This past Saturday was the annual SFBAPPA Digital/Multimedia workshop. There were, of course, the now obligatory classes on Final Cut Pro, Photo Mechanic and Soundslides. There was also a panel on photo blogging, featuring photography instructor Cyndy Green, Modesto Bee photographer Adm Golub, freelance photographer Alison Yin, Stockton Record photographer Clifford Oto and I chimed in once or twice as well.
Adm is a wonderful speaker and touched on a great number of topics including how to set-up a blog, how to post, how to add images, what rss feeds are, surviving the “Digg effect,” server options, etc. I must say, it wasn’t exactly what I expected… though it would have been if I had thought about what I should expect.
Questions and comments came up regarding how much time people spent blogging, if they did it in their free time on top of any work obligations, how can I monetize this, and how giving away your photos for free could ultimately lead to increased traffic and attract advertisers. I got the feeling that blogging was viewed either as a necessary evil because it’s in with newspaper executives at the moment, or as a means to promote oneself in a nontraditional manner to make money, both of which are not reasons that I began to blog.
I find the power of blogging to be in the communities that it helps to form. I first began to blog after being introduced to my then photojournalism instructor, Dennis Dunleavy’s, blog, which I still follow today. Blogging has allowed me to not only learn what the leaders in our industry are doing and plan to do, but it has given me a reason to engage in discussions with these same people, people who I have no business talking to.
Blogging also has a certain serendipitous feel to it. I click on the link on one blog, which leads me to a new photographer, which in turn leads me to a multimedia presentation I had never seen, and before I know it, I have enough inspiration to last me months. Blogging has expanded my knowledge in the field of journalism, and exposed me to topics that I never would have covered in the classroom.
Unfortunately, as usual, I am posting at 5 am, and I can’t think of a way to wrap this up, so I am just going to list a few blogs down here in the hopes that someone enters the rabbit hole.
a photo a day
A Photo Editor
Invisible Inkling
Journalistopia
Journerdism
Magnum Photos
MediaStorm
Multimediashooter
News Videographer
Notes From a Teacher
PhotoJournalism
Reuters Photographers
Rob Curley
Romenesko
Strobist
Teaching Online Journalism