Yesterday I wrote that I was pondering what to do next with this blog. One of the reasons was/is the declining engagement I can see in the numbers. I didn't mean that my loyal readers had lost interest or that I needed to hear from them more often in the comments (though that is always pleasant). What I was referring to was strictly numerical. Over the last several years there has been a decline in the number of overall visits to the blog and a decline in page views (which are two different metrics).
What I think we all know from my assessment of the marketplace in my 2013 blog post entitled, "The Greying of Traditional Photography" is that fewer and fewer people are embracing photography the way my generation has practiced it and are, instead, using their phones and making as their final targets sharing sites such as Instagram which more or less repudiate the need for large files, high degrees of production value and technical skills. Forget dynamic range and resolution! It's not good or bad but the trend replaces large files which are meant to be printed and seen in stasis with quick, off the cuff images destined for short half lives and writ out at 2200 pixels. And always keeping in mind that most screens are about 6 bits... Something different from older bloggers' firm ideas that the black and white print is still the gold standard and something every artist/photographer should be aspiring to.
What this means for a blog like this one is that the effective audience is ever aging and there is an unspoken pressure on the writer (me) to conform to my generation's expectations and tastes when we collectively discuss "photography." Ansel Adams would be so proud of us...
So, declining audience, schism between where modern culture is taking the "idea" of photography as an art form and what we think of as "correct," and an aversion to endlessly repeating myself. The problem is that there are so few blogs about photography left standing and, in truth, there are a lot of people who do a good job talking about photography in a more modern and sensible way on YouTube and other video sharing channels. Someone mentioned that I could transition to YouTube successfully and I'm in general agreement but I'd be starting over from scratch to build a new audience since my general audience and age cohort grew up reading the printed word and seems to prefer to get their entertainment/information about photography in that medium.
Building a video channel and marketing it is hard work. If I needed to make money I could find dozens of ways to do it more effectively and with more assurance. But that's the weird disconnect in all of this; I don't monetize the blog. I don't sell other people's prints and take a cut. I don't review cameras with an eye to the affiliate revenue should my review be enticing enough. I'd feel weird accepting Patreon funding when it's not needed to fulfill a worthwhile end result. And, being of the same generation as the majority of my readers, I really enjoy the process of writing and reading.
The choice for me is not to morph the content into something new or to change the channel or re-start as a YouTube producer. It all really boils down to a choice between spending personal time (which is happily now more plentiful) making my own work or dividing that time to write blogs just because I have written blogs consistently in the past.
That's what I'm really grappling with. In our generational cohort, as it intersects with photography, there are two blogs that I can identify as "popular" though both are suffering from declining general audience interest. Those two are mine and Michael Johnston's. And while we most likely share the same views on politics we are worlds apart on so much else. Michael's site is a bastion of traditional photography. And traditional writing styles. He owns that space. We might be bored to tears by snooker or vegan diet fads but at the core his passion is the black and white printed image --- on paper. And it's a shared passion with the majority of his audience. You can see it in every engagement on his blog about actual photography.
On the other hand I'm more or less ambivalent about whether an images is printed or not, or what its provenance is, or its position in the hierarchy of traditional order. And whether or not its creator is historic, well known or otherwise culturally vetted. I find most landscapes profoundly boring and discussions of how we used to work in darkrooms about as interesting as discussing rotary phone dial mechanics in the age of cellphones.
The issue for me is that MJ has succeeded in finding and catering to a specific audience centered around a singular common passion while my ambivalence to tradition and lack of embrace for the icons of the past in our field robs my audience of any way-finding landmarks with which to anchor them to my writing here. I'm too transparent and too opinionated to create the stickiness required to become a "personality" in the blog sphere. And that's always the sine wave of my feelings about the blog. It's mostly written for me and that makes me feel guilty in that I don't customize the content for the greatest marketing impact.
