I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY. Lets just get it out there right off the bat. I don’t just mean photography the verb – the act of taking photos. I mean Photography the broader concept. Making photos and taking photos, looking at images and analyzing prints, processing raw files and processing film, darkroom printing and inkjet printing. Bring it all on.
The Image Blogger is my attempt to share this love and appreciation of photography. Over time, I expect this blog to become the go-to resource for those who take their blog or web site’s visual content seriously. The visually sophisticated, or those who understand that visually sophisticated content can only help grow their authority.
There are many brilliant blogs that talk about content – the written kind. And there are many equally brilliant blogs that focus on making better photos. Both of these types of blogs will put up the occasional post about “using images in your blog posts”, but I have yet to find a site solely dedicated to to that theme. Photography is simply too important to be an afterthought. It has too much value to only be appreciated by those who follow the photography blogs. Lets put great imagery at the top of the content pyramid and see what happens.
Do I have all the answers when it comes to blogging and imagery? Of course not (and please run screaming from anyone who says that they do). That is what this blog is all about – finding the answers. I will be starting at the very beginning and working my way through the process of building a blog that places the visual content on even footing with the written content. I will be building the blog right here, for the world to see. The entire process will be documented – choosing a hosting provider, setting up WordPress, installing and customizing a theme, picking the plugins. Successes and failures, compromises and solutions, all will be laid bare.
As we progress past the initial set-up phase, I envision the blog expanding into headier topics like the selection of powerful photographs, digital asset management, and image SEO. We will also dive into more artistic territory like photo story planning and creation, and how to effectively integrate photo stories into your blog while maintaining SEO best practices.
So, who am I to impart these incredible secrets of The Great And Powerful Image Blogger? I’m the frail little guy behind the green curtain. I’m a photographer whose been in the industry for about 20 years, but I’m nowhere near being a superstar. I’m a digital asset manager who is trying to come to terms with best practices for image archiving versus image SEO (they don’t exactly marry up). I’m a web designer who has built a few WordPress blogs, but I’m certainly not a WordPress expert. I’m a web content creator and manager but I’m not exactly Earnest Hemingway. Most of all, I’m a guy who loves photography and wants to see it thrive in the new digital economy.
So here we are. At the precipice. I’m ready to kick this thing off. Care to join me?