My name is Amanda Wray and I started this blog back in 2005 as a way to get to know my new town. I could walk or drive around town and have an excuse to look at little closer at things by take pictures of it.
At that time, I couldn’t find many pictures or blogs of Monrovia. Since then many people have taken up their cameras and keyboards and put it on the map. My original purpose of looking and letting others look expanded to telling local people I had a blog about Monrovia when I met them. It was a way they could know something about me without having to ask me any questions.
It became somewhat of a calling card, and I had a few regulars checking in and leaving comments. Then I noticed others starting up blogs related to Monrovia, and suddenly the city had more of a presence online. I occasionally got emails from people saying they wanted to visit Monrovia after seeing my blog. A few actually ended up moving here!
One day another Monrovia photoblog, Gem City Images, came into being, and I realized someone else was doing exactly what I was doing, but doing it better. The photography was better, and new pictures appeared daily. Sometimes I would wait a week or two between postings, depending on my other obligations.
As a way to post more frequently, I blogged and credited other images I found on Flickr that related to Monrovia, but it wasn’t the same. I started to lose momentum, and my readership dropped off.
I didn’t shut down the blog, but it limped along, barely alive. Nearly a year elapsed without any attention from me. I debated whether to get rid of it or not. I couldn’t bring myself to press the “delete” key, but wasn’t finding inspiration either.
I decided to use it as a guinea pig for a design update and during that process started to get interested in it again. Somehow I had to change the focus, but I wasn’t quite sure how. I began to notice that when I wrote a little something more to accompany the photos, people tended to comment more.
Maybe that would be it. I would put more emphasis on writing a bit more about what I was seeing. What I would really like to stimulate is more of a dialog between Monrovia residents, especially related to making Monrovia an even better place to live.
I’m going to experiment with the content and format, and see what people seem to respond to most. I’m open to your ideas. If you would like to learn more about me, feel free to visit my professional site, Wrayco Design, where you can see my work in graphic and web design.
If you are interested in contributing (no minimum time requirement), please write to be considered for a future posting.