I'm just coasting with the blog right now. I like having it as a place to share thoughts and images but at the same time I don't like overt conflict and I'm reticent to share things that will just rile up vocal parts of the remaining audience. We all know Trump was an evil psychopath, that trickle down economics never worked, that we should be discarding fossil fuels and that we should have social systems that help us take care of the neediest parts of our population. We know that white supremacy is evil and that trans fats are bad for our health. But we don't talk about these things because I don't have the temperament to argue nicely with mis-guided idiots who believe the earth is flat and that Jesus saved us by killing off the dinosaurs. Vaccines work. Repressive voting laws don't. The only people who committed voter fraud, interestingly enough, are republicans. But who wants to argue with people who are incapable of objectively reading history or using logic and compassion simultaneously? Not me.
Most current photography is bland. Most writing about it is even blander. Most emulation of past century techniques just for the sake of replicating stuff from the past is boring. But why is it so hard to move on?
Just a few thoughts while waiting for a portrait customer who called to say she is running late....
40 comments:
Re the blog ... whatever works for you, works for me. That doesn't mean that I won't be disappointed if you decide the throw in the towel, but I'd be equally disappointed if you continued to publish out of some misguided sense of obligation to the community. It's your time and I hope you'll use it in whatever fashion maximizes your enjoyment/satisfaction. If you do not enjoy moderating comments, for example, you are under no obligation. It's not our blog. It's yours. I'm a grateful spectator.
There are about a half-dozen blogs and YouTube channels that I follow routinely. Most have been mentioned here. The only one I seriously miss is the late David Thorpe's. His last YouTube video was a farewell to his followers. That one stuck with me. His guides were an organizational goat rodeo but he got them out there when we wanted/needed them and were appreciated.
I view blogs as looking over the shoulder of a talented practitioner as he updates his journal. I have no intention of influencing the work but I certainly benefit from it. Such is a privilege. I'd be surprised if the time doesn't come when you enjoy reflecting on all you've written. Anticipate that when you consider stopping.
I'm a little older than you and recently retired. When I go back and read some of the stuff I've written, I generally have two or three almost simultaneous thoughts: 1. This is really good, 2. This doesn't sound like me, and (occaisionally) 3. I don’t recall writing this. When I go into a writing mode I become a different and more focused individual and surprise myself sometimes. Almost like I write in a different language. In small doses, it's amusing and enjoyable.
Take care and ENJOY.
Have you considered the possibility that you're too interested in some kind of measurable "success?" Suppose you only had one viewer, and your writing was basically done to work out things photographic in your own head, and your single viewer would sometimes agree, sometimes disagree, and between the two of you, new ideas would arise to push your photography in new directions. Wouldn't that be worth doing? I really value your work and envy your ability with portraits -- I really look forward to your discussion of that work. The one thing I find odd about your blog is the passiveness of your audience, as compared, say, to MJs, where there is some real engagement about photographic ideas. In your blog, most people will write to say they like this portrait or that one, or the quality of the black and white. Rarely will somebody say, "I would have done that differently -- like this." In any case, I really hope you don't quit until you get down to that audience of one, and then he/she goes way.
Kirk,
Been reading your blog for about 10 years now - jumped onboard when you switched to Olympus for a bit. There are two elements that keep me coming back: 1. your reviews of equipment that I might be using in the future (or may never use but am interested in learning what it is and how its used), and 2. your images. Regarding the latter it's less about the quality of the image and more about the "why did he make that one?" Sure, I skim through the writing rather than indepth reading (which is why I'd never click on a video blog - people talk too slow) but always take the time to read information on the "why" behind your actions. Since I'm always trying to improve my "eye" for composition and stories to tell in images, I would hope you'd consider at least one posting a week to talk in more depth about why you composed an image - what drew your attention, what did you see it could become, how you went about eliminating elements to arrive at the final image. Even your informal, walking around images have a story behind them - tell us more about that.
JC, maybe we can discuss over coffee in Santa Fe. Visiting near the end of the month for a banking conference...
Everything has a beginning and an end. Your blog helped me or inspired me at various times. Not always but more often than not. So thank you for that Kirk. Totally understandable if this process has reached its conclusion.
This post demonstrates to me why I keep coming back here. It's not that I agree with all you've said, but the way you've said it shows that I would love to sit down for an extended chat over coffee with you and with reason and compassion discuss photography, where it's been and where it's going and how various aspects of society have woven through that transformation. Gear may or may not come up, but probably will.
As long as you keep on writing the way that you have for the last many years, I'll be here.
