better. A little more money could certainly serve our needs. I am more concerned that Facebook will continue to grow to mean that the business page for our not-for-profit remains useful… https://www.facebook.com/LouthUnited
I am involved with a small business. We operate a cemetery which otherwise has no one to care for it.
This blog is nominally tied to it. I believe blogging is an opportunity to be involved with others who are similarly inclined to write blog posts.
I am the junior employee, and I help with grounds keeping. I also assist work inside the disbanded church which is on the grounds of the cemetery, and provide some of the cemetery’s presence on the Internet (on Facebook, and also here: www.maplelawncemetery.org).
Peter and Linda
The senior employee is Peter.
Occasionally volunteers lend a hand with the maintenance work. We have had work done by my nephew Mack, by family friends Bill and Gerard, and by my father’s brothers Paul and Dave.
We began in 2012, six years after the church closed its doors for the last time. The cemetery is small.
To write this post, I researched federal Canadian controversies over nonprofits. LIVE WELL, DO GOOD‘s David McConkey has provided specifics about giving or receiving charitable donations.
What he is saying on his website inspired what I thought about making donations.
One of the reasons that we see ourselves a little like volunteers is that, although typically we would accept donations, we are not a registered charity. In Canada, it is my understanding that only donations to registered charities qualify for an income tax credit. This means that there is less incentive for parties interested in what we do to bestow us with any kind of gift.
This isn’t a big problem, as there isn’t a lot of overhead to go with maintaining a cemetery of this size, but it does make campaigns such as November’s annual Giving Tuesday affair somewhat troubled waters. We can’t return the favor of a donation with an income tax deduction.
Statistics Canada has found that almost everyone (ninety-four percent of those fifteen years old and older) makes charitable donations. Sometimes these can be valuable art items.
Abstract expressionism
Despite not being able to provide a tax break, I imagine we would consider accepting donations. While we are a touch cautious about the possibility of a federal audit, I will probably make some noise again about Giving Tuesday come November.
I don’t like to spin my wheels, but nothing good comes easy. Perhaps by repeating an interest in Giving Tuesday, I will start to unlock chains that keep us out of what works about Giving Tuesday. We’re working at a cemetery, which demands solemn thinking and which is literally a retreat for visitors who miss their loved ones.
Statistics Canada has found that donors who plan ahead give more than others. As we are involved year-round with people choosing their final resting place or the resting place of their loved ones, perhaps this is something we could investigate if we were looking at how to raise funds for the cemetery. That being said, to date we have not had a problem caring for the church and cemetery, so we are not under any pressure to need to strenuously keep up the maintenance of the place running smoothly.
CanadaHelps.org is a registered charity that facilitates online donations. They work with thousands of charities. They issue receipts and forward your donation to a charity you specify, less a three percent transaction fee.
David McConkey found inspiration in the pages of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, by Bill Clinton. Three points specifically raised that David McConkey emphasizes are explained below.
Most people on Earth live in a democracy. Bill Clinton emphasizes that involvement in civil society is quite accessible to more people now than ever.
Globalization and technology have made the fortunes of powerful millionaires and billionaires, Clinton writes. These same individuals are frequently prominent philanthropists.
The Internet is certainly steadfast in the opportunity to make civil action. Together, small donors can have a huge impact.
Although my dad is a senior citizen, I can foresee us working until any set point in the future. I really don’t know at this time how far into the future we should project, but as helping with the cemetery is the best bet I have for autonomy and independence, I will do the best I can to keep working at caring for the cemetery and for the disbanded church. I also intend to keep an active presence on Facebook, and here on WordPress.
Bill Clinton’s book helped inspire David McConkey’s thoughts on income tax credits and how to take advantage of them. I invite you to visit us on Facebook. You may also ask any question you might have of me here on WordPress, over on Quora, or on Twitter.
Photographer: Ylanite Koppens
If you have a question which I might possibly be able to answer for you, I would be glad to help. I appreciate that you took the time to visit.
To visually illustrate this post, I have included a couple of shots taken myself, and in addition a couple of stock photos intended to better illustrate some of the information, without being verbose. Thank you for bearing with me.
