Blog on Photoblogs

There is so much incredible work on Alex’s Detour photoblog that I can honestly say that I had a hard time just trying to figure out what images I liked the best…

Not only is Alex an extremely talented photographer, but this profile shows he has a way with words as well. …there are some awesome insights into his photographic style, his post-processing, and why he has his own photoblog.

If you haven’t visited Detour, I suggest that you check it out now, I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

Let’s start with how you first discovered the art of photography and when did it become a more serious endeavour?
I guess like many photographers/photobloggers I’ve always had at least some interest in taking photos, going right back to my childhood - my dad’s always been quite into photography. Back in the film days I had a point and shoot, but nothing I tried to master (can you even master a point and shoot?!). So really it was in 2001 when I got my first chance to play around with a friend’s digital camera that I discovered it as an art, and something I felt I had a bit of an eye for. As for being a serious endeavour, it’s a serious hobby yes, but not a serious endeavour - not yet. I’m just having fun with it all.

What’s the one piece of equipment currently in your bag that you just couldn’t live without? Why?
Just one? Jeez, tough choice! I’d have to say my wide-angle (Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM), because I just don’t see the world in anything narrower. I believe they say 50mm is equivalent to what the human eye sees, but that’s not enough for me, I want to capture the whole expanse of a vista, I want to get the full height of a building, or get close and not be forced to crop so tightly on a subject.

Course, knowing me I’d push my luck and try to sneak my newly acquired macro lens (EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM) in under that ‘one piece’ limit. I’m loving macro and really starting to notice the difference a  good lens makes.

What platform does your photoblog currently run on and why did you choose it over another option?
I’m a big fan of Wordpress - Detour has happily run on it since my very first post. There’s just something about the attitude behind the software that I’ve always liked. Detour is served from a standard webhost and being able to install, update and generally mess with my own installation provides me with the control I want, if I want. For me that’s preferable to any  hosted blogging solution, but to each their own - some people don’t want that level of detail/headache.

I dabbled with Movable Type on another project years before Detour, but jumped ship when their licensing changed so dramatically.

(BOPB: I did the same thing when MT changed…)

What made you decide to create a photoblog in the first place?
Between 2001 and 2005 I’d accumulated about 10,000 photos, and there were some I was quite proud of. Friends and family always asked why I didn’t have a site already, so after about a year of thinking about it, a few attempts at getting a template together and all that headache, I finally got Detour up and running in Sept 2005. My initial ‘about’ page offered the explanation “to share or show off, I’m never sure which” and that’s still true. I also wanted to tell the story that went along with each image, because while I believed/believe the old saying “a picture says a 1,000 words”, I always thought the story behind the shot added an extra dimension to the image.

(BOPB: Alex makes a hugely important point here, the story matters! both to your fans, and search engines!)

If you were able to give one piece of advice to a photographer who is currently considering setting up a photoblog of their own, what would it be?
Again with the one piece! LOL. I guess it’d be something I come across both on my site and others’; one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. You can post something that’s quite incidental to you, a nothing shot you don’t pay much attention to but post because you need something to post… and someone else will love it. So don’t be afraid to try.

Also, stick with it. If I didn’t have my photoblog I wouldn’t force myself to get out and about, and if I didn’t get out and about I wouldn’t have some of the shots that I love, that really satisfy me, amaze me and ultimately bring a smile to my face.

Oh, and have fun. Three pieces, can I get away with three pieces?

(BOPB: All great points, so I’ll let you away with three this time..)

You seem to enjoy taking night shots of brightly coloured (and sometime spinning) objects.  What drew you to this type of photography, what equipment do you use?
Yeah, I’m a bit of a light junkie. Long exposures have always been a love of mine, and were probably the first technique I sought to master in my photography. It was just one those things where I wondered “how’d they do that?” and then figured out the rest.

But there’s not much to them really, apart from the one essential piece of gear: a tripod! Anyone worth their salt should have a tripod. Doesn’t have to be anything particularly fancy, heck my first one was a cheap $40 piece of crap, just something to give you that stationery point. Even pocket or table-top tripods are better than trying to hand-hold anything slower than 1/10 sec. So get a good tripod people, and go forth into the night!

Do you feel that you spend more time than the average person in amusement parks?
Ha ha! No, we had the annual fair come to town in September so I spent three nights there before I was satisfied I’d gotten all the shots I wanted. So while my recent archive is pretty full of those shots there aren’t all that many from before then. Course, if I had the opportunity to go to more amusement parks or fairs… yeah, I would!