So visits & page views have declined here. Does the same apply to your Instagram and/or or the portrait site. I don’t know if there are comparable metrics or even what it would mean if there were!
A video will and can never replace a written article. So often I'm waiting on some 20 minute (or longer) talking head to finally come to his point... boring, and a waste of the precious time we all have...
Hi Kirk,
I ´ve been visiting and enjoying you blog for some years now and think it began with your trip to Island or a bit earlier. I appreciate how much informative and entertaining stuff you are able to write almost daily and I am delighted not only at your photography but at the very high quality of your writing. As a native German speaker this challenges and enhances my English and I mostly have a dictionary open on an other tab of my browser. As an amateur photographer and retired piano technician I benefit from your deep insight into the topic of photography. Thanks. Yes, there are just a few blogs about photography left standing, formerly I visited Ming Thein´s or Tom Grill´s sites, but I really don´t like all the video stuff on YouTube, maybe with one exception. It is boring having to look into ( more or less pretty ) experts´ faces most of the time and watching them waving their hands around. When you say about your blog: „it's mostly written for me“, I do feel that just this is the quality of it, giving it a freshness and personal mood. There is nothing comparable on the web. Btw. from your previous blog I like number 15 the most, the guy smartphonographing a middle aged couple. Great. Kind regards
Helmut the Austrian.
The main difference between TOP and this blog is that Mike puts a huge amount of work into curating comments. It feels more like a magazine because of that. TOP of course is his job, photography is yours.
John, I have no idea what MJ does in his process of moderation. In my mind it's all a very binary process. If a comment follows the rules you post it. If it goes afoul of the rules you bin it. If it's spam you curse and delete it. How on earth does it take him days and even weeks to get through a few dozen comments per post?
Not a rhetorical question! I've been writing for part of my living since my days at the University and can't fathom why that part is so intensive and time gobbling a process.
Do you have any insight?
And, yes, I agree. MJ is a magazine editor/writer who discusses (sometimes) photography. I go out and photograph for work, play and art endlessly and then write about the industry and my approach to it from the viewpoint of having done it over and over and over again. Usually successfully. He's the better editor but I have to say that I have infinitely more hands-on experience making it and endless experience with the business of it. It's an odd dichotomy.
You only have to reach one person with your writings or a photograph. That's why we're artist, to reach, inspire one person, to give them hope for the future. Your writings and photograph are designed for that one person, to lift them up, give them a goal to aspire too. Ya, our generation is bland, and a lot of photography is bland as well. I hate old people no matter what age, and I'm 70, but it doesn't mean we give up or throw in the towel, that comes all to soon. There are people out there who read your blog, and view your images, and go, WOW!!! If that old goat :))) can do that so can I. What does he know that I don't? Well, just read and view and you'll find out.
When I read what your doing that day or have done, it gets me going. Well, if Mr. Tuck can swim 600000000 laps I can surely ride 12 miles or jog 2.5 miles. If Mr. Tuck can do images like that why can't I? Well, I can if I put in the time, and energy, and learn from others mistakes. I'll never be able write like you, but it doesn't mean I not going to try. So by reading your blog/writings I learn.
As for buying camera gear, there again I'll let you inform me of what works and doesn't. I have more than enough.
Your lucky you live in Austin, it's warm sunny and has a lot of coffee houses!!! Although I do not have the same views as other people in Texas I do agree with you. Out here in my small town in Oregon the anti vac, anti mask, christian right has taken over the city council and closed all the "Long Hair, Hippie, commie, pinko, fag, coffee houses, but the gun store is doing a great business. Portland is all boarded up, and a lot of the artwork, and statues have been vandalized. How we got here? In one word trump, and the hate crew.
Ok 8 words. How do we get back to normal????
I did a photo shoot a week ago, and was on the road for 10 days, loved it. Although the shoot was for a Mountaineering Gear Company at 6000 ft. elevation in blowing snow and wind with temps 28 degrees or lower. I had to hike in 2 miles to get to the frozen lake where the shoot happened, it was WONDERFUL, I felt alive again, like in my younger years. Just me and the mountains :))) The shoot was for and old friend and his son. It was GREAT!!
You write I'll read, you review I'll listen, you post images I'll look/view.
