Is anybody familiar with Blogging?

[Alex_B]

Keep one thing in mind: Everything you write becomes public record, no matter how innocuous. You never know what someone might react to. 20 years from now you might be running for mayor, or be considered for a board-level position at a local organization, or be up for parole, and an old comment about how cucumbers remind you of your trip to Denmark may cost you dearly.

Think of adopting a suitably ridiculous online nickname or handle.

You mean, like Alex_B?

But you are certainly right about it. Blog entries, facebook photos and silly webpages have been known to be career killers for a while. At least for positions of responsibility or representation.

Ans this can really go way back in time ... if you google one of my friend's name, a professional herself these days, the first thing which comes up is still an essay she wrote about a school field-trip at the age of 13 (!!). Lucky for her, she wrote it in a very sensible manner.

Another friend of mine, she was using her real name at a forum for reptiles as pets, and now googling her name gives you some comments about iguanas. Again, pretty harmless, but if you see what other people publish on the web ... well, some could be in trouble

 

[KristinaS]

I can understand about being careful what you write, but for me, I guess I just don't see myself as being all that interesting. I have a blog that's mostly photography-related, but sometimes not, too. Sometimes it's just random thoughts or articles I've written or whatever. I don't, however, go into a lot of very personal stuff...I save that for my actual journal.
In additon to my blog, I also have a flickr page for random "good" images that I want to keep organized and another Web site strictly for my concert photos. I'll probably end up ditching the flickr and put everything on the Web site eventually.

 

[Puscas]

I have 2 blogs; a personal one and the one that's in my sig (no photo blog). The personal one is not easy to find for 'outsiders' but yes, I try to keep it 'normal'. You have to keep in mind that it's all online. If you don't like that and you would like to share personal things with people, you could write a personal newsletter.

My personal blog takes me 15 minutes, including uploading pics, per post. The NY-blog takes a bit longer.





pascal

 

[digital flower]

I suppose the real reason for this, is because I enjoy having to explain the pictures I take. This will help me learn, look back, and reflect on the photo. It's just something that helps me learn, rather than just going wild taking photos, it puts the thought back into photography and keeps me interested. Also, critiquing the photos myself really helps me build a foundation of what I like/dislike about photography.

keith, those, in my mind, are very good reasons to start a blog. On my blog I try not to archive dip too much so that keeps me shooting a lot. I have my camera with me a lot more since posting a lot of pictures means you have to be out there shooting. I say you give it a whirl. It is not like its going to cost a lot of money to get started. You may find that it is a wonderful thing for you or you may hate it but you really won't know until you try.

I personally would stay away from personal blogging (telling people about family, your private habits, whatever)... this just invites stalkers and worse.

photography blogging is a different story though. It is basically an alternative to having a portfolio webpage... a bit more lively, dynamic.

I wouldn’t worry too much about stalkers unless you are posting on controversial subjects like religion or politics. When I say make it personal I don’t mean posting a lot of details (like your phone number) but people have to feel a connection to the person or they probably won’t be reading for very long. It is easy enough to look up people without a blog, like if they were to use their full name as a watermark.

My blog is about 2 years old and yesterday was the first time I had over 1,000 visitors in a day. I have received a lot of positive feedback about the site and sold 40 or 50 prints from it. I haven’t had any negative experiences, yet. The risk of that is outweighed by the amount of people looking at my pictures. I have been able to get a few jobs for my small company via my blog. That income plus the print sales and we are starting to talk some real money.

 

[JerryPH]

About 20 years before blogging ever existed, I wrote an article for an internet newspaper about Novell and what I thought about their product (good) and business practices (very bad).

Had I not done that and them not see it in all it's naked honesty that I was famous for everywhere at the time, I would have had a 6-figure a year job back in the late 80s with Novell... lol.

See what blogging gets you??? :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

 

[keith204]

...like if they were to use their full name as a watermark.

hehe.. yep I do that.

I'm not all that worried about stalkers...My name and phone number are out there so people can contact me..I'm not a hard person to get a hold of. Having my phone so accessible is very nice for auto racing photo sales...because so many of them are against purchasing online, and would rather purchase photos over the phone (weird). Sold a few today that way.

Anyway, I agree to try not to dig deep into the archives, but to instead keep shooting. This is the main reason for the blog. For now, I'll just try to take pictures a lot, and even if I get no readers, thats ok for now...I'd just like to build a place where I can keep track of what I'm learning.

Thanks for all the advice everyone...it's always good.

 

[taracor]

I've also been thinking of starting a blog lately. Like LaFoto said, check out tb2's blog. I recently stumbled on it, and I like it.

I guess my idea was make it photography related, but not exclusively photographs and critiques, other interesting (or not) information as well. So I guess you could try that.

LaFoto, I'm firing up your blog with the blazing speed of my 56k modem. So far, I like what I see!

 

[davidfromoz]

On combining separate subjects inside your blog:

The real question is who is your audience and what do you want to do with your blog. If you want make an income from your blog and/or develop a clearly defined audience for your blog then your blog must be clearly focussed on your audience. So don't put personal stuff in your photography blog if you want to capture a photography audience.

But if your blog is just for fun and to share with your friends and family then have at it. Put anything you like in it.

I have two blogs. One is very clearly defined as being for people who want to visit a small part of Japan http://tochigi.fromoz.com I only post relevant material here because I want my audience (all 2 of them) to know exactly what they are going to get. One is for anybody who cares to look. http://fromoz.com Nobody does much except family and I don't much care.

Finally, if you want to make money from your blog, and even if you don't, you should do a lot of thinking about what you want it to be before you start (and run a personal blog for a while just to see what its all about).

On being careful what you post:

I pretty much believe in being honest about who you are, what you are and what you think. So long as I am not hurting somebody else and I want to post it, I will. If company XYZ doesn't want to hire me because I got drunk at a party then thats OK, because thats who I am. And I'm ashamed to say that I have a big doll collection, then I'll tell people with pride or get rid of it.

cheers,
david

 

[scullyx101]

i have a blog for a project i'm working on. it's really community based and a blog seemed to be the best way to spread the word.

http://www.jessysambiguities.blogspot.com