About

About Rediscovering Photography: 

(update: March 2026)

PhotoMove 2.5.3.1 released.

(update: March 2026)

Well, it happened again. It’s been nearly seven years since my last update. We’ve all been through a lot in the world since 2019, especially with Covid, and looking at this page today is quite humbling. Time really does fly.

It’s hard to believe, but PhotoMove has now been downloaded and run by over 130,000 people. While the numbers are nice, the best part for me is still reading the emails from people telling me the program saved them hours of sorting through photos. That feeling of being genuinely useful—of building a tool that gets out of your way and makes your day a little easier—is the best reward I could ask for.

Speaking of making things easier, I actually have a major update to PhotoMove coming out very soon. I’ve made a lot of good changes and improvements under the hood. I’m just waiting on a Code Signing Certificate to finalize things, but the new release should be out within the next two weeks! (I’ll make a note to come back and update this page once it’s officially live).

Over the years, people have sometimes asked me about how the program works, why I give so much of it away, and how the “Pro” version fits into things. Since I’m finally updating this page, I wanted to share my philosophy on that.

I believe the internet is at its best when we share tools that solve real problems. That’s why the standard version of PhotoMove is, and always will be, completely free. No strings attached, no ads, and no data harvesting. Just pure utility. If the free version does everything you need, please keep using it with my blessing!

But software does take time to build, host, and maintain. I absolutely despise the modern trend of “renting” software through endless monthly subscriptions. So, I do things differently. For the power users who want the advanced features, I offer the Pro upgrade for a one-time charge of $8.99. That’s it. You buy it once, you own it forever, and all future updates are included.

If you buy the Pro version, you aren’t just getting great features—you are directly keeping the lights on and funding the free version for the next 130,000 users. No subscriptions, just an honest exchange of value. To everyone who has supported the project over the years, thank you. Let’s keep taking photos!

(update: May 21, 2019)

I was stunned when I pulled up this About page today and realized it’s been 10 years since I’ve made some notes here. How is it possible that time can go by like that?

As I read my past comments, with the chagrin of realizing I haven’t updated this in so long, it rather stops me in my tracks. It would be futile to try to summarize my photography journey over the past 10 years. New cameras, new lenses, new places, new people and new friends! All have been amazing. 

I still get a charge out of taking photos whenever I get a chance. And sharing them with others, especially when they seem to like them, is more gratifying than ever.

I’m not going to make any comments this time about building up this site as a blog. Ever since I wrote the PhotoMove program I’ve used this site mainly as a means of sharing it with others.

The popularity of PhotoMove has been an thrilling journey for me. As I write this over 70,000 people have downloaded and used the program. A week doesn’t go by with my receiving a few gracious letters from happy users. It’s hard to believe that a program that started out as a quick little utility would turn out to be used and appreciated by so many people. So thank you all SO MUCH!

Should I write about future plans here again? Lol. That’s probably a little silly. But I will say that of course I will be continuing to work on and improve the PhotoMove program. Other than that I’ll beg your indulgence and not commit to anything. I’m sure I’ll also be making changes, fixing and (hopefully) improving this site. But whether those changes will be large or small only time will tell.

Thanks again to everyone for visiting here. And special thanks to all of you PhotoMove users! Especially those who have given me feedback with comments, ideas for improvements and suggestions, both good and bad. All have been extremely helpful.

(update: Aug 2, 2009)

I am now really looking forward to having some time to work with this project. While I don’t think that I dream about having an A Class blog, I do want to ‘give something back’ to the web community that I have learned so much from.

One of my favorite blogs for ‘just reading’ has always been Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits. He has achieved remarkable success over the years that I’ve been following his blog, and now he is starting a program to help and encourage others to also become better bloggers. So let’s see if (with a little help from Leo) we can’t make RP into a useful site for new and aspiring digital photographers.

(update: Jan 27, 2008)

I started this site four years ago at the same time I ‘rediscovered’ photography by switching from film to digital. I had always enjoyed photography, but was amazed at the instant feedback that digital provided. I was overcome by the possibilities of the fusion between digital photography and the internet. And by how much more quickly a person could learn about and improve their photo skills.

For the first couple of years I happily snapped many thousands of photos and occasionally came up with some that I thought were quite nice. And I saw many places that I wish now I would have more properly ‘photo-documented’.

I traveled to most of the State Parks in Minnesota and a many other places hiking around and clicking away. I would post the photos on this site organized by the date of each outing and really enjoyed having family and friends visit and have the chance to see some of my ‘better’ or more interesting shots.

But now I’ve realized that the way I previously organized this site and my photos did not not make it useful for anything other than a chronological listing of various pictures. And not really useful for myself or anyone else.

As I’ve discussed a little in my first ‘new’ posts in this new format, I am going to take a new tack. It seemed like it would be too big a project to both go back and redo the site along with continuing on with a new direction for the future. (This is a hobby, right?) So the best direction is to ‘start over’ and then pull some of the old content back and incorporate it into the new format when there is time. I’m looking forward to re-energizing this photography hobby. I would like to focus on the idea of finding and taking nice shots wherever and whenever you have a chance to get out with the camera. And if hoofing it around taking pictures adds a little exercise to each day it sure can’t hurt. So, if you’re in the mood, dig your camera out and let’s start shooting!