Be safe and stay sane, but enjoy
COFFEE!!!
Roger
Not was "was an evil psychopath"; is an evil psychopath.
Jay
I'm not sure how to comment on these recent posts, Kirk. I'm not too many years behind you in age, and it's impossible to ignore how age has affected my perception of most things going on around me. This includes the things I enjoy pursuing simply for entertainment or pleasure. It's certainly a different world today than that which we've grown accustomed to, and being opinionated yet open-minded (more or less...), 'different', to me, doesn't by necessity imply better or worse. It's simply different. And this is, perhaps, is the crux we experience as we enter our seasoned years of living. We know what we want, what we like, and what we expect after distilling life-long experiences into some tool or methodology we can access and utilize for processing the world around us. And then the ground shifts beneath our feet. Truth is, like you, I'm financially and physically fit, and fortunate to have options in my life not available to me during my younger years when finances and family responsibilities consumed every hour and day of my existence. But I find it curious, and even a little uncertain, to be experiencing the freedom of having options, yet realizing there are so many less experiences that actually excite me than when I was younger. My wife, younger than me, and I certainly enjoy our lives and ability to basically do as we please - we call it a second childhood, only without adult supervision. However, we both recognize how life has become more simplified for us both. We're not complaining or pining for what may have been lost, but being young in spirit does come with some unanticipated consequences. Obviously I don't know your mind, Kirk, but perhaps you're somewhat like me and just getting a little bored with it all. You're an intelligent guy and will certainly navigate through it.
another possible reason for the lack of engagement.
I *just* received this post and 20+ others from this site in my rss feed.
I thought it was unusual that you had not posted in 2-3 weeks but stuff & life happens and I forgot to come here to look...
I do not know how much control you have over the feed .
I have many feeds in my reader and most seem to be working as intended..not saying blogger.com's fault could be mine or my rss reader (netnewswire)
On Anonymous’ comment about interrupted RSS feeds I did find that in the last couple of days something had gone wrong with the posts on this site and after a few current ones it jumped to posts from April 2021. I put it down to your doing some ‘housekeeping’ but maybe it affected the RSS feed.
I would still rather read an intelligent, well-written blog than look at a YouTube video. I suspect that I am far from alone.
Hi Kirk,
I have been reading your blog nearly daily for ages and like the way you write about life, the photos you take and photography in general. I like the way you write about Leica, it’s strengths and also it’s weaknesses. Also the way you live your life in Texas, so different from living in Holland but oftentimes not so different at all.
I can understand if you call it quits after so many years. I will dearly miss your dabblings, I hope you’ll find time and especially fun to write some more knowing that there are so many people reading your blog.
Cheers!
Donald
It's easy to do video badly, doing it well is definitely difficult. YouTube is a vast waste land full of phonies talking about them, them, them.
Sometimes I view photography video links, but not often. Most are full of disinformation. More n00bs have been led astray by clueless online gurus than any other source.
KT, Love your blog and the images you create. Like you, I get exhausted of all that is going on in the world and find photography is my escape and your blog helps in that escape. Keep up the good work and we all will keep reading. Your blog and MJ's blog are great food for thought. It keep the cerebral juices flowing. I am always impressed that at the end of a day, you have the energy to write. Stay safe my friend and keep posting. Eric
Kirk, Been an Aussie reader for many years of yourself, MJ and the late David Thorpe. I love your multi-dimensionality. You're a photographer with feelings, likes & dislikes, and the brave honesty of that is rare in our world. You give us context, history, culture, politics, economics, geography, exercise, & your love for B and 'The Kid'. All whirling around photography as a practice, a discipline, a love, a passion. There's 'Jack and Jill went up the photographic hill' but only Kirk tells us 'why'. So, these are my "way-finding landmarks". All the best, Steve
What I meant by curated is that Mike takes time to sort through and find featured comments, and yes, sometimes it takes too long. His blog is the only one I've ever seen do that, probably for a reason.
I am glad you finally articulated it
The yin and yang of VSL and MJ are wonderful counterpoints. Different points of view, likely different end results, but both are needed.
