So many photographers are on the cutting edge of online communication through blogging, social networking and photo sharing sites. Photographers use these online resources to communicate with other photographers as well as to market themselves to potential clients.
This the first article in a series that addresses part of this networking and communication boom – Blogging Basics for Photographers.
Other articles in this Blogging Basics for Photographers series:
1. Deciding Whether to Start a Blog for Your Photography
2. Blogging Software and Services
3. Web Hosting and Blog Set Up
The goal of this series will be to help those of you who want to start a blog find the right tools and instructions to make it happen.
The first thing I want to do is get everyone on the same page with the basics of what we’re talking about, whether you want to start a blog or not, and then we’ll talk about blogging software and services next.
What is a Blog?
Wikipedia says that a blog “is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.” (wiki)
I think that’s a pretty good definition for us to go with, even if it’s a bit long-winded.
As a practical example, Photography Bay is a blog. We post updates on camera gear, news, reviews and other photography-related info. The new stuff goes on top, while the older stuff gets pushed down to the bottom of the page and eventually to subsequent “older” or “archived” pages.
There are all kinds of different blogs out there. You name it and there’s a blog for that – political, tech, moms, hunting, diet, financial and the list goes on and on.
How Do Photographers Use Blogs?
As noted above, there are so many photographers using blogs in so many different ways.
Photographers use blogs as:
- An extension or primary home of their gallery and voice for promoting their services
- A way to communicate with and engage photography clients after a session or event
- Social connection tools with other photographers and industry professionals
- Teaching other photographers (either free content or by promoting seminars, DVDs, books or other learning tools)
- Creative outlets for expressing their ideas and work
- Or blending any number of the above elements together (and plenty of other stuff I didn’t think of)
Some examples of photography bloggers using a variety of these concepts:
- Amelia Lyon
- Finn O’Hara Photography
- Jasmine Star Blog
- Kristen Steele Photography
- Bryan Regan Photography
- Chase Jarvis
- Epic Edits
- JarvieDigital Photography Blog
- LeggNet’s Digital Capture
- Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider
- Strobist
- Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection
- Zack Arias
If you take a little time to browse around on some of these blogs, you’ll see that each one has a different feel to it. Most importantly, you can see how each photographer’s personality shines through even if he or she uses the blog format in a similar manner to another.
These blogs are a platform for the photographers behind them to speak there minds and share their work in the manner of their choosing.
Personally, I think all of them are great, and I read and follow each of them. We’ll talk more about following, subscribing and feed readers in a later post in this series.
For now, let’s focus on you.
Should You Start a Photography Blog?
If you’ve read this far, you are probably thinking about it. Or, maybe you already have a blog and want to make it better.
If you’re trying to decide whether to start one, this is a choice for you to make. I’m not here to tell you that you should or shouldn’t start a blog about photography – or anything else. However, don’t be intimidated if some of the examples shown above make you think that you could never create anything like that.
I can tell you that the photographers with blogs that I know love working on their blog (both large and small blogs) and using it as a tool for whatever purposes they choose. I will also warn you that it can be addicting, and you just might love it too.
Right now, you don’t have to do anything. Just think about it for now . . . and wait for the next part of this series where we will talk about blogging software and services, some of which can make blogging much simpler than you might expect.
Still don’t understand the point of a blog, or you’re having a tough time getting off the fence about whether to start one?
Ask your questions or voice your thoughts in comment section below. (Stick to the topic at hand though, and don’t get ahead of the rest of us with questions or comments about software, hosting and so on. We’ll cover that soon. Promise.)
Read the next part in this series, Blogger Software and Services.
Sky_walker says
Nice :) Cannot wait for next part :)
If I may take a voice here – What I think readers would be interested in is between many others:
– How to pick a style of writing blog and what are the options – you can write it in “we” form, pretty good for blogs made to learn others – “we buy a camera” or “we now know what pentaprism is” – or “I am so smart” way – “I use this and think that it’s the best way” – or the “authority way” as I call it – “Ken says that grips are important accessories for camera”.
It’s quite important to pick the style at the beginning as if you’ll mess with that one you can end with something bad and hard to read :/
– How to make blog popular – or at least: let someone know about it – basics of seo, gaining links, promoting on forums (both via signatures and links to posts with more support), and so on.
– What platform to choose, and why it’ll be WordPress ;) :P
– Some ideas for image galleries – people often want to show their photos on blogs and there are tons of galleries out there – both as basic systems and plugins.
and so on…
Aparna says
I started out with food pictures for my blog, but now am wondering what to do for my non-food pictures. Have to decide whether to go Pro with Flickr or start a photoblog to share my pictures. Cannot decide!
Jasmine* says
What an awesome article! I couldn’t agree with it more! :)
Mark says
This past week, my blog just celebrated it’s 1 year blogiversary. While my reader numbers aren’t huge, I’m pleasantly surprised at how many views my little part of Al Gore’s internet gets. While I’m also on Flickr, my blog often helps me tell the “backstories” to my photos or to profile a certain theme, like travel or noir. It’s a great way to get promote yourself and your work, but like anything, it does take some work. Creating even a simple editorial calendar and deciding how many times per week or month you want to post is a good thing to do.
Jarvie says
Very nice write up on an important part of the photographer culture.
There are many ways to go with a Photography blog and I hope people expirement and spend some time to create something not only unique but helpful to those reading.
But as always the foundation of a good photo-blog is good pictures for other people to look at.
Thanks for the good list of blogs!
Kristen Steele says
Hey Eric! Thanks so much for featuring my blog as one of your photography blog examples, I really appreciate it! :) It’s a great article.
Evelyn Perez says
Thanks for posting this great article. I just have one question…how do you know what to write about? I just recently started my photography blog as well as photography and there are times where I don’t know what to write about. Please help!!
shyfotogrfr says
I’ve been researching this for about a year and I guess I’m afraid to pull the trigger. I can’t wait to read your tips and tricks in the coming articles. Hopefully they will help me kick-start my own blog. One question… is there a difference between a blog and just a website? Meaning is a blog a two-way communication and a website just for advertising?
Eric says
@shyfotogrfr – I think a blog is more likely to have a social interaction aspect to it via comments and such; however, the name is derived from the term web log that is a reverse chronological journal of updates on a given topic.
The term website is a more universal term that I think encompasses the definition of a blog. So, you can call a blog a “website,” but you can’t call every website a “blog.”
A website or a blog can feature advertising, but this does not really factor into the definition of either.
Thom Ream says
Hey Eric –
It’s 2017 and way past time for a follow-up to this article. I’d really like to see you contact each website and first off see if their even still on-line! Ask how the past 8- years has been, what’s been working, and just as importantly, what’s NOT working. We’ve seen Scott Kelby recently go through a major change-of-focus with his entire program, but how about some of the others? Are they still with the same hosting service (why/why not?). Are they still in photography (why/why not?). What would they do differently? Would they start a blog today? Is it worth the effort? What problems do we need to watch out for? What’s the future of the “business”? Do you want your kids to go into this business (blogging and/or photography?). If you could change just one thing, what would it be?
Sorry, got carried away there. I for one would really like to hear from vets who’ve been in the trenches, dodged incoming fire and survived (and prospered). Your articles have told me what I need to do, now I’d like to know how that’s worked for others..
Thanks,
Thom Ream
SPGhost
Fresno CA
Oahukidz50@gmail.com