Visitor count for the geek
Just now, two years and three months since mingthein.com first went live, we’ve received our ten millionth visitor. It’s not a big deal for the likes of DPR etc.; however for a site that deals primarily with the philosophy of image making and images themselves – I think that’s a huge achievement. Especially considering I’ve spent nothing on advertising and promotion though an enormous amount of time and effort has gone into content. Even so, without the active community and comments it would never have happened. I think a little celebration is in order before I get on the plane to Havana*, as well as a huge thank you for your continued support! MT
UPDATE: Flickr just rolled over 20 million this morning, too!
ANOTHER UPDATE: I just noticed this is post #800. It’s a day of milestones!
*I might not be as fast as usual with the replies due to limited internet access.
Ming Thein | Photographer 
No, thank YOU for thanking us, when really thanks should be coming from us to YOU.
Thank you.
Well done.
And may you continue to prosper.
Regards,
Paul
Congrats ! Awesome ! Thanks to you !!!
Thanks!
I feel compelled to chime in. You run a tight ship here, and you offer creative and technical perspectives which are both unique and thought provoking. Plus, you shoot some fantastic images.
Congratulations, and keep up the good work.
Thanks!
Congratulations ! ….and, do you have a prize for the visitor number 10’000,01 ?
Haha – I can’t identify who it is!
I think I was : )
Congratulations on a great achievement! Look forward to all the great photo essays from Havana and hopefully some great guest reviews on mycigarblog as well!
P.S. Do review the Partagas Gran Reserva if you can find it. 😉
Thanks – now to find one…
Steve, Sean, Lloyd, LL-people; they are all great – but your images are poetry 🙂
Thanks! I suppose that’s because I’m a photographer first, and everything else second; the everything else is there simply because I want to make better images.
My sentiments exactly.
Congratulations! I am late follower, but already you’ve affected my photography a lot!
Thank you!
It’s your authenticity Ming! Plus tons of passion! This is quite an achievement for a one-man show on a single point of interest. Well done!
Thanks!
Congrats Ming! 10 million is just the beginning! This is my favorite site. My photography has improved, and will continue to improve thanks to all that you provide. I also wanted to say that the community you have built here really adds to the experience and I am always amazed at all that can be learned just in the comments section on so many varied subjects. Hope you enjoy your celebration in Cuba!
Jeff
Thank you Jeff!
Job well done! You are a great writer, and I wish I could post even a quarter the amount that you do. Keep up the good work.
–Ken
Thanks Ken!
Congratulations! You’ve managed to make most of the other photography reviewers and bloggers out there seem sloppy and amateurish. Thanks for all the stuff you’re willing to share!
Thank you!
Ming!
log(10^7) is supposed to be a lucky number,
and not only for geeks!
#800 , thus only about three weeks of rest from posting … but not from writing, I guess. 🙂
– – –
Googling desperately (my low light wizard Finepix F30 was broken) in the autumn of 2012 for reliable reviews of Sony RX100 and Fuji XF1 (both having rumours of soft corners), I found your reviews and went straight to my camera store for an XF1.
( It was so obvious that you knew what you were taking about, especially concerning the lenses.)
Since then I’ve been a regular reader.
( And the XF1 is almost always with me. In camera raw conversion is a bother, but often enough unnecessary.)
Other comments have already said it all, I can only agree!
Hoping with all your other readers, that you will continue to find it worthwhile to keep this unique site going!
Kristian
Thanks Kristian – why is log 10^7 lucky?
As for the XF1 – the wife still has it, but agreed with me that the iPhone is more than enough camera for most…
=7 😉
My Xperia Active is also ok,
but I often see things with a rather narrower field of view,
like 60-90 mm eq. focal length.
And if there were a couple of very high quality adaptor converters that might well fix things – time to see how the moment primes do when they arrive at the end of next month…
For phone cameras? Interesting… ( Plus, I hope, a good phone lens cover.)
Or, let’s have phones integrated into existing/future (ultra) compacts.
“moment primes” ?
I think they’re bayonet-ons to a thin back mount.
Congratulations Ming!
Thanks!
Im not surprised about the numbers Ming. Your blog is excellent, you convinced me along with many others Im sure about m43. Keep up the excellent blog.
Thanks Dave!
Congratulations! Your presence online makes all of us better! Better photographers. Better thinkers. Thank you for thinking out loud online! You are the best!
Thanks! 🙂
Agreed!!!!!
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving individual. Since I came across this site, maybe a couple of years ago or so, I haven’t found another site to match it in terms of the variety of thought-provoking content it offers. You have integrity, talent, and you write as well as you shoot. Look forward to whatever may be coming next!
Thanks Mark!
Well down, I always enjoy your postings, and at the same time learnt a lot
Thanks!
Congratulations Ming!!! You have been and I hope you to continue being an inspiring, skilful, technical, philosophical photographer whose mails and blogs I will turn to many times in the future, thank you.
Thank you!
It’s no surprise Ming; excellence attracts attention!
Thanks Gary!
