Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Bridge 45

Recently, I've been doing a bit of soul searching with this blog, trying to figure it out what is the point of it and where do I want to go with it? Do other photography bloggers feel that? My love for photography has not diminished at all in the recent years that I have 'discovered' my passion for it but I am questioning a little if blogging is the right outlet for my creativity? There are so many different platforms out there for photographers now (which you all know of so I won't list them) and you get an incredible amount of time difference between how often some photographers post pictures compared to others. There are your daily blogs such as the incredibly successful stuckincustoms.com by Trey Ratcliff, to the post-less-frequently approach by Klaus Herrmann (farbspiel-photo.com) and many other artists on Flickr.

With this blog, I promise 3 pictures a week, which is good for me because it keeps me working on this blog and producing new photos. But in an ideal world, I do believe that like Klaus Herrmann, I would simply post pictures when I feel that one is ready. I know of all my recent pictures, that my 'Like a Setting Sun' picture has had a particularly great response on this website and other sites such as Flickr. Maybe this is the only picture I should have posted recently? The problem with promising a quantity of pictures in a certain time (and I'm guessing this must drive Trey Ratcliff nuts sometimes) is that you often find yourself not particularly inspired, but having to post a photo to not fail on your quotient. The artist in me wants not to be forced to put up with my own restrictions and sometimes plea 'Look, I just haven't got a photo today!'. But then I don't want to fail on my promises either and in the end, I'm satisfied with the fact that producing regular photos can only make me better (he says hoping).

So that brings me back to the original point, what do I want to achieve with this blog? Am I happy it being just a bit of fun and a great way to share my love of photography or am I secretly hoping it will achieve much more? Many people like myself find themselves setting up photography blogs once they have been bitten by the photography bug, because it is a fantastic and personal way to get your creativity 'out there'. But do we need to have them? Would it be more satisfying to just upload pictures occasionally, but ones that were your absolute very best work? I'm writing a lot of questions today without knowing the answers myself but that was the point of writing this blog. I thought about writing a blog on Sunday that was going to be titled 'Time for a break' and at one point had made up my mind that I was going to take a little time off and come back when I felt like (in my gut) I had a bucket load of wonderful pictures to post one blog after the next. But as you can tell, I decided to stick with it and focus on new ideas and other avenues I could perhaps think of for my photography. I don't think I really know what I do want from this blog, but at the moment, I kind of like that.

Bridge 45

I took this picture on Sunday while walking along the Kennet & Avon canal in Newbury, whilst the weather had upgraded from absolutely dismal to mediocre. I'm not an expert on canals, canal bridges or canal barges, but I think the 45 obviously means something to people who like to travel along the canal. This is actually a rail bridge that goes over the canal at this point, so that may have some significance. It's an HDR shot taken from 4 exposures (-2 to +1) and was pictured with my latest (artistic) weapon, the D700.


4 comments:

  1. Hey Pete,

    Very interesting post today! I think all photo bloggers go through what you have described here. A bit like 'hitting the wall' in a marathon.

    I know I often think - what have I achieved here or what am I aiming towards? The answer is I don't know really. Yes I like to think my images have improved since I started my blog and my traffic has grown steadily but at the end of the day it is just done for the pleasure of getting my pictures out there and hoping others enjoy looking at them.

    Yes how I would like to make a living from it (or at least a little pocket money!)but I have to be realistic. But who knows what the future holds?

    Nice image today by the way!

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  2. Thanks for your thoughts Tim, you summed up pretty well what I was trying to say! Yeah I too would like to make a living from it but think that takes years of previous hard work, which I am prepared to give but not too concerned with the work part yet. I'm like any photographer though, we all want make money if only to be able to afford more equipment, so of course it is on my mind what perhaps I could do to start bring some 'pocket money' (as you correctly say) in. Unless you are very well established, I don't think the online galleries (smugmug, red bubble etc) are going to be a great source of income, no matter how much we'd like them to be.

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  3. Thoughtful post Pete. Seems there is a whole range of choices. Do you want to be popular? Want to make money? Maybe just share your experiences and work? Not all of these choices are mutually compatible.
    Like you, I don't think the online galleries offer much hope of income. The audience is mostly other photographers who would like to sell a few prints. But they offer a great place to see what others are doing and get some feedback.
    For myself, I post once a week, and just try to make that the best image I created that week.
    For the moment at least, better to be taking pictures than promoting myself.

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  4. Thanks for your thoughts as well Gene. I've done a blog before about whether people do photography for art or success and I completely agree with your 'better to be taking pictures' comment. If you get that bit right, then it's up to you to choose which path to take when success comes round your way.

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