It’s my year-end tradition to highlight the year’s posts that were most read, commented, and liked.
But first, some reflections on the year. If I’m judging solely by number of visits, 2015 was the best year ever at Down the Road, with nearly twice as many visits as last year. But almost one in four visits to this blog were to one post: this one about where you can get film developed. It’s a top-ten result for most searches that include “film” and “develop.”
While I love to see lots of visits to my blog, the main reason I write it is because you read it, and you sometimes comment or click Like. It’s enormously satisfying to know that people I’d never encounter otherwise find my thoughts and interests to be interesting.
Here are my five favorite posts from 2015. Unfortunately, my favorite posts are seldom the most viewed, commented, or Liked. So if you don’t remember these, do go read them; I poured my heart into them.
- Because I love myself enough — I tell about how I recovered from the abuse I suffered from someone who was supposed to love me.
- What the ice storm could have taught me about myself — One icy day in my early 20s, I got to be fully myself. It might have been the first time.
- Seven things I’ve told my sons about porn — Because teenage sons with Internet access are going to find the stuff.
- Connecting through the ether — I loved connecting with my listeners when I was a radio disk jockey.
- Why local news is no longer appointment TV for me — I used to never miss the 6 o’clock news. Not anymore. Here’s why.
My recent story about the destroyed historic bridge was the most popular post of the year, but film photography with old cameras rounded out the most-read posts I wrote in 2015.
- 1880 Paoli bridge, destroyed — This post from this past Monday got linked on a couple popular sites and got a lot of views in a short time.
- Olympus Trip 35, revisited — I hadn’t shot my Olympus Trip 35 for years. I’m a much better photographer now. So I shot and reviewed it again through fresh eyes.
- Shooting Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 — Search drove a lot of views of this review of a fast color film.
- Sears KS Super II — Who would have thought that this simple 35mm SLR from Sears, of all places, would be such a satisfying performer?
- Canon T70 — Despite being made largely of plastic, this 35mm SLR is capable and fun to use.
You had the most to say about these posts.
- Welcome to the post-blog era — My recent thoughts on the state of blogging in 2015 got a lot of you going.
- Minolta SR-T 202 — You all just piled on in praise (and in troubleshooting tips) for this very nice mid-1970s Minolta 35mm SLR.
- I may have lost my mind a little — Early this year I went on a camera-buying binge.
- Miranda Sensorex II — This quirky 35mm SLR delivered some really nice photographs.
- Requiem for Radio Shack — When this retailer declared bankruptcy, I shared some memories of it. So did you, in the comments.
My photo posts led you to click the Like button most often in 2015.
- Photo: Tea service before the fireplace — I shot this photo inside Oldfields, the Lilly mansion, on the campus of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
- Photo: Dusky mums — Some autumn flowers from my yard.
- Photo: Costumes by Margie — A storefront on N. Illinois St. in Indianapolis.
- Photo: Purple flowers — A 2012 photo of some flowers in my mom’s front yard.
- Captured: 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SS — A wonderful old convertible I photographed at this year’s Mecum classic-car auction.
These are the most-viewed posts of all time at Down the Road:
- Where can you still get film developed? — This post gets more than 100 visits a day.
- What’s a guy who still shoots film supposed to do? — I lamented the loss of cheap drug-store film processing. A year later, I’d figured out the best mail-order processors and wrote the post above.
- Yashica MG-1 — Apparently, few others have written about this camera on the Internet, because this post gets lots of traffic.
- Review: Wolverine Super F2D – A good-enough tool for digitizing your film snapshot negatives — This review of an inexpensive tool for digitizing negatives is starting to wane in popularity.
- Vintage TV: The CBS Late Movie — The Internet has little to say about this old late show, so most searches for it lead people here.
Thanks for reading Down the Road!
