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Almost Famous

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Almost Famous

The movie Almost Famous resonates with me because it captures something about the 1960’s Rock music scene that’s close to my experience of the times. In particular the rather tame analog marketing used to sell music in the 60’s has blossomed into the digital online hype of today. The aim was the same then as now. Find the right product; create the right pitch, step on the marketing elevator and ride to the top. Simple or so it seems.

Posting My Work

Here is where marketing gets personal. About three years ago I got interested in motion graphics as a way to make slideshows of my photos. Since then I’ve made more than thirty short videos. Most are posted on YouTube where they failed to reach an audience. Not much of a surprise. All combined they have less than a thousand views.

Finding Pinterest

In the middle of 2019 I discovered Pinterest. As a photographer the visual content there is very appealing. It didn’t take long to create several collections of photographs which generate a few hundred to a few thousand impressions a week.

Pinterest is an odd duck when it comes to standard content format which is vertical rather than horizontal. This is perfect for mobile users who don’t want to rotate their phones. Original content not produced in vertical format pretty much gets ignored.

When I posted links to some of my HD YouTube videos they got 40-50 views each. After reworking them from HD 1920×1080 to 1080×1920 and posting directly on Pinterest they immediately began getting multiple thousands of impressions.

Finding Success and Failure

On Christmas Eve I posted a 30 second animated New Years video which immediately took off. Within three weeks it had more than 150K impressions, 41K video views and hundreds of web site link clicks. I was absolutely shocked. Even after New Years it kept getting one or two thousand impressions a day.

That’s when I decided to post another video for Chinese New Year but it had a flaw so I deleted it. Unfortunately I actually deleted the wrong New Years video and lost my big success. In a panic I re-posted but the deed was done.

Well at least I was Almost Famous. Better luck next time.

Independence Day

Interesting Times

Much has changed in America since I was a kid in the mid twentieth century. My life as a free-range child felt absolutely carefree. The 4^th of July was about patriotism, parades and picnics. Now I know the world is a more complicated place where consequences intrude on childhood. Still those early memories shape the core of my understanding of who we are as a nation.

A century ago my family came to the new world in the aftermath of war in Europe. They made a choice to give up lives in the old world not knowing what may come. That decision gave me my place as an American. Thank You.

Happy Birthday USA

Bowling for Santa

As a boy there was nothing more magical than the holiday season. Now having reached a certain age I remember those times with the warm glow of nostalgia.

My mother was the best baker I have ever known. She made fabulous cinnamon rolls, coffee cakes, cookies and pies. My favorite was her fruit cake which was unlike any other I’ve experienced. The recipe was passed down from Dutch ancestors who are also very much a part of my Christmas memories. I dearly wish I had that recipe.

Those boyhood holidays were a rich blend of old world and American traditions celebrated by relatives speaking Dutch and English often in the same sentence. All utterly gone now and greatly missed.
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