My first month on Substack
Fun, rewarding, interesting, and surprising!
I’m going to take a detour from my usual Grateful Dead or scenic photos blog posts to talk about what writing on Substack has already shown me in less than a month.
First, there are a lot of very interesting writers here, and I’ve barely scratched the surface exploring the landscape.
Also, there are a big bunch of redundant, probably AI-generated, bot trash-talkers telling me what to write about and how often to do it. Hidden within that large bot cluster are actual humans who have excellent advice based on their own experiences. I’m just starting to learn the difference.
I know my audience after 20+ years of Facebook posts and readers’ reactions to them. It’s true that my followers are mostly interested in my early-days history with the Grateful Dead and the San Francisco rock music scene, and the photos and stories I share about those magical times.
But over the years, when I’ve gone “off script” and posted a set of photos of some beautiful place I’ve just visited for the first time; or close-ups of bugs and bees on flowers; or random chandeliers even; the reactions have been positive and encouraging.
I’ve also digressed from time to time to write about something important in my personal life, or some emotional epiphany I’ve experienced.
Why would I do that? Because I’ve come to know my followers to be open, kind, and receptive to knowing me beyond the photos I took years ago. Like anyone who’s experiencing difficult times, I’ve appreciated having the support they’ve shown me in those instances.
So, when I realized Substack might be the best way for me to reach ALL the folks who are interested in my photos and writing, (vs. FB’s throttling algorithm that shows my posts to a fraction of those people), I jumped into the deep end here. The result has been truly astounding!
Thank you all who’ve subscribed so far! I hope you’ll enjoy what I share with you here.
If one particular post doesn’t interest you, I sincerely hope the next one will!
For now, here’s a gallery of random photos from my lifetime of compulsive photo-journaling.
Thanks for everything you post! Obviously, I love the work and materials you share from the 60s and on with the GD, but one of the attractive things to me about that scene when I got into it in the mid 70s was the fact that people brought so much of their own lives and passions to it and it wasn’t as insular as it became in later years, so I really love exploring everything you have done since. And I love seeing photographs of all kinds of things. My own work is very much informed by every day things being seen in a different light, from bugs to patterns of shadows and clouds, etc.
Speaking as a real, live human, I appreciate your writings and photos of the GD and beyond and am glad you have ventured into the substack realm. Keep on Truckin'!