Blog on Photoblogs

This month’s profile comes courtesy of Jasper at Photo.shoq. I think that the thing that instantly struck me about Jasper’s photoblog was his sheer dedication to photography. His photoblog has been going strong now for 5 years (1840 photos), and he shares some great advice with us on how to keep inspired and publishing your work! Have a read, and make sure you visit his site.

BOPB: What drew you into photography in the first place, and at what point in time did it become a more serious hobby?
Jasper: I always wanted to take pictures and create stuff. The whole analog shooting thing never got to me though. I bought my first digital cam for way to much money back in 2002, A 2-megapixel Sony DSC-S50, and started to experiment with it. Mostly long exposure stuff. I was too lazy to carry it around all the time, but I often saw shots I wanted to make. I took part in a small shooting competition on a Dutch tech forum and enjoyed the search for the best photo to enter with. I decided I wanted to really get into photography and started looking for ways to really push myself to keep shooting. The result was ‘the birth’ of my photoblog in 2004! I pushed myself to post one new photo every day. This way I had to go out and shoot! Pretty soon after that I got into the whole DSLR-thang and started spending way too much money on this hobby

What is the one piece of equipment that’s currently in your bag that you couldn’t live without?
That would have to be my Canon 5D. Although it is pretty boring without any lenses. I try to work with all my lenses, so I usually choose one I will work with that day, so I have no real liker. You can find a Sigma 15mm fisheye, Canon 17-40L, Tamron 28-75, Canon 50mm 1.8 and Canon 70-200L f/4 in my bag. Oh yeah, and a modified Holga lens with Canon mount.

What platform does your photoblog currently run on? Why did you choose it over the other options?
I never really researched for off the shelve photoblog software, so I forced myself into building it myself. My blog is built upon a custom CMS built by the company I work for, so I only (mostly) had to worry about the way my blog looks. Later I started expanding the software with Google Maps, Tagclouds, CoolIris support, RSS feeds, etc. My colleague Maarten over at Talkin.nl took over all development and really made the software to what it is today. Thank him for that!

If you were able to give one single piece of advice to another photographer who was considering setting up a photoblog of their own, what would it be?
Do it for yourself! I think that is the most important thing. Every once in a while I take some time and browse through my images and enjoy the whole documentation of my life there! I tend not to include people in my shots, but they are there when I shoot! This brings back good memories.

What do you think has been the biggest benefit associated with running your own photoblog?
The ability to test out new features is nice. Although you have to be a bit into coding and tweaking. I introduced my photomap some years ago after Google released their Maps API. Nowadays I don’t add much new functions, I just tweak the layout once in a while. I think this is my 6th of 7th makeover Oh yeah, I just redesigned my archive page.

While browsing your site for questions I noticed on one of your posts, that you have posted 1750 entries, if you have stuck to the “one a day” that’s roughly 5 years, first congratulations and second what would be your advice to other photographers who are struggling with “staying inspired”?
Yup, I started about 5 years ago, so I missed a few days unfortunately. I think my main advice is to not post what you think will work and score a lot of replies, but just post the images you like. As I said earlier, run the blog for yourself. I just celebrated my 5th birthday, which makes for 1840 photos already!

I really love the polariod style shots on your site, what was your inspiration behind creating those?
Thanks! Most of the shots are taking with the Polarize iPhone app. I don’t carry around my 5D where ever I go, but I do carry my phone around. The Polarize app processes the photo Polaroid style and puts the border around it. There are some amazing photo apps on the iPhone which I tend to use like Polarize and ColorTaste. You can also find a time lapse movie on my blog which was also done using an iPhone app. It is a very enjoyable app that me and my girlfriend use a lot when walking around somewhere

You seem to have a real passion for landscape photography, what was it that drew you into this type of photography?
I have no idea really. I think it is mainly because those are the photos I really liked to watch on forums and blogs. Maybe I was inspired by my dad who makes etchings of landscapes. Shooting a beautiful landscape in beautiful light appeals more to me than setting up lights to shoot a portrait series. I enjoy portraits in a way, but am to scared to approach people on the streets. I am pretty jealous of Jessyel at Dailysnap.com and Benoit Paille for their amazing portraits. My goal is to do portraits of strangers in the street. So keep checking my blog for that (and kick my ass if you don’t see any of them over the next couple of weeks ).

Would you mind telling us about two other photoblogs who you really enjoy and why?
Of course DDOI was a real inspiration for me as this is one of the longest running photoblogs around (I think) and one I have been following since I learned about those things called photoblogs. Nowadays his shots are less appealing somehow. I do follow Jessyel at Dailysnap.com and many other blogs through my RSS reader. I also follow a lot of wonderful artists on Flickr, which also show up in my reader. If there are two blogs I visit daily, it is my girlfriend’s and my dad’s. My dad started blogging about 6 months after I started. He was taking shots everyday and collecting them in a book. Publishing them online has been very enjoyable for both of us.

Since I talk about monetizing your photoblog I need to ask the Blurb book you have self published.  How successful has it been?
Well, not very much I sold one copy, which was bought by my father. I still haven’t ordered it myself The problem with trying to make money of your blog is that your group of visitors is simply too small. I think many amateur bloggers do shoot work that has commercial value and I do have some ideas on helping these people sell the images. I can’t tell much about it, but I will definitely keep you posted!

(ED: Don’t let Jasper’s experience be a deterrent. I still feel that self-publishing is going to become even more important in the not-so-distant future!)

Would you recommend self-publishing a photo book as a way to help with offline promotion?
I don’t think so. I think if you want to succeed as a photographer, so have to do a lot more than that. Getting featured in the local paper, try to get a little exhibition in the local coffee joint, etc. etc. If you see how many photobooks are already being promoted in bookshops, it would be hard to get yours noticed.

(ED: I love the local coffee shop idea, if you’ve had any experience with this type of promotion why not let us know how it went)

What have you found to be the most effective method of attracting new visitors to your photoblog?
When I first started blogging, I tend to reply a lot on other blogs just to get people to visit mine. For the last three or so years I simply do not have the time to do that. If a shot is really special I tend to comment though Sites like VFXY do help to promote your blog.

How do you see photoblogs evolving over the next few years?
Pfew, that is a good one. I haven’t thought about that one yet. I do think that running your own blog has its advantages, so I think people will continue to blog on their own sites.

Finally, where do you see your photoblog in the next 3-5 years?
I hope it is still running 10 years of photoblogging would be very special, wouldn’t it? On the short term, I hope to post more portraits as mentioned earlier. But on the long run I simply want to keep it running and keep posting everyday

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