Between 2011 and 2018, WordPress organized weekly photo challenges. These essays provided inspiration for bloggers to publish photos in their posts. The final photo challenge was the thirtieth of May this year, but after the surprise came that the challenges were finished, I think I will continue to blog with photos I’ve taken.
If and when other ideas come to mind, I will introduce them into the same blog, but I feel I should continue with similar enthusiasm to what I had when I was reading the photo challenges, over the last two or three years.
To get the answer what to do next, after the photo challenges ended, I turned to Quora, the site where users can pose questions and provide answers for others with a question – https://www.quora.com/
A couple of my old friends use Quora. A wonderful answer was provided by Ms. Jennifer Marshburn. What I could do next, she elegantly wrote, drawing on both her own experiences as a blogger and what she learned from similar circumstances.
The photo I took yesterday morning is of trees, in the city, sheltering a schoolhouse underneath a fabulous blue sky. I want to feature it as it is the first time I have decided for myself to be challenged to take a photo and say a few words. At the moment I took it, I was relieved I finally had an idea.
Above the Schoolhouse
WordPress has been nothing but great fun. In my case, it’s been an addition to the work I do as part of a not-for-profit cemetery in its junior operations. You can find us on the Internet here – http://www.maplelawncemetery.org/
There are a couple of other sources I would like to mention that provide additional inspiration.
Like everybody else participating in the weekly photo challenges from WordPress, I also got the word that the challenges are finished. Naturally, people reacted.
It was part of my day-to-day life. I was drawing quite a bit of inspiration from the weekly essays intended to spark inspiration for bloggers taking photos.
I looked through photos I’d taken and picked a few favorites. It is the very last challenge.
I liked to write something to go with a photo. The photo challenges have been served up since 2011.
I only made it a hobby in the last few years. It has been fun.
I am sure others were far more dedicated to the hobby, but I am pleased I did as much as I did.
It was worthwhile to join in while the fun lasted, I think. It provided a little joy to be part of something like that.
I am not sure what to do next, but I know I will think of something. I’ve written it before, but my blog is tied to the operations I do at a local cemetery in a not-for-profit capacity. It is chiefly a hobby, but I am aware many businesses of all sizes utilize blogging to publicize what they do.
One photo I took, that I always liked, is a photo I took August 24, 2013. I haven’t shown it much at all, but it is the interior the church as it stood in the first several months we were working there. I liked how it turned out, and I haven’t taken that many inside the church proper.
Louth United Church and Maple Lawn Cemetery, Saint Catharines, ON
Another photo of the interior of the church I took October 11, 2013. There was something soothing about the peace of the church, and these two photos are the ones I like best of the ones I took there.
Louth United Church and Maple Lawn Cemetery, Saint Catharines, ON
The cemetery where I work has a small Facebook page.
Some of the photos I took where with done with the possibility they would fit into the space we have on Facebook for the not-for-profit. I learned photography “on the job” as I carried out my photos on a “trial-and-error” basis.
The end of 2017 I capped the experience I gained with the free ten-day Developing Your Eye I. The course suggested ten days of photos on specific themes, similar to the weekly photo challenges, which I was already pursuing.
Expertise is a hard road to master, and I learned a little about photography and a lot of what doesn’t work. Still, enough of the photos were pleasant such that they merited a look, I feel.
The Developing Your Eye I course helps break you out of your comfort zone, a touch, and teaches a little more clarity about the matter of taking photographs.
As I got the weekly photo challenges tackled I got included in posts curating people’s output for the photo challenges en masse. There were dozens of links to bloggers demonstrating photos put together by people who wanted the best out of their participation in the photo challenges. That was always a pleasure.
Some very talented people participated in the photo challenges.
I’d say I’ve been left better by the experience. It was a surprise to see this week that the challenges have ended. it is nonetheless interesting to possibly view the change as an opportunity to do something new that was never anticipated at all. I guess time will tell.
Thank you for showing support to this endeavor.
It was, I suppose, bittersweet to read this week’s photo challenge by Krista Stevens
The Myth of the Independent Blogger and How I Learned to Love It 