I’ve been taking self-portraits of myself since I was 16. I’ve been posting those self-portraits on the internet since I was 18. That means it’s been ten years that I’ve been posting photos and other exciting things on the internet. TEN YEARS.

I think a lot of the people I know are experiencing similar things right about now. But there’s just as many people I know who can’t say that. A lot of people stopped sharing things they made online for various reasons, the saddest of which is that they stopped making things to share. I mean, I get it, sometimes life just doesn’t work out the way you thought it would when you were 18. You were really into photography and wanted to make pictures for the rest of your life, but then got disillusioned by the whole scene, or got a really good job that demanded a lot of your time, or your interests just shifted.

Continuing to make things while busy going to school, working, raising a family, or just living in general can be hard. It’s often easier to come home after a 12-hour day at school or work, microwave a dinner, watch an hour of TV and go to bed. It’s often easier to ignore that nudging in your brain that’s saying, “Hey, you should make something.”

So ten years of sharing online is pretty amazing. And not just because it’s a kind of victory, but also because you now have a massive body of work. You also know a ton of people you would not have known otherwise. I keep saying you, but I guess I mean me. I have hundreds of pictures from each of the last ten years of my life. I have friends all over the world who found me because of my photography (and also probably Warren Ellis, Star Trek, cats, and boobs.) I am so grateful for all of that.

Ten years is a long time. We should celebrate this, don’t you think?