STICKY: Pardon Our Dust (New Posts Appear Below This One)

[This post is a sticky—new ones appear down below it. Please scroll down to see the latest additions.]

The Online Photographer (TOP) has never been a double-turbocharged V8 among photography sites. At our best we are a beautifully well-mannered naturally-aspirated straight-six, smooth as buttah but with hidden power quietly in reserve.

In the month of August 2014 we are moving to new facilities. The motivation for this is to improve our physical space, which will in turn enable the site to improve above and beyond its previous best.

For this month we will be on 1/3rd power, under engine management to conserve fuel so to speak. The Editor is a company of one, and TOP under full throttle is a powerful time-sink—a fun one, yes, but it has to be manned and monitored continually. A move—especially for a wifeless head-in-the-clouds navel-gazer without money to burn and with highly questionable organizing aptitudes—is also a time-sink. Something's gotta give.

We will continue to post new material in August...

...However, please don't judge the site as you find it now! We're limping along on two cylinders. This isn't permanent! We'll be back up and running at full speed again early in the Fall.

Cordial thanks to our many friends and fans, and all our visitors—I appreciate your patience and loyalty!

All best,

—Mike Johnston, Semi-Competent CFO,
Chief Mine Defuser, and Packing Crew

Comments

[Soeren Engelbrecht]

Hm. From personal experience, I would expect that being a "wifeless dude" would actually speed up the "moving in" part of the process :-)

Good luck with the move - I look forward to future postings, once you settle in.

[KeithB]

I had the same problem with the word "plateau" when I was reading aloud in the 6th grade. In my defense, I think it was broken across two lines.

[jim woodard]

Perhaps you should randomly pick a half commenters to TOP and entrust them with keeping the site running at FULL SPEED! You know how fickle the internet is, if I don't post to my flickr site every day my views drop from eight to three immediately! Plus the train wreck ( at least if you chose me) that TOP would shortly be might be of great interest! Best of luck in the move! Oh and one last question- has Zander decided he should return to college early?

[jim woodard]

that should be half dozen! See what I mean?

[Hugh Smith]

You see, that's why I love digital. My Pa ti ence isn't pushed to its ADD limits.
But, I HATE moving so (sad to say) glad I'm not there to help....
My two pesos

[Michael Perini]

Someone should be filming the next 40 days and 40 nights.
Time lapse at least.

You might get a reality TV Gig.
I'm just sayin'

[psu]

I still remember the first time I tried to load a film tank in the dark, because I could not for the life of me get it threaded on to the plastic reel. It took me about 40min to get this done. I know this because there was an LP record playing in the outer room the whole time, and it repeated twice. It was the DOORS album with Light My Fire on it. Still gives me the willies.

[Robert Newcomb]

Hey Mike,
You need us to get you a wife to help you out?

[I actually have several great helpers, but thanks for the offer. --Mike]

[Dave Karp]

Congrats and enjoy!

[Hugh Look]

Maybe there is a particular problem with words beginning with P. Here's a clip from a local radio show broadcast from the fine city of Liverpool a few years ago:

http://youtu.be/TU2eTAwpzgg

Hope it passes a bit of time packing for the move!

[Hugh Look]

Forgot to mention a bit of trivia: the host of the show, Billy Butler, is a long-time Liverpool institution and was a DJ at the Cavern Club when the Beatles were just starting.

[Richard K]

Best of luck with the move - a tiring task to get through I know!

[Dave]

So you're telling me this is the perfect time to try to break my TOP addiction? My counselor will be so happy.

[Noooo! Wait! Don't go...!!!! --Mike]

[Lesley]

Hey, Thom Hogan takes the month of August off, and he does it every year —and without moving. Don't worry about us; you have enough to do with the packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking and reorganizing. Close TOP down until September, get yourself settled properly, and then resume the blogging when you have finished with the move. It's a huge job, so take the time to do it without getting over stressed. We will still be here when it's done. Good luck with it all...and congratulations on the expansion of TOP World Headquarters!

[Len Kowitz]

Ah yes, I remember it we'll.
After fooling with pixels for a while I go back to the darkroom and relive all the frustration.
I think I might be in need of help?
Len Kowitz

[Roberto M.]

That reminds me of a time in graduate school when I was doing a word puzzle with several other grad students. The answer to one block was 'opera'. For some reason probably related to its being written vertically rather than horizontally, none of us recognized it as the word we all knew. Instead, we spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what ''OH - PEARA' meant. None of us had ever heard the word OH - PEARA before and neither had any of our professors. Finally someone looked it up in the dictionary and then the light bulbs went off for everyone. I've always thought it was funny and interesting that the whole group of us had the same temporary mental paralysis on a familiar word.

[Scott Symes]

I think that the TOP move and current drop in posting pace has people digging through your archives more. I just found that one of my photos that you used in a post back in 2006 suddenly has a bit of a spike in views on flickr. The Online Photographer
Also, a couple of shots I have from a short talk you gave at the Guerrllia Gallery around the same time have some views out of nowhere as well.
There are lots of great past posts from TOP and it's probably not the worst thing at all for people to go back and enjoy some of those again, or for the first time, instead of just reading whatever is current.

[James]

Don't forget to put your scanner in to "park" mode before you move it.

[Dan]

Patience? Not as bad as the radio announcer from a zoo story asking 'what is a Leo - Pard? Leopard was the animal in the story.

[Bryce Lee]

Mike does not require a wife; he is far more sensible than to even consider that line
of approach!

[Au contraire friend Bryce, I would love to be married. To the right person.... --Mike]

[mike plews]

Take your time. Your readers aren't going to bail on you.

[Erik Ahrend]

Hope everything is going smoothly with your move (if there is anything like a smooth home moving...). You are missed...

[Nicolas woollaston]

Can i suggest you make this sticky post a lot lot shorter. On a small screen it is quite a scroll to see if there is anything new below it.

Thanks,
Nicolas

[Mike Johnston]

Ed. Note: The original post contained the following footnote, which I removed because readers were telling me it was inconvenient to scroll down to check for new content. --MJ

A story I've related before: when I taught high school we had a film-loading closet where the kids put their film on to reels and into the developing tanks. Naturally I didn't go in there with them—I'd have them practice a few times out in the light and then when they went in to load real exposed film they were on their own. Sometimes when things didn't go right I'd have to stand at the door and talk them through it. Try again, back up, start over. Stick with it. Some of you remember how it was.

Anyway, one time, one student's frustration spiraled out of control. She came out of the film loading room as mad as a cat out of the bath. First I got a torrent of complaints, and then she said, "And I kept looking at those letters you put on the wall. WHAT is that word?!? PATT-EYE-ENCE. PATT-EE-ENCE. What the hell does that mean? WHAT is that word?!?"

She was a bright, well-educated student, and she of course knew the word. Her frustrated state had simply caused her mind to misfire temporarily:

I had spelled out the word "PATIENCE" on the wall in glow-in-the-dark tape.

I tried to break it to her gently.... :-D

[Jack Flannery]

Moving the pool table should be fun.

[Roger Bradbury]

Actually, there's a lot to be said for a largish capacity twin. There's more powerful engine designs, but in a good 'un there's all the mid range you could wish for.

[Sarge]

Hi Mike,

I've been dreaming about you! You were standing on the porch greeting us (TOPpers) with a welcoming grin. You were in a blue pocket t-shirt, jeans, and a trimmed beard. Then you asked us to fill-up raffle tickets for the door prize you were giving away. It was a shiny exhaust upgrade, a muffler, of all things! I'm not into interpreting dreams. . .

Have a smooth move and congrats!