I love the calendar idea on your site; do you have a way to measure how popular they are with your fans?
Thanks. Yeah, I was curious on how popular they’d be so I use the Wordpress plugin Download Counter to track things. I’m averaging about the mid-teens each month. Though that’s not in the thousands or hundreds, that’s just, you know, 15 individual downloads. But September was busy, that got up to 17!

Ah, the calendar isn’t anything big, it’s my way of trying to give something back. I’ve been making my own desk calendars for a few years (why should I stare at some crappy merchandising calendar when I can pop my own shots on there!) so I just thought others might appreciate it too.

Do you track visitors to your site?  If so, what do you use, and if you don’t why not?
I do and I don’t. My webhost provides AWStats, I have Google Analytics enabled, and Feedburner gives me feedreader stats, but to be honest I’m not too worried about any of that. I seem to average about 1,500 unique views a month but basically I look at it this way: some people visit my site, some leave comments, some don’t and at the end of the day I just enjoy keeping the site updated - that’s enough for me. I’m not trying to be super popular in the photoblogosphere, I’m just doing my thing and if even one other person enjoys it, then that’s cool.

(BOPB: Alex has a great attitude, just “doing my thing” - it’s an awesome attitude for a photoblog, enjoy your passion, and hope that someone else does as well!)

Do you mind telling us a little about your typical post-processing?
Sure. First off I shoot in RAW, browse all the shots in Bridge, then select the good ones and bring them in to Lightroom. Once in Lightroom I have a broad set of presets that I use as a starting point for processing. These 100+ presets  I found on the web at various sites over time, and since each shot it different I just try different presets out til I find one that works with the shot.

Then I usually add some of my own custom tweaking: I’ll bump up the contrast, because digital is often  a bit washed out and nothing really pops. I’ll brighten up the exposure a pinch, darken the blacks and top it all off with a bit vignetting to help focus attention. Then I bring the shot into Photoshop where I add some unsharp mask (20,50,0), a linear contrast layer and boom, the shot is ready.

Final step is a custom Photoshop action to flatten, resize, and save for web a large and thumbnail image.

Could you share two other photographers whose work you admire and why?
A long-time favourite of mine is Thinsite but unfortunately he’s kind of dropped out of photoblogging. Shame really, he has/had some good stuff and I’m always hoping he’ll get back into it again. Why Thinsite? Mainly because the work speaks for itself, but also because he comes across as being a pretty decent guy, quite personable and funny. Mainly though, it’s that he takes the kind of shots I wish I could take. Hard to explain beyond that.

Another site I like is Wasted Photos. Of the 20+ photoblog feeds I’m subscribed to I’d say his is the most entertaining. But more than that, I like his work because he takes photos of stuff I probably wouldn’t, and comes away with some great shots. He also comes across as being a pretty down to earth guy, and isn’t afraid of poking fun at himself.

What has been the most effective method of attracting new visitors to your site?
VFXY has been good in bring people to my site. Posting comments on other photoblogs also not bad. And in the past I used to submit entries to the various daily/weekly photo ‘contest’ sites, which got me some new visitors. But these days I seem to have a bunch of people that follow me, and I’m cool with that. I’m not trying to make money from my site so I’m not stressing about increasing numbers.

In your opinion, how important is it nowadays for photographers to have a photoblog?
These days I think it’s essential for every business to have a website, and photographers are no different. Professionals should have at least a portfolio site for people to judge whether they’re the photographer for them. But that’s different from a photoblog which should be updated more frequently. Does every photographer need a photoblog? No, probably not.

How has the introduction of digital technologies changed the art of photography?
Not having dabbled in the film end of artistic photography I’m not speaking from experience on this one, but I think it’s obvious to say digital has opened up the artistic side of photography to many people who otherwise wouldn’t have tried it, or wouldn’t have continued beyond initial attempts. These days it’s all so accessible, just as digital advancements have changed movie making and music production. New technology it’s good for everyone!

Finally, where do you see your photoblog in 3-5 years time?
Hopefully still going strong! Possibly something I am making some money from, perhaps with more visitors and more comments, but at the very least still going. Like I said, it’s forced/encouraged me to keep at my hobby, and if the hobby every transitioned into  an artistic profession, I’d be cool with that. Hey, who knows what the future holds?!

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