Why Do We Photoblog?
Comments from Emma on Pictures on my Hard Drive and Sidney and Jamie on Photoblog Quality and Themes led me to consider what motivates us to photoblog?
For me there are a number of factors which impacted the decision:
- seeking feedback on my work
- a place to show off - the issue of photos hidden on hard drives
- a feeling of community - though this grew up after starting and has led to a few developing friendships
- an opportunity to learn by looking at the work of others - admittedly one does not need a personal blog to do this
- a purpose to drive photography and creativity forward
There were many intangible factors which prompted me to take the plunge, but finally it was Lara Barrett’s blog and her enthusiastic support of my early postings which brought the thing into life as I have mentioned elsewhere.
Has this Worked?
Morven Photoblog has been in existence since mid May now and perhaps this is a good time to review whether some of these ambitions have been met.
1. Feedback
This is a very difficult issue and the bottom line for me is that most of the feedback is of the mutual backslapping kind. I know that several from my circle of bloggers are struggling with this - Sidney as mentioned above and Rock Kauser has now advertised for more critique of his work to name but two.
For me too the desire to get some more honest feedback is strong, though one does not want to be unnecessarily harsh on anyones images. My current way forward is to try to provide constructive feedback - particularly to Rock who has asked for it. I never say a picture is good though when I do not believe it is, I would rather make a comment about the subject or some other issue relating to the image than do this.
This is something that seems to be developing over time as the community of fellow photobloggers matures.
By the way, this is no excuse for you guys to stop being nice to me 
Score on this one 5/10
2. A Place for Showing Off
This has worked a little better, but it does require a deal of effort to drive this forward. In order to get the feedback as Sidney points out in the comment yesterday. This implicit mutual contract of ‘if you comment on mine I will comment on yours’. On occasions when I have been less able due to time pressures to comment myself the volume of comments on my own posts drops significantly.
The saving grace, however, since moving to my own space and PixelPost has been the log files available to me showing traffic. this indicates a significant volume of traffic over and above those who choose to leave comments.
Score on this one 7/10
3. Community
Certainly there have been a lot of contacts created which I value and would like to develop. This was something I had not expected and it is a pleasant by-product.
Score here 9/10
4. Learning by Seeing and Mimicking
For me this has been somewhat successful and I have visited many wonderful photos (also some dogs 
) and the one upside of the commenting merry-go-round is that one must consider the image enough to write something coherent - this is a helpful discipline.
Score 7/10
5. Purpose and Creativity
Here is where I really think there has been benefit - though it is indeed difficult to produce one a day, without the blog I would be very lazy with my photography and also not try out new things.
I guess this remains the reason I am doing this
Score 10/10
Conclusion
All in all the blogging exercise has been successful despite some drawbacks and difficulties - overall I scored the experience 38/50 or 76% on my very arbitrary scale.
As ever it would be great to hear your thoughts.
September 14th, 2005 at 7:12 am
You are right Ian, blogging is a fun activity if you can put it in the right perspective. I found it quite addictive (& stressful) and I now trying to set a limit to the time I am spending behind the camera and in front of the computer.
The reasons I started to blog:
1. To understand the technology behind blogs/how to set up a blog.
result 8/10
2. Feedback:
Feed back works good on text blogs but not on photo blogs.
If ever there is negative feedback it is mostly very obvious that the picture is crap.
I am learning to see comments more as an encouragement to continue. This shows that people like your work and that they come back for more.
result : 0 (comments) + 5 (encouragements) = 5/10
3. To show off my pictures.
Indeed there is a big difference between the number of comments and the number of visitors. Obviously a certain number of people are not confident or not interested enough to leave a comment. I have between 100 and 200 page views a day and only 10 to 25 comments a day.
Another factor that I monitor is the number of people who linked me (favorite links). For me the ’surest” way to know that they like my blog.
result 7/10
4. Community.
Probably the most rewarding aspect of the whole exercise. Lots of contacts with people inside and outside the Philippines sharing the same interests.
Of course you don’t need to have a blog for this since you can subscribe to a Yahoo group.
In any case a very rewarding outcome.
result 10/10
5. Learning by seeing and mimicking.
Not really. I see a lot of bad and fantastic pictures a day. It doesn’t help me much. Even if some pictures are really gorgeous I don’t really feel the urge to do the same. Technically I would not be able to do it and secondly it is probably not my style of taking pictures.
If I see one of Ian’s abstracts, I might say to myself:” Wow ! this is nice. I would like to frame it and hang it on my wall”. But I will never try to mimick it.
result 4/10
6. Purpose and Creativity.
For sure it helps to sustain a certain “production”. As explained in yesterday’s comment it can be quite stressful.
result 5/10
End score is 39/60 or 65%
September 14th, 2005 at 7:44 am
Well Sidney - 65% is no bad figure and it shows that you are still benefitting from the activity on balance.
