The Best of 2015, but the best is yet to come!
Every year it is a great practice to reflect on what you have accomplished. I don’t do this to brag or make anyone feel less accomplished, I do it for personal accountability to ensure that I strive for more next year. It is amazing to me that every year I do this and I think to myself, how in the world can I top what I did this year?
As I reflect on the year I look at a number of things. While the photography aspect is important to me, I am often more concerned with how the business grew in terms of the goals I wanted to accomplish.
- How many new subscribers and views on YouTube (I even compare all of my years on a spreadsheet to ensure the channel is growing at exponential rates)
- What significant objectives did you reach, ie Seminars, Webinars, etc.
- How many photos were taken, how many made the portfolio?
So let’s break these areas down and see how 2015 looked.
The YouTube Channel | Best of 2015
I actually saw my largest spike of exponential growth this year as opposed to all other years past. It was incredible watching this happen. Most of the success came from “Back End” hacks that you may not have noticed but have proven to be invaluable to the channel growth.
- Incorporating me. I was talking with Matt Kloskowski at the beginning of the year and he told me he loved my training videos, but they were lacking something extremely important… me. I was shocked, I thought I was in them. The problem was my personality was in them, but I was not. I started incorporating the Webcam and that has increased interaction immensely!
- A tiny subscribe button. Something that was never on the videos before was the little subscribe button that pops up in the lower right hand corner. After implementing that I watched my subscriber rate go from ~250 per month to over 700!
- Blog Post Descriptions. One thing that you may not notice in the blog posts is something called SEO or Search Engine Optimization. This is a way of key wording every post to ensure Google likes your content and ranks it higher. On your end it should be nearly invisible but Google will find one word or phrase that is repeated and put your post higher in a search based on several factors. I took this concept and started pasting the SEO posts into the descriptions of the YouTube videos. This increased my search rankings on YouTube by over 30%
Watch time in minutes
Video Views
New Subscribers
Years of content watched in 2015
Top 3 Videos of 2015
Significant Objectives | Best of 2015
So much has happened in 2015, where do I even begin! I am shocked by how rapidly my dreams are becoming a reality. Again, I do not say this to brag, if anything to inspire. In 2010 I set out to be speaking at seminars within 5 years, that was my goal with EverydayHDR. I am so proud to say that within that 5 years I did exactly that and am well on my way to breaking my next 5 year in a predicted 2 years.
Hard work is like a nail, determination the hammer, and tenacity is the driving force behind it. With a significant amount of determination and hard work your goals will be accomplished, the time frame depends on your tenacity to accomplish them.
- I hosted my very first All Day Seminar in Kansas City – 55 attendees!
- I taught at a Seminar in Walla Walla Washington.
- Conducted 1 webinar with the Photoshop and Lightroom Group and 8 webinars with Topaz Labs for a grand total of 21 over the last 3 years.
- I was on the jpeg2RAW Podcast twice, on two Podcasts with SIC (Share Inspire Create) and one with the Pixelobby Facebook Group.
- I was also a featured Pro with On1 and conducted an interview with a colleague, longtime friend, and mentor of mine: Matt Kloskowski.
- 3 more courses were added to the store: The Zone Systems Master Class, HDR and Perfect Effects 9 and The Artist’s Eye.
- I also conducted my first Workshop with Shutter Click Adventures in Cannon Beach Oregon!
Webinars Conducted
Podcasts Interviewed For
Seminars Taught
Workshops Taught
The Photographs | Best of 2015
This is probably the hardest part of 2015, culling the plethora of photos from the year. While I may have taken an insane amount of photos, I only consider 25 or so to be my best and really only 10 made the portfolio. I am hard on myself when it comes to what makes it in the Portfolio of the best of the best. This is a good practice to get into.
It is impossible to say that every photo you take is a keeper. To say this would be, in many regards, vain and probably more accurately, delusional! I took several hours going through all of my photos from the year and had such a great time reflecting on the places I have been. Included at the bottom of this post is a gallery of my favorite 25 images, of those favorites, the top 10 portfolio pieces are included.
