Crikey! I can hardly believe that it was 10 years ago today that I published my very first blog post for Christchurch Daily Photo. Christchurch was quite a different city, and things were quite different for me too. I can’t remember how I discovered the other daily photo blogs that were in existence back then, I know I somehow stumbled across Auckland Daily Photo (by Lachezar Karadzhov) and then looked at Paris Daily Photo (by Eric Tenin, the original Daily Photo blogger) and thinking, hmmm, maybe I could do that too. Never in a million years did I think I’d be still blogging 10 years later (quite frankly I was just thinking it would be a great excuse to practice my photography). But here I am, still going, despite some days thinking ‘this is too hard, too time-consuming, and I’m just one person’. There have been weeks on end where I’ve had to have a break from photography as it can be a tough thing to stay passionate about at times – there’s so much of it online these days, everyone has a camera in their pocket, and there are much better photographers out there producing amazing work. And yet, I have a loyal following via Facebook and the blog, and I have to thank them so much for their enthusiastic and positive comments and encouragement. It’s often the wonderful feedback I get that spurs me forward – I’ve had emails from all over the world telling me how ‘homesick’ the blog makes them feel (oops sorry about that), or how much they want to move to Christchurch and New Zealand. Many people will follow the blog for years to learn about everyday life in Christchurch – and that’s exactly what this blog hopefully captures ‘the every day, every day’ (well ok, nearly every day – I do try). 

So what turned into an excuse to ‘take photos’ and also ‘learn WordPress’ has taken on a life of its own – I now make a living out of ‘knowing WordPress’, and just three years after starting the blog, our city was rocked by the September 2010 earthquakes. Many of the photos that predate that event can not be recaptured for obvious reasons. The earthquakes also presented me with obviously a lot of material, but I made the conscious decision to try and focus on the positives (a city reborn) and the natural beauty that surrounded me.

My first blog post was an obvious one – daffodils in the Botanic Gardens. A celebration of the season Christchurch really excels at – our most glorious Spring vistas. And a place I love dearly. The place I go to when I need to take a deep breath, get away from the emails, the phone calls and the to-do list.  So it’s only fitting that my 10th-anniversary blog post (and number 2,485th) is the Botanic Gardens – where it all started 10 years ago today with a photo of some beautiful daffodils.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave comments on the blog and Facebook page – I’m not the best at responding to them at times, but I read almost all of them!

And, should you decide to start at the beginning of the blog and work your way backwards, I’ve estimated you’d need to set aside 124 hours – or roughly 3 minutes per blog.