Blog on Photoblogs

As many of you know, I took an (extremely) extended break over the holidays, and the sporadiac blog updates prove it!  When I came across Sven’s work, I immediately knew that I needed to profile him on the site.  Landscape photography is how I got started way back in the days of 35mm film.  I’ve always had a soft spot for landscape photography and Sven’s from10to300mm photoblog did not disappoint.

Enjoy Sven’s profile and here’s to a great 2009!

BOPB: When did you first discover photography and at what point did it become more serious?
Sven: I re-discovered photography little less than two years ago, when I got my first “real” digital camera, a Canon 20D. During my youth I was kind-of interested, but never really had a chance to get into it, due to the lack of equipment. It changed with the 20D and I was very interested to learn how to handle the camera, learned about exposure etc.

What is the one piece of equipment in your bag that you couldnít live without and why?
Besides my camera of course I would say it’s my Lee Filter set. I use them all the time, already before I went full frame. First I got me what is called the starter pack, and after my first successful shots with them, I got totally hooked and expanded my collection of GND filters. I just like how they enable me to get the shots that I want without adding too much Photoshop wizardry. I have the feeling that since then my photography has developed quiet much and I got much more serious about it.

What made you decide to start a photoblog in the first place?
When it came to share my images, or better show them to the public, I looked at the available options. Of course there are sharing sites like Flickr where I also had and still have an account, but somehow this really didn’t appeal to me too much. I already subsribed to a few photoblogs in my reader, and was much more interested into this kind of publishing. The images are presented much nicer and the sites have a much more personal feeling to it. On some blogs you can actually see how much work and passion the photographer has put into the content, the presentation and the design. I totally apreciate that, and this is of much greater value to me.

Why run your photoblog through PixyBlog rather than hosting your own?
When I decided to start a photoblog on my own, I was looking at a lot of options, and tried several of them and then I got invited to the beta of PixyBlog where I then found what I was looking for. What I wanted was a reliable service where I have the possibility to customize the design to my liking, maybe add some code to like analytics or whatever, and a place with a nice community and good support. Whith PixyBlog I have just found that and couldn’t be happier about that. The feature set has been expanding and continues to.

If you were able to give one piece of advice to a fellow photographer who is in the process of starting their own photoblog, what would it be and why?
I would recommend to stay within one’s own limits and choose an option which he or she can enjoy work with and identify with. I mean, setting up a self-hosted may be too complicated for some, and might take away too much energy from the actual purpose, the photography. So look around, take your time to evaluate the best possible option.

(BOPB: Sven makes an excellent point, setting up/maintaing your own hosted blog can be quite a bit of work.  When making your decision to move forward with your own photoblog, consider whether you would like to spend time behind the camera, or updating your website)

You mention on your photoblog that you´re currently interested in mostly landscape and outdoor related subjects, what drew your into landscape photography in the first place?
First I enjoy to be outside, and I’m lucky that there’s so much nature around me here in Finland. Almost all of the images on my blog are taken somewhere around here. Usually I go everywhere with my bike, so the places are not too far away.

Also it’s such a nice feeling to be out at for example a nice lake at sunrise or sunset, and there’s absolute silence around you and you can just enjoy a beautiful morning or evening. And getting a great shot from such a scene is just a great reward.

What has been the most effective method you have found to attract new visitors to your site?
I have never really thought about that, but of course being honest and personal about the own work pays off. I mean, on my blog I of course post images that I personally like and I try to arrange the images as interesting as possible. Additionally I’m also sharing how I did something and sometimes post the unprocessed RAW-image, so that the visitor can get an idea what I did to an image.
I don’t do this with the purpose to get more visitors, I just would like to create a site, which is nice to visit. I have the feeling that people like this, subsribe, come back and also take their time to bookmark my blog on Photoblogs.org, Coolphotoblogs and VFXY-Photos where I have the site registered, or other sharing sites like Delicious, Stumble and so on, which then leads to new visitors. But this of course takes time.

Due to that, I got into the Photoblogs “Hall of Fame” and into the finals of the Photoblog Awards. Which both makes me very happy and proud.

Another important part is of course the networking aspect and getting connected to other bloggers by visiting their sites and commenting on their work. I usually try to reply to every comment personally, maybe not always right away, but I try to. Also Twitter has proven to be very effective to get connected with other photographers.
I never have met (even if only virtually) so many like-minded people, than since I’m running this photoblog, which is very nice.

In your opinion just how important is it for photographers to have a photoblog nowadays?
I think it rather important, and you see more and more photographers doing that. I think a blog is such a nice tool to not only show your work, but also to get in touch.

How has digital photography changed the way you look at photography, where do you see photography heading in the future?
Digital photography has made is possible for me at all to actually do it. I like that you can return home after the shoot and immediately (well almost) see the images on the screen. Also it makes the learning process a lot faster, because it’s possible to make as many mistakes as you want.  We see the cameras are getting better and better so quickly and more affordable. I understand that the latest Nikon camera is already near to a large-format camera in terms of resolution, and of course Canon will answer to that. Now there’s HD-video in DSLR’s and the next thing will then be the expansion of the dynamic range I guess.

Would you mind telling us about two other photobloggers who you find inspiring and why?
Two blogs that I follow for a long time now and admire are Tristan Campbell’s Absolutely Nothing and David Bakers Milou.
I like the landscapes of England and Scotland, especially coastal images and the raw nature of Scotland. I like these images not only for their scenery, which for me is already a little exotic, also I like their processing.

(BOPB: I was lucky enough to speak with Tristan earlier about his photoblog, your can read the profile here.)

Do you have any plans on selling your work via your photoblog at some point?
Yes I have. There are plans to sell prints via the blog in the near future, which is something I’m interested in and excited about. I think this would be a nice addition.

Finally, where do you see your blog in say 3-5 years time?
My main interest is to improve my photography of course, but also I have plans to expand my horizon in terms of locations. Also I would like my text blog evolve and provide original content.

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