I took a couple of recent blog posts down. Nobody seems to be responding to them anyway and the number of people accessing and interacting with content about actually using cameras, actually working on paying jobs, etc. has been dropping over time. I get it. Interest in actual, current photography is dying out.
You'd really think so if you read photo blogs on the web. But really?
I'm having a blast working on advertising projects. Actual projects done in collaboration with contemporary advertising agencies. Campaigns. Work with young art directors. Real photo work. But I think my readers here are tired of hearing about how we do our jobs. About our plans about which cameras and lenses to use. And maybe I just don't write it all very well.
It seems that everyone is drawn instead to photo blogs that are the online analogy of a book club at which everyone sits around, drinks wine and gossips and pontificates in the comments while only a handful of the participants have actually read this month's book. It's the group vibe and the socializing that's important to them. Online friends? Is that still a concept? Does it actually work for anyone?
I'm not blind to the fact that most of my readers and the readers of other photo blogs know as much important stuff about photography was we do. As the writers do. Some knowledge we hold on to is arcane and only useful in the service of engaging nostalgia for a time well past. I could bore the crap out of most of you with spirited essays about reciprocity failure or the Scheimpflug Principle but why would I want to? Only a tiny percentage of you are interested in shooting film in the dark and even fewer are operating view cameras with front and rear standard movements.... why dredge up trivia and make it sound important and useful? Photo trivia bragging rights?
I took the posts down because, like a series on Netflix, we weren't making our numbers and so we "cancelled" the posts. We're not making money with this blog so I measure the value to me by engagement and I measure that by page views and comments. Something is stuck in the lawn mower blades and I fear I might have to turn it off, look underneath and see what's causing the slow down.
I won't be competing in the writing world by blogging outside my own interests in photography. If you want to read it that's great. If you'd rather not that's great too.
At the moment it feels like photography, both commercial and artistic, is thriving. Energized and vibrant. But at the same time it's been so much examined, picked over and dissected by the armchair teams that interest and actual engagement by those not in the thick of it is no more entertaining to them than a cooking show or a nostalgia for carburetors in cars or a vivid discussion about trans fats.
And that's how it looks from this side of the keyboard.
Me?
Not sick. No starving. Not poor. Not lonely. Not disengaged. Not sore. Not bored.
Just feeling the gap between what I want to write and what you all seem to want to read. Taking a walk instead and, for a change, not planning to post any images from the same.
Hope your day is interesting...
I did read your last post about the food shooting.
ReplyDeleteEven as dilletante itits interesting and reminds me what, when, where and how I worked sloppy on my projects.
It's the mix of your topics I like, even sport (well..).
Äh, the tilly dings hat, your where right before you bought it.
Walter.
Kirk
ReplyDeleteI visit your blog every day and look forward to your posts. I enjoy reading your photography articles but I get as much enjoyment from reading all of them regardless of topic, it has become part of my daily
Please continue
Gary
Kirk,
ReplyDeleteI look to your posts for the perspective of a working professional photographer, from the how you think about a project to the equipment and processing you prefer for it. The "walking around" images are interesting (I've started seeing downtowns in a new way) as are your comments about equipment. My gear is way outdated compared to yours but every now and then you mention something and I think, "would that make photographing _____ easier or better? Should I invest in that?"
It's apparent from your writing this is something important for you to do. Some people journal, others blog. The latter lets all of us glimpse into your thinking about a topic we're interested in and for that we're grateful.
As Yoda would have said about blogging, do or do not. It's entirely up to you!
Kirk,
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate reading whatever you post, although I am guilty of not commenting much :) I do hope you keep it going, I enjoy both your writing style and the usually interesting pictures.
When I logged on this morning, I wondered what had happened to those posts. I sometimes do a light reread, and I thought my computer is on the fritz. It's deleting Kirk's posts. I'm relieved my computer is OK. But, now, I have to worry about you deleting posts.
ReplyDeleteKirk,
ReplyDeleteI thought I had signed on with my name, but I see I am unknown. I authored the whine about the missing posts.