Very well done Ming. I love your blog and it is one of the few I have stuck with and visit (ever more) regularly. Here to 10 ^ 8.
Thank you!
Congratulations, Ming! And thank you for this blog that is a most inspiring synthesis of intellect and photography.
Thanks!
Congratulations Ming. So happy this site exists and doing so well.
Thanks!
Good job Ming
Cheers
Very well deserved views! This is my favourite blog and photography related site 🙂
Thanks!
It’s so deserved, Ming! I’m proud to have found you when I did. You’re an inspiration, a genius and a wonderful friend. Congratulations!
Thank you, Roger – I’m flattered, and we’ll raise a cigar to it in person tomorrow!
Congratulations Ming! Very well deserved. I have learned so much from your blogs and videos that I could not have learned any where else. Enjoy Cuba!
Thank you, Eric!
My favourite read Ming. Your work has been a major influence on my thinking, and a major source for my learning about the art of photography. There are some landmark essays here. I hope one day a collection of them can be edited into a book/ebook/whatever.
It’s ironic that for a “non-gear” oriented site, when you do write a review we know it will be one the best reviews out there. But I think it is only fair (to you) that you only review what actually interests you.
Onwards and upwards Ming.
Thank you – at some point, if time permits and economics make sense…there may well be a large format fine art book with both the essays and print images 🙂
Perhaps that irony is why the reviews are good: if I’m going to do them, I’m going to do them properly. Or if you do too many of them, it becomes too much of a chore and quality suffers…
Yes, and I immediately know, when you have done a review, whether in praise (Otus), or criticism (Schneider tilt shifts) that in the very least the product is going to be a very interesting one – because you have bothered to use it enough to write your review. That already qualifies the product as something that stands out for some reason.
Having now two of your fine prints, I would absolutely love – and would order without hesitation – a large format book from you. The images and essays would make a great combination. I have no doubt that you would set a very very high standard for the production of such a book. So then my question to you is – would you have it printed and bound to say the quality of Nick Brandt’s ‘On This Earth, A Shadow Falls’, which of course is a very high standard, or would you have something hand made, say, printed like your super prints with Wesley Wong? The former would reach a wider audience, while the latter would be a real work of art. Perhaps both?
I’d love to do it, but having looked into the cost of book printing at the required quality – let’s just say that the runs have to be enormous or the price staggeringly high. I just don’t think it makes sense at this point. Nick Brandt’s book was printed in gravure; for color you need four sets of rollers, one of which will hold perhaps ten pages (at best) depending on size. Each roller is ~US$5-10k for a high quality/ fine detail one. For a 200 page book, that’s 20x4x50k = US$400k at best! And those will not meet Ultraprint standards.
If Wesley printed the book and we had a collection of Ultraprints bound, the cost would be even higher because of the individual production cost per print.
The next best thing is for me to do portfolios of 5-6 Ultraprints, supplied in a folder, much the same way as the limited portfolios for Autumn in Tokyo – which proved surprisingly popular.
I think the portfolio approach could work. My suggestion would be to include an essay with each portfolio, and for the portfolios to collectively form a set. Say 6 to 8 portfolios of 6 to 8 ultraprints over a an 18 month period, and a full set of the portfolios slipping into a dedicated outer slip case. Something like that. If the whole thing was conceived at the outset, there could be a special price for the full set of portfolios – or the same price, but with the slip case, and something else in addition (e.g.1 large print?).
I plan to do an edition every two months – basically, after each major international trip. However, I don’t want to promise a fixed number in case I have more (or don’t have enough).
Hey, you!!! Yeah, you!! Yeah, that’s right, I am talking to you Ming!!!
Stop teasing me and get da fekkin book printed!!! 🙂
A book with nice prints and some of your essays would be an absolute treasure. Maybe something along the lines of Salgado’s Genesis, would be cool (the big display version I am talking about, not the mass produced hard back version)
I’ll need to find half a million USD for the roller setup costs and initial edition first 😦
Golden Rule, Ming. You get back what you put out and you have been very generous with sharing your knowledge and experience with other photographers. i, for one, appreciate it very much. Congratulations!
Thanks!
Dear Mr.Ming Thein, I would like to congratulate you for your “10e7″th visitor.
You are a great photographer and a teacher.
Your contribution to the education of photography is truly
very very high. I learnt a lot from you. Your sharp intelligence,
deep love for photography and passionate dedication to the world
of photography is something undeniably worth every word of praise
that exist in world dictionaries. I deeply appreciate what you are doing
for the photography community and please accept my heart-felt thanks…
Best Wishes,
Utku Oguz
Istanbul, Turkey
Thank you!
congratulations! ming. you do great work and are an inspiration, keep it up. have fun in havana and i am sure you will have some lovely photo essays to share on havana.
Thanks! that’s the plan 🙂
Congrats Ming!
Look forward to seeing your images from the unique colorful Havana urbanscape.
Wish I could have gone. Are you bringing the blad?
No, because I have to have something with spares in just in case – once in a lifetime trip, lack of support and all that. Going with a pair of D800Es.