Places 2015 took me:
- Cannon Beach, Oregon
- Portland, Oregon
- Portland, Maine
- Kennebunkport, Maine
- Ha Ha Tonka National Park, Missouri
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Tall Grass National Preserve, Kansas
- The Palouse, Washington
Photos Shot
Gigs of Photos taken
Number of Photos that made the Portfolio
%
Percentage of photos that made the portfolio
The Best of 2015 Gallery
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Glad I stopped to read your blog post. First saw you in On1 interview with Matt. Congratulations on growth and great year!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by. It was an intense year for growth. I could not be more pleased.
Can’t wait to see what you have in store for 2016!
Me either… I go in with a plan but always come out surprised! The way it should be I guess. Happy New Year!
Blake,
All I gotta say is that I am glad we got to connect via this thing called the internet. I wish you nothing but the best and as I said before, I salute your dedication and quality you put into your work. Can’t wait to see what 2016 brings for you bro!
Me too, Paul! I can still remember G+ Chatting with you back in 2012 talking about my eBook and which cover I should go with. You played a big part in that! Happy New Year, my friend!
I do not use Photoshop so I’m not able to take full advantage of some of the tips you’ve shared. I do try to find similar capabilities in Paint Shop Pro and many are available that can be applied similarly. I’ve been following you for more than the past year and and your in-depth approach has enlightened me to things I would never have thought of on my own. During the time I’ve been a devoted follower, I’ve seen how much you’ve polished your approaches and your growth during that time and am looking forward to what you bring to light in 20l6. Here’s to your continued success in the new year.
Happy New Year to you and your family Blake!
Highlight for me was shooting a series of HDR images inside the 1000 year-old Cathedral here in Worcester (UK) and then using the incredible technique you discussed in one of your tutorials to process the 32bit (unprocessed) images from Photomatix in Photoshop.
Post-processing an image with 10+ stops of dynamic range was (literally!) a real eye-opener for me; so much so I routinely try this technique with at least a few images from every HDR shoot.
I look forward to continuing to learn and improve with your help in 2016.
Wow! 1000 years old, that must have been gorgeous! Sounds like you learned a lot in 2k15! Here’s to much more knowledge in 2016 🙂
Thanks Blake for your great videos. Your way of explaining things is easy to understand. I enjoy trying new things and you always have something to try.
Keep up the great work and all the best to you and your family for 2016.
You are truly welcome. I do appreciate your feedback, that is important to me to keep this going! Happy New Year and best wishes to you and yours as well!
Hi Blake.
Happy and Prosperous new year.
Just wanted to say thanks for all your help during 2015 (still need more this year though!)
Best regards.
Chris M.
UK
My images have made quite an improvement thanks to you and several others that I follow. The internet is truly a phenomenal tool for those who are learners. Looking forward to Yosemite in May.
Happy New Year to you and your family.
I am so gad you to learn you have had a successful year and are continuing to find ways to move forward in making your new career work. Matt was right, your personality is important. I love how you think and the way you teach. You are changing the way I do photoshop, and that is a good thing.
Yours is the first email I look for when I open my email.
Bottom line, I enjoy both you and your classes.
Superb tutorial.Best I’ve ever seen on subject.
Blake’s teaching style is just perfect and it really
follows along the way I think at the right pace
Thanks so much for this one and all the others you do!
Hi Blake,
I think Matt K. is definitely right – they are better when we see you on the webcam off to the side or in the corner of the video. It helps us to connect better with you, seeing, not just hearing you. The opportunity to make these comments here, I hope will also dismiss any thoughts that you may have had, that I have been ‘having a go at you’ about your ‘selfies’ (btw…I was serious about my suggestion of that as a theme for an HDR Insider Monthly project. I’m way off from ‘good looking’, but think it would be fun to see what members come up with).
I’ve only been following you for a few months, but feel that you are a very good teacher, who is able to provide direction and inspiration to others. Although due to my personal circumstances, I haven’t been able to progress as quickly as I would like [and post any work (Insider Projects or my own work on the Facebook group)], you have shown me the worth of investing in Photoshop (made easier by monthly subscription) and Topaz plugins, helping me to see what photos can really become. Though as just mentioned, I’m not getting the output at the moment, I believe you are helping to draw out an artist within me and I eagerly await your emails to see what inspiration awaits in your videos/tutorials.
I wish you continued success and a Happy New year to you and your family for 2016.
Colin