Reflections on My Life Just Before Getting Married: My Seven Links

What a wonderful idea…ask all bloggers around the world My 7 Link questions that encourage them to dig through their archives and rediscover some of their favorite work. For me, the timing is especially symmetrical, as it gives me a chance to reflect on the adventures of my life just a few days before marrying Carrie: the amazing woman who has been by my side for all of them.

1. Most Beautiful Post:
The Adventures of a GoodMan Photo Gallery
While I love writing stories, my favorite and most beautiful parts of the site are the always-evolving and self-curated photo galleries from my travels that feature only my absolute best photography, sorted by destination.

2. Most Popular Post:
Shea Hey Shea Stadium: A Photographic Tribute to My Favorite Place Ever

I have to thank MetsBlog for featuring this post on the there awesome and popular Mets site and getting me epic amounts of traffic to a post that easily could also have classified for the “post I’m most proud of” section of this challenge.

3. Most Controversial Post:
Interacting With The Locals in Vietnam is Downright Unpleasant
I always try to keep an upbeat tone in my writing, even when I’m describing the most frustrating aspects of budget backpacking across the world. On this particular post, however, stress overtook my style as I ranted about Carrie and my negative interactions bargaining with shopkeepers who were just trying to make a living.

Now, looking back on it and selecting it for this category, I realize a) how ridiculous it was to get so frustrated over, and b) how that particular entry reads more like a journal entry than a blog entry…which led me to realize that I wished I had more of those, even if they weren’t published.

My Most Helpful Post:
Dramatic Changes – Before and After Photography With Photoshop
I believe that any photo can become a work of art, regardless of how it’s shot. The reality of always being on the go while traveling means I often have just enough time to estimate my camera settings before quickly taking the first, and usually best, shot.

Even the ones that come out perfect on that first shot still can benefit from a trip to my Digital Darkroom. Using traditional darkroom printing techniques, I digitally paint every individual pixel through a series Photoshop layers and masks. Same methods as always: just with modern tools.

A Post Who’s Success Surprises Me:
A Video of Me Going Down a Waterslide in Bali
This one has really never made sense to me. My most viewed YouTube video is is one Carrie took of my ride down a the Superbowl waterslide at Waterbom park in Kuta, Bali. I just don’t get it, but with more than 41,000 hits, the thing blows away all of my other videos that I’m far more proud of. And the comments are great too!

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved:
Civil Unrest and Meeting the Thai Red Shirts
Carrie and I found ourselves right in the middle of a massive Red Shirt uprising in Bangkok a few years ago and decided to make our way behind the protest lines to actually meet them. This turned into a lifechanging experience as we were greeted by smiles and excitement at every turn. People just wanted to tell their stories to the world and we were their outlet to do so.

The post I am most proud of:
Neon, Fuel, Pavement and Americana on Route 66: A Photographic Series
I spent more than a year teaching myself Photoshop and working on this Route 66 photographic series. Featuring only my best two dozen images from the entire adventure, these are truly my best work and the post I am most proud of.

The My 7 Links Blogger Project
I first saw encounterd the My 7 Links blogger project on DigiDrift and then again on Alex in Wanderland, Twenty Something Travel and Unbrave Girl. Since then, my my TweetDeck has regularly beeped with inspirational additions from bloggers across the world.

Technically you need to be nominated to participate in My 7 Links, but as I’m really just getting in the blogosphere and was so excited to work on the project before my wedding, I went ahead and nominated myself. Hope you don’t mind :)