In the past that would have been a pair of EM-1s! Man the Otus and Ultraprints really are going to give you back pains 😉
Congratulations Ming – you put an insane amount of effort into this site. More than i could ever do, so kudos. Enjoy the Masterclass….and cigars 🙂
I blame the Ultraprints entirely for that (which now travel with me, so my students can see the output…)
I agree….if you’re going to print might as well be ultraprints….Forest II says it all….
I’m glad you think so 🙂
Just thought that the square format would be great for the urban architecture shots and the more slower roll off in the highlights of your b&w film would help in the harsh tropical sunlight there. Your Amsterdam blad shots were inspiring. But Otus 55 and D800E is not so bad either. 🙂
Agreed – but there’s less need for it since the last digital B&W processing epiphany…
Congratulations Ming.
Thanks!
Congratulations! This can only be taken as a positive affirmation of the value your community places on the time, effort, and hard work you’ve put into your essays, reviews and other postings. You should be very proud.
Thanks – now as Bruce said, if only I had a dollar for every visit…
Let this be a lesson for all the marketing types who work from the premise that you can buy meaningful traffic with either money or hype.
There’s always only been one way: quality work, hard work. Your blog has both in spades, MT. Obvious from the first visit.
Congratulations, and if there was anyone who ever naysayed you—-please, please use this for some HOW YOU LIKE THEM APPLES style justifiable smuggery 🙂
10^7, wow!
Thank you, Tom – plenty of naysayers still think I’ve got rocks upstairs and don’t have enough of an audience to be worth dealing with…(big camera brands in Malaysia, for instance).
Amazing Ming! Please continue to focus on image making, rather than equipment. Jealous of your next stop Cuba. As a US citizen, don’t think I’ll be visiting anytime soon.
That’s the plan. It’s easier to visit Cuba than you might think, most of my workshop participants are from the US…
I have totaled 1.5 million views on my blog, probably around 200k visitors after about 3 years, and I am a nobody. Congratulations Ming.
Thanks Ron – I’d hardly say those are small stats though 🙂
It isn’t bad for a photo blog, but nothing like flickr when I was getting over 200,000 views per month. I am just happy to have anyone look.
Congratulations, and thank you, Ming. I found you by accident, but it is no accident that I have followed your blog and site. Your thoughtful reflection on photography, equipment, and the challenges facing a professional photographer in this age where everyone has a computer in their pocket and in their camera has provoked my own introspection and consideration of my amateur activities. Watching your site, and you, evolve has been a privilege, in no small part due to your own openness.
Thank you, David! There’s plenty enough obfuscation and posturing as it is – just trying to tell it like it is…
I think your constant commitment to interact with your readers and posters in the comments section is directly related to the popularity and success of your site. In some cases, it’s the accessibility that makes the difference.
Congratulations on both major milestones and continue to pump out intelligent, well conceived and engaging content. We’re ready for it!
Thank you! And on the note of accessibility – I may not be accessible for the next week as internet in Cuba is a disaster from what I understand…but worry not, the show will go on here in my absence thanks to pre-prepared posts 🙂
Andy, I agree 1,001% with you on that. I was saying the same thing a few weeks ago to a friend of mine when comparing Ming to another photographer who also blogs; to me Ming attracts, certainly in me, and I suspect in many others, loyalty and friendship whilst this other chap I was comparing Ming to simply attracts admiration for his work; I would go out of my way to help Ming on a personal level but don’t feel the same “love” for the other guy.
Congratulations. Now if you could only get everyone to give you a dollar.
Ah yes…I’d settle for ten cents!
A well-deserved congratulations! It’s been great to see how the blog has grown and changed.
Thanks!
Congratulations! Glad to be a part of it! Your blog has changed the way I look at my photography, and that’s definitely for the better (though I still have a lot to improve on!).
Thanks – always good to hear!
Congrats!
Thanks!
Congratulations!! Quite the accomplishment!
Thanks!
Many thanks for your leadership, your integrity and generosity in all the time that you have spent in mentoring the group! Looking forward to the next 100m visitors…….but more importantly, some great photos and your sage counsel….
That might be 18 years from now, looking at the way things are going 😛
I second those sentiments.
Congratulations! I check your blog almost every day. Quality stuff it is!
Thanks! Almost every day is about right: that’s how often I post 😛
Congratulations Ming. I really enjoy following you. Thanks for all you do.
Evan Cohen,
Baltimore Maryland
Thanks Evan!
Well done Ming. It’s been great reading your musings and this is certainly a well-thought writing.
Keep it up.
Thanks!
Congratulations, Ming—well deserved. I know I’m not alone in appreciating the enormous effort and time you put into the site. Have fun in Havana.
Thanks Marika!
I’m pretty sure it was me 🙂
Have fun in Havana!
🙂 Thanks! Teaching the inaugural Masterclass (but workshop #23)
Congrats Ming! You do great work! Enjoyed your recent review of the new T and always enjoy whatever you have to say.
Thanks Duane!
Congratulations! Well done. It just gets better!
Thanks Andrew!