Why The Wandering Lensman?

I don't think I've ever written about why I chose the name, The Wandering Lensman, for this blog.  I can name a few reasons.

Originally, I created this blog in the Spring of 2013 as a way to document a Route 66 road trip from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier in California that one of my best friends and I planned to take.  I wanted to have a way to share with our families and friends our daily experiences along with a few images of each day's sights.  I thought a blog of the trip would be a perfect way to do just that.  

When the road trip was completed my intention was to end the blog as well.  However, I found, not only did our friends and relatives enjoy reading about our experiences and seeing the accompanying images, I found documenting, writing and sharing photographs from the blog to be a bit therapeutic and satisfying.  I liked the idea of using the blog to share experiences and images during all of my future travels.  Also, I liked the idea of using this platform to help others by sharing my knowledge and experiences from my many years of photography.  So, I decided to continue with it after our return.  Now, about how the name came into being...  It wasn't easy.

First, any specific internet based name must to be available.  Think of an appropriate name you would like to use to create your website then see if it has already been taken.  Most likely, unless it is very unusual, it has been taken.  That was the biggest hurdle.

Second, think of a title that reflects adequately what you want to say about yourself and what you want your website to say or mean.  What you choose not only says something about the content of your website, but also about you, your personality, your interests and your intentions for the site, as well as what you value.  

Third, once you choose a name, unless you are going to go in a completely different direction, you are pretty much stuck with that name for the duration of your site.  Choose carefully "grasshopper!"


I found a few available names in 2013 when I created this blog, but I went through a long list before I found some that were available.  In the end, I found The Wandering Lensman the appropriate.  At the same time, I purchased The Traveling Lensman but I didn't think it fit quite as well as I tend to also wander around the my city, county and home region looking for interesting images to make as opposed to just traveling outside the area.  To me, the word traveling's connotation meant away from my home area.

I wanted the name of my site to reflect that I enjoy going out without a specific place in mind, that I like the serendipity and spontaneity of finding images that evoke an emotion in me.  I like to "discover" something interesting then react instantly to whatever creates an emotion in me, whatever that emotion may be—humor, visual interest, juxtaposition, color contrasts, shapes, sadness, motion, wonder, amazement, satisfaction, etc., whatever emotion happens to emerge.

After I decided on a name, I decided to create a "logo" or trademark that could be used to recognize this particular blog.  The one at the top is a revision of my original, which I've inserted below.  Which one do you like better?  Leave a comment if you have a preference.

The wandering moniker really fits well with my general travel adventures as well.  When my wife and I travel, take road trips, vacation, holidays, etc., we normally don't have a specific agenda in place.  We know which general direction we will go, the general area of the country we want to visit but certainly don't know the exact route, exactly what we will find along the way or when we will return.  We like the idea of what I call "no stress" traveling.

No stress traveling is staying off the multi-lane (interstate highways in the U.S.) highways, going through smaller towns and cities on secondary roads, not knowing exactly where we will end up each evening and not having to be anywhere at any specific time.  There is no "we have to drive another 200 miles (329 km) today to get to our hotel."  We may stay in an area for multiple days if we find it interesting.  We might drive only 50 miles or we might drive 500 miles.  Usually while in the hotel the evening before is when we decide what we are going to do the next day.  If there is something my wife or I want to see, we make take an unexpected  detour.  As the day wears on, we will then decide where we want to spend the night.  I will check which hotels are available and pick one based upon reviews, price, location and if I have a membership card.  I have thousands and thousands of points with multiple hotel chains.  I try to use the points for higher priced hotels and pay for the hotels that are lower priced in non-tourist areas.  That way I can maximize my return on the use of points.  "No stress" travel is a great way to travel.

This is my original logo from 2013.

That is pretty much how I came up with the name of this little blog.  That was just over 7 years and almost 1200 posts ago.  

How long will this blog continue?  I don't have an answer.  I will say that it is getting harder and harder to find topics that produce value to you as readers.  One idea that I have and has also been proffered to me is that I go back and look at some of the older posts from several years ago, edit them and repost them as some may still hold value and many readers never saw them the first time.  That is something I probably will do to keep things interesting and of value.

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2020 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.