Blogging v. Photo Blogging, Or Is It? Part 2

In Part 1, I introduced this 4 part series and then talked a little bit about some of the things I had to overcome initially as someone who writes a blog. I talked about how long winded I was in those first months and about the corrections that came out of a comment that was by someone on one of my posts.

I also talked about taking a chance on writing for your own blog, whether you are someone who is a photographer, or someone just looking to express yourself. Being organized in when to post articles was another part of our discussion. If you missed Part 1, you can find it at “Blogging v Photoblogging, Or Is It? Part 1”

Part 2

Today I would like to tell you about how I find time to write the articles I do on my blog. I would also like to express some of the challenges I experienced in transitioning from blogger to photoblogger.

And, oh yes, I was going to answer a question I posed to you last time. We will get to that, so stick with me to the end.

I love writing. I have written book length stories, short stories, and various descriptions of unique encounters, poems, and announcements. Believe it, or not, and like any good obsession, my writing has sometimes gotten in the way of the attention that should have been paid to my family, friends, and even my blog. I know that that last one sounds strange, because blogging is typically about writing, but the fact of the matter is, if you never post what you write no one will ever read it.

I have already said, “I’m long winded”, and when I write I have a tendency to go on and on about what I am writing toward. This led to a major problem when I finally figured out that I was writing too much and too long for my blog. Making adjustments to compensate for that problem led to another challenge that had to be overcome. That of, when do I post.

I was posting something very long everyday. I was now forced to make adjustments in when I posted. And, then there was the issue of how much time it was taking to write what I was writing. It was consuming all of my free time just to put up what I thought people wanted to read.

This is how I solved the issue of knowing when to post and fortunately for me one of the results was better use of my time related to writing. First, I made a conscious effort to write no more than five paragraphs, maybe six or seven depending on what I felt was absolutely necessary to communicate the full meaning in what I was writing. I had to keep it short. (Just a note here: funny that I’ve had to break this rule with this series, but as always I have learned something new in writing for a blog. That’s coming at the bottom of this article…) This decision helped me break out an over run of topics that I had always experienced in the long posts. It forced me to keep the topic to one or two at a time.

Second, it forced me to schedule my writing time. I was not allowed to sit and write all evening, or all night long anymore, because I could only write five paragraphs at a time. If I wanted to say something else it would have to wait until the next time I had time to write.

Third, it helped me categorize the articles on my blog. Categorizing, or compartmentalizing, assisted me in focusing on different topics with themes throughout the week. What came out of this naturally was a daily, weekly, and/ or monthly schedule for everything I was writing.

In transitioning to photoblogging, I took with me these things that I learned about what to write, how much to write, and when to write. However, a new challenge presented itself pretty quickly and I bet you can imagine what that challenge was based on my propensity to do too much. It was using way too many pictures I had taken for the photo article I was writing.

The photographs became a distraction, but again it was something that I did not recognize until a good friend of mine pointed it out after reading an article I was pretty excited about. Here was his question, “Don’t you think four photographs is a lot for such a short article?”

He was right of course. It was way too much to look at. How could someone possibly read past all the color, frames, and photographic subject matter? Simply put, they could not. Out of this encounter with my friend, I made some new decisions regarding how, if, and when I would use photographs in posting articles to my blog.

First, if the posting, i.e. announcements, news, feature, weekly, or monthly, was shorter than two paragraphs, a photograph could not be used unless it was the central topic of the posting. For example, if I announced that there will be a feature article running on my blog next week I would not use any visuals to accompany it. However, if I was going to announce an event next week that had a banner or applicable photograph that could be used as part of the announcement, I would include that as part.

Second, I determined that I would not use anymore than three photographs for any one posting depending on the length. For example, if I wrote three or four paragraphs I might include one photograph. If I wrote five or six paragraphs I might include two or three photographs. In any case, I would really try to focus on visual flow and avoid clutter. Unfortunately, I’m not always successful, but then I am a work in progress. Right?

Third, and probably the most important decision I made about using photographs in my articles was to always ask, “Does this photograph really pertain to what I’m writing about?” If it does not, then why am I including it in the article? When people look to read something their natural propensity is to seek applicability.

Having a photograph that does not apply to your writing can be a major distraction, because your reader leaves your written article to focus on how the photo applies. I would like the readers of my blog to read, see, and understand what’s communicated as one completed unit. I think readers appreciate that as well.

Now there are some exceptions as with many things in this world when taking these things into consideration. Some are; when writing a tutorial, illustrations and photographs must be included extensively to accommodate the lesson. When wishing someone a happy birthday or a happy holiday the photograph, or sometimes postcard, will be the only thing in the post.

Lastly, some photographers have chosen to exhibit their photograph as the full expression of the article itself and allow the photograph to speak for itself or tell the whole story. There are other examples as well, but at this point I think you get the idea. By the way, some of my favorite articles ever “written” were done with just a camera, or a sketchpad and pencil, or a palette and some paint.

Now to that question I posed and to briefly tell you about what I have experienced in writing this series. “Am I a blogger (writer) who photographs?” Or, “Am I photographer who blogs (writes)?” The answer is really simple. “Yes.” I am both, because I love both. I am now to the point where I really cannot do one without the other and I love being there.

This excites me, because it means that I am transitioning into yet another phase in my photographic career. I view this phase as “quasi-journalism” or “quasi-photographic journalism”. I am moving in the direction that I have really dreamed about all along. Writing to the photographs I take to draw the reader of the article in, allowing them to view the image attached, and then facilitating a “feeling” that impacts them in an overall statement made. It is where I want to be now and in the future.

Briefly, what I discovered in writing this series and a new rule. I have written very few articles in a series before, so writing this in and of itself has been a learning experience. Here is a rule for you and me to remember. When writing a series, up front, make sure you break the series up appropriately. My first article in this series was dead on lengthwise, but having placed the breaks where I did in the completed writing for this second and the coming third post with the additional writing for editorial purposes has caused this to run really long. Therefore, I have adjusted my breaks and where this was a 4 part series, it is now a 5 part series to accommodate the new breaks.

I hope I was able to convey some things that are important to you in this article. Next week is part 3. In the third installment we will talk about just one thing. Making your articles speak to and through your photographs. In essence…Becoming your blogs/photoblogs staff Photographic Journalist.

Until next time…

CbyM