Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot more time writing blogs and catching up than actually exploring and taking photos. It seems like you’re much more likely to find me in one of Taipei’s many awesome coffee shops writing than out exploring with my camera. I feel like I’m at the point now though where I’ve done enough catching up with my older photos, so I think its time to take a break and spend more time with what I love doing most.

Now that the weather in Taiwan is cooling down, I plan to be spending more of my free time out with my camera - I have a long list of places to visit (and eventually write about), so unless its raining (as it usually does in winter here), I’ll be spending less time with my keyboard and more time travelling to new places and taking photos. 

I took a break from blogging around this time last year when I completely redesigned the look of the site and added new code to make it more user friendly.

This year my break is going to be similar in nature - I won’t be doing another redesign but I’m going to be taking care of some much needed maitenance that will ultimately end up being quite time consuming. 

My plan is basically this:  

1. Go through old blogs and make sure they are formatted properly
2. Go through the older blogs and check my spelling, grammar, etc.  
3. Update the older blogs with new information and photos
4. Update links, location information, etc.  

My foray into blogging has been one where I have been constantly learning and changing how I present information and photos. I want to go back and give all of my posts the same treatment, style and make the information easier for viewers to enjoy the places I’ve been sharing.

The reason why I need a break from writing new stuff is because this project is likely going to take countless hours and frustrate the crap out of me until I finish it. It’s something however that I think needs to be done and something that I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while now.

Never fear though, I have enough blogs ready to go that I can continue to post at my normal pace and not write another word until 2018. I’m sure that won’t be the case though. 

In other news, I’ve become a bit exhausted with social media as of late. I find myself spending less time online and it has gotten to the point that I went through my Facebook and removed almost every ‘like’ and group that I was following.

There is so much manufactured hate and outrage on social media that it is difficult to stay positive as well as staying out of trouble. So instead of having that stuff pop up in my newsfeed I just decided to get rid of it and have a newsfeed that I can control. 

My good friend and fellow blogger Alexander has been pushing me for quite a long time to start a Facebook page for this site and have everything automatically feed through there.

It’s a great idea and he’s right but I’ve always been a bit apprehensive about actually doing it since I’m of the opinion that there are way too many photography pages on Facebook. I like to be a bit different. 

Alexander reassured me however that even though the main purpose of my website is to showcase my photography, it has since transformed into a resource for people who want to learn more about Taiwan, what to do when they come here and also about its history. To that effect, it would be better to have a public space on Facebook where I could have this information more accessible. 

So, if you like this website and you want to follow what I’m doing - Make sure to follow my new Facebook Page: Josh Ellis Photography.  

In the meantime I’ll be posting my regularly scheduled blogs, updating and reposting some of the older ones and hopefully be spending more time taking photos!

I hope everyone is well!