Blog on Photoblogs

If you have your own photoblog and/or enjoying cruising the ‘net looking at other peoples work and haven’t heard of PicLens at this point, all I can say is where the heck have you been?

If you run your own photoblog why not consider extending it with PicLens? There’s a Wordpress plugin available for all you WP junkies, and you can also extend PixelPost.

If you would like to see PicLens in action, I recently extended my Behind the Lens photoblog.

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While reading my numerous RSS feeds this morning I came across an interesting article by Rob Haggart at A Photo Editor about Alan Taylor and The Big-Picture blog he created for the Boston Globe’s website Boston.com and it got me thinking about the typical size of photographs that are published on people’s photoblogs.

Why don’t we publish images with larger dimensions?  Very few photoblogs that I have come across publish images with the largest dimension being larger than 700px, the images on Big Picture have a dimension of 990px!

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I was lucky enough to have registered for the one and only Kelby Training Seminar stop in Toronto for 2008, and let me just say that I am glad that I did! This year, we were treated to the very talented Ben Willmore and I can honestly say that the crowd of what I would estimate to be around 700+ attendees was completely captivated not only by Ben’s casual speaking style, but also his extreme grasp of all things Photoshop CS3.

If you have the chance to catch Ben in any other city I would highly recommend attending.

The only complaint that I could possibly come up with is the fact that Kelby Training only comes to our fine city once a year.

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Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a new beta program for photographers. I know that Photrade isn’t about photoblogging, but I wanted to let everyone know about the site. I have had a look and it seems pretty cool. I also have 3 invites to give away to the beta program which will give you a one-year pro membership for free. Contact me if you would like an invite.

And make sure that you check out the Photrade website.

**UPDATE #2:  My friends over at Photrade were kind enough to send along more invites.  Contact me if you would like one **

**UPDATE: Thanks for everyone that sent me an email - all invites are gone **

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Received an update from Brendan tonight, that he’s almost done the Purple Cow book…If you would like to receive the copy from Brendan please use the contact form and send me your mailing address and I will forward on the information to Brendan.

Brendan mentioned in his email that he’s gotten some great ideas from the book - here’s hoping we get a sneak preview at Blog on Photoblogs.

Click Purple Cow to read the original post.

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I just read about this great event on Heather Morton’s blog. They still need some help so if you’re in the Toronto area, and would like to volunteer your time - or even better submit some of your work, check out the slideluck community (BTW, it’s on Ning - which I think is the coolest social networking site!)

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This topic has come up quite a few times in the last little while so I figured that I would post my thoughts, and see what the community thinks about it.

When I first started my own photoblog, I would have said that there was no need for separate websites for your blog and your portfolio site (a.k.a commercial venture), but after quite a bit of reading and talking to other photobloggers out there, I now feel it’s not only a good way to go, but vital to your long-term success.

Before I get into my reasoning, let me just state one thing - if you don’t have any intentions of trying to commercialize your photography then you do not need separate sites, but if your ultimate goal is to turn your passion of photography into a commercial venture, than you really do need multiple sites. Here are my reasons,

• Photoblogs are personal: They give you a place to experiment and have a little fun with your photography. This is great, and it allows you to perfect your skills, but I am not convinced that it’s something you should be promoting to your prospective clients.
• Photoblogs give you a place to network with other photographers: I’ve said it in an earlier post, it’s my opinion that the majority of the visitors who come to your photoblog are other photographers and while there’s nothing wrong with that they probably are not going to be paying your bills.
• Protect sensitive clients: If you enjoy one type of photography let’s say, Boudoir, but you earn the majority of your income from Family portraits you may be putting off potential clients that come across your personal work. “Word of mouth” can be a very effective method of advertising, but it can also be deadly, more people talk about their bad experiences than their good ones - you need to be very careful not to offend potential paying clients.
• Specialization: Nowadays, everyone has a digital camera which is more than capable of taking very nice digital photographs. In order to separate yourself from the crowd you need to specialize! Have fun on your photoblog, but your portfolio site should be highly targeted!

So there you have it - my first four reasons why you should separate your blog from your portfolio site…

Anyone have any additional thoughts/comments?

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I recently purchased (and read - that’s important!) Seth Godin’s Purple Cow and I have to say that not only was it a quick read - which is good nowadays, it was an excellent read, and it should be read by anyone who’s trying to market themselves and/or their work.

The biggest takeaway I got from Seth’s book was that in order to be successful now (and in the coming years) you’re going to have to be remarkable, and find ways to stand out from all the other folks doing the same thing that you’re doing. Not only that, but you’re going to have to continue to find ways to stay remarkable as your competitors mimic what you do.
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