Posted By pj on January 30, 2010
It’s pretty easy to start a blog about photography. Sign up with a host, select a few options, and there you go. Bingo. You’re on the web. Then comes the hard part — you’re all dressed up with nowhere to go. What do you do with the damn thing?
I wrestle with that question every time I sit down here, and I’ve yet to come up with a definitive answer. I’ve had various photoblogs over the past three years or so. I started out to post some of my own work, and to occasionally write some thoughts about photography. I’ll continue to do some of that, though I’m reluctant to simply post an endless parade of photos I’ve done. There are millions of blogs doing that, and many are quite good and a pleasure to look at, but why should I do the same? What makes my work special enough that anyone would care to keep returning to see it? Probably nothing — I don’t even like to look at my own stuff for long. I get sick of it. I’ll post some photos of course, but for me a blog needs more.
I don’t do equipment reviews. I’m not interested enough in equipment to get into that. There are many fine review sites that can steer a reader in the right direction. There are others that don’t. I don’t need to add to the confusion. Reviews aren’t my thing.
I don’t do how-to’s either. I don’t know enough, and besides, I’m a lousy teacher. The only advice I could possibly give on how to do it is to say just do it. You’ll figure out your own way. I’m not interested in how-to. I’m much more interested in why-to. Why do I do what I do? Why do you do what you do? That may well be one interesting avenue to explore with this blog.
I’ve added a quote by Edward Steichen as a sub-head to this site. It says “no photographer is as good as the simplest camera.” I’m a firm believer in that; I think it’s profoundly true. When it comes to personal expression, art, no camera is going to make or break you. Only you can do that. Unless you are competing for high dollar commercial accounts or some such thing, the camera you use isn’t that important. It just needs to be functional. The rest is up to you.
I’ve contemplated buying a DSLR for a couple of years now, and have always decided against it. I haven’t needed one. I shoot digital for web use, and have a couple of compacts that serve that purpose very well. I also have several old film cameras. They too are capable of giving excellent results. If I need high quality for whatever reason, I can use my old SLR system. It still works well. If I just want to play, I have some funky old relics that I’ve picked up at yard sales. They work well too. When the time comes that I decide I need a DSLR, well, then I can get one. Until then I can do whatever I want and need to do with what I have, and I can put the money that I would spend on a DSLR into film and developing and memory cards. No sir, I’ll stick with the cameras I have for now. They’ll always be better than I am anyway.
But how about you, dear reader? What are your thoughts on equipment? On finding your own way to work? On what you’d like to see in a photography blog? Pass them along — I’d love to hear from you.
Category: finding my way, photography |
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