The last day of the #HiveBloPoMo!

And even though I didn't make it every day to write a blog, I'm still happy with how the past month has gone.

Break through a psychological barrier

Thanks to the BloPoMo I am blogging again. And that was a completely different story before this challenge started. The last blog was then more than a month old. My inspiration was so far below zero that it didn't even make sense to even try to write a blog. Thanks to the #HiveBloPoMo I was able to break through this psychological barrier, and for the first two weeks I neatly posted a blog online every day.

A lack of time

Then it got harder, and I couldn't hold it anymore. Circumstances and ordinary life often got in the way, so time was lacking. But nevertheless, I'm happy the way it turned out! Because because the inspiration for blogging is back ... something else has also changed. I also really feel like going out with my camera for the first time in ages, which is exactly how I celebrated a national holiday last Thursday.

Spoiled dogs

It is often difficult for me to leave home for more than one or two hours. With three dogs, two of which are old dogs, it is no longer responsible to leave them alone at home for half a day or more. And because I have been home for so long, they are no longer used to having to stay home alone for a long time. Apart from the fact that two of the three dogs are really old, they are also all three spoiled with my presence all day. Except for a few hours now and then, they never have to be alone for long.

Difficult to get some "ME-time"

This is of course a great situation for the dogs. But this situation makes it a bit more difficult for me to go out for a day myself. Last Thursday, however, my partner was off work. The Netherlands celebrated King's Day, my partner celebrated a day at home with the dogs, and I? I celebrated a day out alone with my camera.

Spending the day at the only 'care-zoo' in The Netherlands

To 'celebrate' my renewed interest in my camera, I spent a day at the only care zoo in The Netherlands. It's not that far from our home. It is a fairly small zoo, and you should not expect lions or tigers there. However, it is a special zoo. Run by the Zie-Zoo Foundation in collaboration with the Regional Autism Center. The enthusiastic volunteers of the Zie-Zoö Foundation cooperate with all activities within the zoo.

The objectives of the foundation are:

• to generate interest, concern and support for the animal and plant world through information and education.
• Breeding animals for a healthy stock and for reintroduction into the wild through release programs.
• And the preservation of rare varieties and plant species.
  
  

Very environmentally conscious

The zoo also has a GreenKey Gold Certificate because they generate their own energy via solar panels, they flush the toilets with collected rainwater, and heat pumps are used as much as possible in areas that need to be heated.

I had a Great Focus

I enjoyed it, a wonderful day out, I was relaxed with my camera for the first time in a long time, and I had a good focus. I was really focused, both literally and figuratively. And I really owed that to the HiveBloPoMo. Now you may ask yourself how is that possible? Well that is very simple to explain, when I start blogging more again, that inner voice in me starts to stir. "You say you're a photographer, and you don't even have a new photo to put on your blog anymore. What kind of photographer are you?" It's kind of a matter of principle! Of course there are plenty of stock photos to be found, including through sites like Pexels and Unsplash, through Canva's paid service and many other sources that you can consult for a suitable photo, but it doesn't always work that way for me.

New photos means new blogs

In the past, it was always for me that I had one or more photos, and I wrote a blog about them! That worked fine for me in 99% of all the blogs I wrote. And I'd like to keep it that way. So well, given this working method, it is important that I go out to photograph again, that brings stories with it, and stories are blogs.

Hopefully I have now found it again, and in that respect The #HiveBloPoMo has become a breakthrough of the psychological barrier that I have suffered from for far too long.

^{And yes, of course the photos in this blog were taken by myself…during my day out at the Zie Zoo!}

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