You remember just enough to think it should be easy… and then it absolutely isn’t.

That’s been my experience with WordPress lately.

I used it years ago when building older versions of my website.

Then I stepped away for a while.

Coming back now feels a bit like walking into your old workplace after they’ve rearranged every single desk and replaced half the tools with new ones.

Technically it’s the same place.

But it also very much isn’t.

Setting up my photo galleries has been… slow.

Not because I don’t know what I want.

Actually, the opposite is true. I have a very clear vision for how I want everything to look and function. The galleries need to feel organized, clean, and easy to navigate.

Unfortunately, WordPress does not simply read your mind when you cross your arms and blink like Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie.

Turns out it still expects you to actually figure things out.
Rude.

So I’ve been working through the learning curve again. Slowly.

And every time I start to feel overwhelmed, I remind myself of something that’s been working well for me lately:

Incremental Gains.

There were a few moments where I looked at everything and thought, This is way too complicated.

So I stepped away.

Sometimes the smartest move is to take a break instead of smashing your keyboard and declaring war on technology.

When I came back, I approached things differently. Instead of trying to solve the entire website in one sitting, I focused on small pieces.

One problem at a time.

One improvement at a time.

And slowly, things started working.

Today’s personal highlight involved debugging a piece of code that refused to cooperate.

After far more investigation than I care to admit, the culprit turned out to be a single comma.

One tiny comma sitting where it didn’t belong.

Remove comma.

Everything works.

That moment perfectly summarizes web development.

Hours of confusion, followed by the discovery that the problem was something microscopic and mildly embarrassing. Google was consulted during the process, because even stubborn people occasionally accept help.

My real goal with this website isn’t just to get galleries online.

I want a framework that works long term.

Once everything is set up, I want to be able to:

• Publish new galleries easily
• Add photos without rewriting code
• Maintain a consistent layout
• Keep things organized without fighting the system every time

Consistency is something I care about a lot. It’s also the part that has been the hardest to build into the site.

The good news is that I think I finally have it figured out.

Templates are now in place. The structure makes sense. The system feels repeatable.

For the first time since starting this rebuild, I feel like I’m actually on a roll.

Of course, solving the website structure was only half the battle.

I still have to populate it.

My Lightroom catalog currently holds over 22,000 photos, and exporting, sorting, and uploading them into galleries is taking longer than I expected. Still, it’s going well so far.

The trick is not rushing.

Just like everything else lately… incremental gains.

One last challenge I’m working through is how to organize my galleries in a way that feels balanced.

Since I live in Saint John, a lot of my photos naturally come from this area. But I don’t want the site to feel like one giant Saint John archive.

So I’ve been organizing galleries into a few regional groups.

Saint John & the Kennebecasis River
This covers the stretch from Grand Bay–Westfield through Saint John and follows the Kennebecasis River all the way toward Sussex.

Bay of Fundy & the Fundy Coastal Drive
This includes places like the Hopewell Rocks, the Fundy Trail Parkway, and the St. Martins sea caves.

St. John River Regions
Photos taken along River Valley Drive and the St. John River.

Eventually, I’d also love to create galleries for Eastern and Northern New Brunswick, but those will take time. With 22,000 photos to work through, it may feel like an eternity before I get there.

Not literally an eternity, though. I’m hoping to keep things slightly more efficient than geological time.

A few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could make this system work.

Now I have templates.

The framework is functioning.

Galleries are being created.

Photos are finally being uploaded.

The site is starting to look like the vision I had in my head.

None of it happened quickly.

But it happened because I kept coming back to the same idea:

Incremental gains.

Small steps.

Small fixes.

Small victories.

And most importantly…