I have neither the time nor the patience for lengthy, self-congratulatory Youtube videos by people wearing baseball caps turned backwards and who don't enough experience to even realize that much of their potential audience likely knows more than the "Youtuber". Of course, I'm one of those archaic sorts who's two other daily photo site visit are Micro Four/Thirds and large format film photography and who actually makes and exhibits big prints.
For what it's worth: I'm a relatively young, just-barely-graying photo hobbyist at age 42. Both this blog and The Online Photographer have been of tremendous help to me over the last five years or so as I've gotten deeper into photography. The differences you outline between your blog and TOP are certainly there, but what's stood out to me is the similarity between them: both blogs present knowledge gained over many years by people who care deeply about photography, rather than technology as such, and both blogs go beyond specs to talk about the rest of the photographic process, including our artistic intentions and the small details of technique, thinking, and gear that matter. It's true that there are many photography YouTubers, but most videos are basically reviews; others are how-tos and "lessons," as though in a distance-learning course. There's something much more valuable on offer in blogs like this, where writers can ruminate, think things through, and share their thoughts in a relatively unfiltered, unstructured, and genuine way, without having to package everything in a tidy video with an opening montage, three acts, and a conclusion. (On YouTube, Matt Day is one of the few photographers who talks in a bloggy way—it's one of the reasons he's so unique.)
I love this blog, and I've been reading back through the archives of both VSL and TOP for years and finding gems. Because there's no easy-to-use table of contents, I typically proceed by typing whatever interests me into the search box and navigating around from there. "Square format," or "tone curve," or "family," or "Leica M," or whatever. There's so much of great value. (Your old post called "The walk-around camera" comes to mind.) It's not reasonable to expect someone to go back and "curate" many, many years of blog posts, and in truth I enjoy the hunting process. My main point is just that there are new readers finding your blog and getting a lot out of it—certainly, I'm one.
On the divide between younger and older photographers, I think it's more fluid than you lay out. Technology is in flux, and so is our relationship to it. I know people who are in the film, prints, and darkroom phase, and others who are in the digital-high-res phase, and others who don't care. I myself divide my time, shooting black and white film and color digital, printing sometimes. So writing that seems to be of fading relevance now may very well turn out to be highly relevant later. The problem is discovery: the longer you blog, the more great posts you write, and the harder they become to find! This response is itself getting too long: my real goal here is just to thank you for your excellent writing.
Video, I have learnt so much about video from you and I'm doing more and more video now. Perfect for today's world of iPhone/iPad/tablet/Mac/PC/TV and you don't need a printer.....
I think you're on to something here. Where is photography going?
I still make prints, and I believe that prints are the form my photos should take. I go into art galleries and find art objects for sale. I go to museums and see art objects hanging on the walls. I myself want to make art objects. I want to hold them in my hands.
But maybe photography itself is trying to go somewhere else. It has always been driven by technology, and maybe the technology is taking us away from prints. I look at painting (as a naive non-painter) and think how little technology has affected it. A person still applies paint to canvas with a brush. The images change with time and culture, but the methods don't. But that can't be said of photography.
Maybe photography will become totally digital, both in the taking and the viewing. Maybe the market for art photography will shift completely to NFTs. Maybe photos will disappear from the galleries and museums.
You've got me thinking about this now. I'm not sure that makes me happy, but there it is. I hope you'll continue pondering this idea.
As a former photo blogger myself, I can easily relate to the ambiguous feelings you have about whether to continue or not, and if so, why. I'm also among the small number of people who have met you and Mike Johnston personally. I like and respect you both, but you are two very different people with different life experiences and approaches to your respective crafts. He's more of a fulltime self-employed blogger who occasionally produces photographs. You're more a professional photographer who writes prolifically about your photographic experiences. Of the two, I prefer your approach. That said, I agree with your assessment that if something is losing momentum you have to ask yourself whether it's worth the time and energy to keep it going, especially if you have other things going on in your life that interest you more. Regardless of what you decide to do, rest assured that next time I'm in Austin, I will again invite you to share some amusing conversation over a cup of coffee. That stuff won't drink itself.