Bill Pierce
"But I think my readers here are tired of hearing about how we do our jobs. About our plans about which cameras and lenses to use. And maybe I just don't write it all very well."
ReplyDeleteYou think, but do you really know? If you want to know, take a poll. If you're just tired of it, stop. (But if you can, leave the blog up, for back-referencing.)
I've read, and commented sometimes, for the past 11 years. I'm still here.
I understand what you sre saying but I for one enjoy reading your professional adventure. There really isn't much to comment over though. What are people going to say except the usual platitudes.
ReplyDeleteEric
+1 for Eric Rose's comment.
ReplyDeleteAt least I see I'm not the only one who reads the 'on the job' posts. To me they are about the most interesting thing you do. So I do hope you will keep them up. As I said in another comment, I gave the food job post a quick skim when I first saw it. Then when I came back to really read it, it was gone.
ReplyDeleteThe doing of photography is much more interesting to me than cameras or lenses.
BTW, yours is about the last photo blog I read on a regular basis, and it has been for several years. So I hope you'll keep it up.
The Scheimpflug Principle would be an exciting topic to discuss over coffee.
ReplyDeleteFrank, Always ready. Maybe Friday? That way I can show off the newly arriving camera.....
ReplyDeleteKirk
ReplyDeleteI seldom comment but I enjoy reading your posts, especially the ‘working’ ones. They bring a perspective previously unknown to me.
If you ever get into cycling and put as much into cycling posts as you do into your swimming ones, I’d be yours forever.
How about a bit more on your Sigma fp?
David
I recently linked to a photo of Bill and Ben Flowerpot Men in a comment on your Tilley hat post. They looked like they were wearing Tilley hats. The comment disappeared. My interaction is down.
ReplyDeletewhat gjhimages said! of course! love hearing all of your adventures including the business and the process of pro photography, swimming, photowalks, past photos, musings etc etc :-)
ReplyDeleteBoom! More reliable than an Aston Martin, too.
ReplyDeleteI rarely comment but I always read - at greater or slower speed & some I reread, perhaps others are similar? From coffee to swimming, equipment to varius aspect of real work I enjoy the variety & the style.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed your posts since forever and even though I am a semi-pro photographer maybe that should be a wanna be semi-pro, Im 78 but still enjoy a full day of photography for work or pleasure. Your perspective on your approach to your tasks are what I enjoy the most. Keep it up please. Chappy
ReplyDeleteI hope you will not get discouraged and keep the blog going. I look forward to reading it every day although like most I rarely comment. You have a unique photography blog which addresses topics not seen on other blogs (like using older lenses on new cameras, flash vs LEDs and even hats). Your writing about the real-world experience actually using things is more valuable than "tests" and regurgitations of camera specs on other blogs and more interesting to read, even it doesn't apply directly to me. And I'm willing to indulge you about your swimming passion once in a while.
ReplyDeleteStill daily reading, even if I don't often leave comments. My professional life in IT is all consuming, so even my own desires as an avid amateur are sidelined for now. I enjoy reading all your gear explorations, even while I happily march along with my trusted Fuji cameras (a well worn X100S and a pair of X-T2s). As much as I would like to entertain exploring newer gear, there are so many other things that demand me to be financially responsible (I'm still at the kids in college stage you mention in other posts). So I guess I enjoy reading (and seeing evidence of) your explorations. But it is your time, the most valuable of assets, so please use it as best suites you.
ReplyDeleteKirk, I can’t speak to why others have not been engaging. But I’ve been A)) Sick and B) Really busy at work. As in “eyes too tired to look at the internet after work.” So it’s possible you may be drawing the wrong conclusion about others. Meanwhile, I’m catching up on your posts. Retirement beckons in December so I should be engaging much more consistently.
ReplyDeleteWhen you write something that draws a great reaction from me I feel inclined to comment, but then it becomes about me so I delete it. I read your blog every day and sometimes it even gets me out the door with a camera. Reading you is time well spent - thanks for the effort.
ReplyDelete