It will be interesting to see if others are confident enough to comment on how they see the activity and compare.
From the two data points you and I have thus far provided I have developed a hypothesis that as blog time progresses, one becomes more jaded with the exercise - I guess thast will not get a man to the moon, but perhaps it says something about the expectations with which we begin our blogs.
Interestingly on the first few points we agree - feedback is not really satisfying, showing off is OK and community is excellent.
Where we diverge sharply is in the mimicking and purpose. In the mimicking section I considered the thinking I needed to put into my commenting and I have been inspired by some photographers such as Fred and Lara whilst actually taking pictures - perhaps as you say because their style has some similarity to mine.
On purpose, I guess I still see the treadmill of being driven to photograph as positive whereas you are experiencing this as a chore as you say and therefore negative. I suspect this is the factor where blogging time has the most adverse impact.
September 14th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
Lots of great stuff to think about here! I think I’ll add my thoughts, too.
1. Feedback- I agree with the comment made that the ‘backslapping feedback’ is a great form of encouragement to continue. I know that people visit my blog regularly to see my pictures- either because they like them, or because they’re hoping I’ll visit THEIR blog and leave comments. Either way, knowing that people want to see my work is very powerful motivation.
2. A place to show off- My “real-life” friends don’t give a rat’s tail to see photographs of a line of cars, or clouds, or the way the light looks on the texture of the wall. I don’t have a circle of photographer friends here, so my photoblogging buddies provide that for me! My work is appreciated and valued for photography’s sake.
3. A feeling of community- see above. Different groups of people frequent different blogs. In my own circle, I see some of the people commenting on other blogs that I view, and there are some commenters on other blogs that I DON’T see. It’s a great way to interact.
4. Learning by seeing and mimicking- This is one of the biggest things for me. I’ve taken quite a few photographs that I otherwise wouldn’t have taken if it wasn’t for the blog. I’ve even found myself thinking as I take photos, “I’ll bet Ian would like this,” or, “This is something that Rock might photograph!” or, “How would Lara frame this?” I’m pretty new to photography and I’m soaking up all of your ideas like a sponge. Keep ‘em coming!
5. A purpose to drive creativity forward- This is definitely true. Sometimes I’ll photograph something purely to put it on my blog. It keeps me out there with the camera when it would otherwise be sitting in the corner gathering dust. In fact, I’m planning on going out today to get some shots for the blog. If I can squeeze it in between studying for classes and cleaning the house, that is!
While I haven’t assigned ‘rates’ to any of these, my photoblogging has been exceptionally rewarding. I had a written blog for awhile, and I quickly lost interest. It was far more time-consuming to keep up. Whereas in the photoblogging community, we look at a picture, consider it for a moment and leave meaningful *hopefully!* comments, with a written one, you have to read a LOT of stuff. Which I enjoy, too, but it takes much less time to visit 20 photoblogs and leave comments than it does to visit 20 written blogs and comment. And as was mentioned before, if you’re not visiting other blogs and commenting, you’re not going to see the traffic you want.
Well I’ve rambled on long enough.
Have a great day, everyone!
September 14th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
Blogging is loads of fun. Once I created a community of blog friends it kinda became addictive, but one its chilled off but the interest is still there. To add my though to the points.
Feedback: Who doesn’t love getting nice feedback, but like it if it honest. Constructive criticism is always welcome. But I feel delicate when I have to do that to others in that case I don’t leave a comment.
A place to show-off: definitely is.
Community: this is the best part of Blogging I must say. Love all my blog friends.
Learning & Mimicking: Have learnt a lot from other photobloggers, esp. from U about how to look beyond sunsets and flowers LOL. Mimicking done that too, to a small extend.
Purpose& Creativity: ya helped me a lot in that depart ment, Most of my theme series where blog inspired, which otherwise I wont have though of it.
On the whole blogging experience has been good for me, I hope I have the urge to continue like this, but the day I feel its become a duty and not fun I think I will stop.
September 14th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Another great topic Ian
So far my blogging experience has been good fun, and I think is serving my two primary objectives that I state on my site:
1. To help document and share my images
2. To put a bit of pressure on myself to get out and take more pictures!
I suppose objective 1 is ‘a place to show off’ but it is also about a record of work for me. Initially I never actually thought I would get any visitors to show off to, but it is steadily growing and I have found this to be a nice by-product.