Kirk, as you consider the future of your blogging, I happened to run across this post on TOP today, which might be an interesting read for you again. :-)
https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/10/kirks-take-kirk-tuck-1.html
Nice find by Gordon Lewis. I feel, without actually doing the research, that if one just wrote down a list of areas covered by you and MJ there would be a remarkable similarity, pool & swimming, food and drink and so on and yet the blogs could not be more different. Yet again there is a notable overlap of readership. Maybe it’s an age thing, but then I’m nowhere near as young as you two ;).
Mike Marcus, An enormous "THANK YOU" for posting that link. I really needed to read that and get some wisdom from that younger Kirk back in 2011. He's right. Okay. On we go!!!
Oops! Apologies to Mike Marcus, I confused his comment with that of Gordon Lewis. Brain slipped a cog ;(.
Kirk, I believe you continue the blog because you love (and need) to write. In that light, why does it matter if your reader numbers are up or down? As you say, you are (blessedly) not monetizing the blog, so more or less income is not the issue. Yes, writing the posts is work, but see the first sentence.
In an age of 'experts' on YouTube who are well paid by companies, who are mostly useless image makers, there is your blog! Enlighten, well written entertaining and useful. I will never buy a system like the SL. The lenses are way too big and heavy for an older and weaker guy like me! I always hated heavy cameras. Yes! in studio days my Mamiya C series stood there awaiting a lens and a paying subject.. That was heavy.
I am amazed how each post is always so perfect.. The video stuff not my thing. I love small cameras breaking into news work with a Olympus Pen-S. Later returning to such work for magazines and personal work. Nikons, Pentaxes and of course my Leicas.. Now it's digital with a roll or two of real film each month..
Forget the numbers! We who read your blog are more than content!
Leica never built for the masses. Canon-Nikon-Sony market for zillions.
Boring Big cameras. The phone suffices for billions..
I limit who can see my images and less who may comment!
so i have a few fingers of "friends". I am happy! Onwards Kirk!
I have to admit that I have falling off the path of righteousness. I used to check your blog first thing every morning, now I might look once a week. I do and have always enjoyed your voice and your eye. I look forward to peeking in as long as you continue to post.
Longtime dedicated viewer. One thought- overt political statements in an otherwise non-political forum can be polarizing, and even off-putting to some, and lead to their walking away.
Not a value judgement of what is appropriate in your own forum, but a possible if only partially-relevant explanation.
You wrote, "I don't like overt conflict and I'm reticent to share things that will just rile up vocal parts of the remaining audience." I'm pretty sure that most of your readers are informed and rational and agree fully with you. So go ahead and write what you want to. A big chunk of 'merica has joyfully marched into an idiocracy (fraudocracy?), but are they the type who would read a photography blog from a "liberal?"
Your blog provides pleasure to many. As long as you get some pleasure from writing please continue to share it with us. This post from Joerg Colberg describing the 10th anniversary of his photography blog may resonate. http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2012/07/ten_years/
It's simple, photography is going in the same direction as other things in our lives. No one but a few of us old folks value quality. It's like cars, no one really wants quality, except of course for the badge, but instead want tons of needless electronic gadgetry, much of which only serves to distract the driver from the subject at hand. I anxiously await the arrival of the electric nose picker.
When I was working as a photographer, I most appreciated using my Hasselblad 500CM with no AF, no meter, just me. I got great photos (I mostly shot photos of work in process in refineries, chemical plants, and the like.) Later, I moved to digital, and although I got good results, they didn't come with the pleasure of the film stuff.
Of course, I had something working for me that todays photographers often lack. I had standards, which I frequently met. I got these standards from years of experience and similar academic training as Ansel Adams.
But really, look at everything else. We listen to music, often in mono and from speakers the size of frozen orange juice cans. We are consumed by vinyl, but honestly, Rudy van Gelder, arguably the greatest recording engineer ever who produced all the great Blue Note jazz records, said the he was glad vinyl was gone and he wished it would stay that way.
But please, continue to write. I enjoy reading things that are well written and yours is that.
Bill Pearce
I really don't have anything to add to the other comments that have been made above so I am not going to try to contribute any more compliments. I'm 76 years old, an avid amateur photographer, I read both your blog and M.J.'s regularly, and get great enjoyment and inspiration from them. I'm just sending this to add my name to your list of avid readers. Thanks for publishing the VSL and please continue to do it as long as your are able.
Richard Gonet
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