Reflections at Easter

I know its an early Easter this year, but the first three months of 2008 seem to have flown by so quickly when you think it'll be April next week - where has the time gone? This seems like a good point then to pause and reflect on the progress I've made with the WME galleries recently.

Hmm, did I say progress? There has been some useful development, but not as much as I'd ideally like. After clearing the decks last December I had hoped to push on this year with exciting new photos that would take the galleries in new directions. Instead I've found myself going over old ground again trying to plunder those extra few photos to add flesh to whats already there. I do think it is important to try and extract as much as I can for the galleries, as I want the story of my explorations to be as complete as possible. This does lead to frustration though, scrabbling together bits and pieces updates rather than constructive new collections.

Looking at the galleries more closely, I think there have been some successes this year. WME Wolverhampton and WME Birmingham have both benefitted from some extra local photos, WME Telford has received some much-needed extra bus photos, and WME Shropshire finally has a bus presence thanks to the arrival of Shropshire by Bus. Despite these positives, there are still causes for concern. Exploration Extra has only received one new photo this year, and WME Warwickshire hasn't received anything whatsoever.

The gallery that is causing me the most concern though is WME Staffordshire. Its a perennial complaint of mine that the gallery only really covers South Staffordshire rather than the whole county. Indeed, as one of my biggest galleries I would hope for a good return of photo hits but WME Staffs is notoriously quiet on the visitor front. The problem I feel is that the bulk of the gallery consists of repetitive canal collections (particularly the Staffordshire & Worcestershire section), and local collections focusing on little villages surrounding Wolverhampton. Staffordshire by Bus is merely a token presence considering the potentially huge scope for bus photography in the county, whilst rail is useful without addressing the major station locations. In short, the gallery does not provide an adequate reflection of the county as a whole, and this is something I need to change as a matter of urgency.

I am also concerned about the number of two-photo-only starter collections still lurking on the galleries. I'm sure if you were a visitor to WME and found a section on your local area, you'd be pretty disappointed if there were only two photos to look at. During a recent audit, I found I had 66 such collections, amounting to almost a quarter of the total collections across the site. The worst offenders are some of the local sections on WMEs Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Staffordshire, meaning at times that my photos are spread very thinly indeed. This is partly why I've focused on extracting more from my existing stock rather than moving into new archive territory.

Ok, enough moaning. On a general note, I've been really pleased with the number of photo views the galleries have generated. WME Birmingham, as is customary, is leading the way with over a thousand hits already, but all of my sites have received some attention, so many thanks for visiting. I've also received some great comments from people appreciating my photos, and this makes it all worthwhile. I am looking into making more use of the groups, communities and smartgroups features on Fotopic to spread the word about the site just a little further, and I've got plenty of challenges ahead in order to address some of the concerns I mentioned earlier. It goes to show that even as the site expands and grows, there's always something to be working on.