1. seeking feedback on my work (8/10)
It is certainly great to get feedback, and at times can be a bit addictive - checking pixel post admin for new comments
To an earlier point that has been made by Sidney on feedback and in general about the backslapping etc. This is tricky. I am currently taking a course at the weekends in photography, and I suppose it can almost be compared to our photoblog community on a much smaller scale. We all love taking photo’s and are interested in what each other are producing - however, we are all quite nice to each other offering mostly positive feedback.
Over time we have started to offer suggestions etc. but in general there is no real criticism of each other. Surely it is no surprise that it is the same online with our blogs? I started mine a couple of months ago and have not wanted to wade in and start criticising work before I have built relationships - rather I have taken the ‘if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all’ approach. That said, I do feel I have started to build some relationships online now and have recently received comments which have offered suggetions etc. so I am also going to try and offer constructive feedback where appropriate from now on.
2. a place to show off (10/10)
I love my blog and I am starting to feel quite proud of the online portfolio it is almost becoming
I hadn’t initially shared it with friends and family, but I am starting too now as feedback and interest in the site has really boosted my confidence to show it off a bit.
3. a feeling of community (9/10)
certainly an unexpected by-product, but fantastic. As Jen says above, freinds and family are only really interested in snapshots, they don’t care about lighting, apertures, shutter speeds etc. so the photoblog community is great for this aspect as far as i am concerned.
4. an opportunity to learn by looking at the work of others (10/10)
I have been amazed at the quality and variety of photography on the web. I only wish I had got into this earlier :p
5. a purpose to drive photography and creativity forward (10/10)
My photography course also helps this, and gives me direction, but the blog has been a great fill in during the summer hols, and I will of course still have my blog when the course finishes. I am going to continue setting myself mini challenges
September 14th, 2005 at 7:42 pm
#1. Feedback / purpose to drive photography and creativity forward / a place to show off / community - 10/10 - i think this was what initially prompted my photoblog. i wanted feedback on what i had produced from the community that is looking. i’ve recently been considering turning off the comments to see what happens - does the traffic disappear because others cannot leave comments and a link to their page? do people still both to visit?
#2. Learning by Seeing and Mimicking - 7/10 - all the books in the world can’t get you to see what others see. the more work i see by other, the more i expand my vision. i probably won’t copy anybody - and haven’t (on purpose anyway) - but i shoot differently by seeing others work.
17/20
BUT . . . this all seemed simple in the beginning, now i’ve gone and complicated it. What I’m wondering is WHY i have a blogger account, a flickr account, a photoblog.org account, a biker blog, a photoblog magazine account, etc. why can’t i just put all of this stuff on one blog? i’ve been wondering this for a while now and i think i’ve come to the conclusiong that blogger and flickr allow me to have dumping ground for stuff that is “OK” but not “good,” which of course feeds right back to #1.
September 14th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Jen - You ar enewer than I to the world of photoblogging, but I am a baby in the written blogging world. It remains to be seen how long I keep my enthusiasm up and how interested people are in what I have to say - I am already stunned by the level of response!
Kaleidoscope - glad it is still fun for you, I agree that when it becomes merely a chore and no fun I will give it up - hopefully that will not happen for some time to come yet.
Emma - looks like you are really enjoying it - that is great and in the end we are doing it for the enjoyment.
Jamie - I know what you mean about several places - I was addicted to Flickr for a time having originally got an account as a platform to blog like Lara did. I stopped using it when they started becoming unreliable - I guess I will get back to it, but at the moment writing this stuff is fun.
September 14th, 2005 at 8:00 pm
Looking at the responses to date, it does seem that there is some sort of timebased trend to enthusiasm - the newer hands being relatively more enthusiastic than the older hands.
September 15th, 2005 at 2:32 am
i think one of the best thing i gain in blogging is having new friends…
well u can call it online-friends…blogging-friends…or to me..just friend.
Now i have frineds from all over the states…from japan…from uk..from portugal…from scotland…from canada…from romania…from basically everywhere!
i love photoblogs…for it enable me to go places i couldnt go…see things that i never have it here…and the best is…to spur my own creativity
i love wordsblog for i love to know wht other people think of a certain issue…what is in the mind of tht particular person…wht type of lifes they are living….it in-turn will benefited me in one way or another.
on feedback ……it is fun and great to know that whtever you wrote…pictures u take are being enjoy by them…is kind of encouragement and compliment
and if you are expecting some professional comments…i guessed it will be quite rare….hehehehe….you could have it from www.trekearth.com though.
September 15th, 2005 at 8:14 am
zbjernak - it would seem that most people agree that one of the really positive things about photoblogging/blogging is the community built and the new friends we make.
I will try out the link you have left.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Why would they remain jokes of them in the mail? Then he extricate his ripe magnet quicken from her.