I think you make an excellent point. I can only speak on my on behalf, but I have no real interest in what was had for breakfast. I think we can all agree that a certain level of common sense would identify the primary use (and not abuse) of a personal blog: I do want to see what the photographer has shot recently.

Please note that the blogs I cited are all extremely professional in their nature – they highlight assignments and personal projects, and some venture into conversations regarding the events and subjects they cover. The more confident photographer would even venture into a public display of introspection.

Have you checked Vince Laforet’s blog at Newsweek? Earlier this week he posted a remarkably honest conversation about the quality of his work in Beijing one week into the Olympics! Do any of us have any doubts that his willingness to be more introspective and even to engage others in that conversation has not contributed to his success?

In short, a professional photographer should be prepared to act in just that manner on their own blog – professionally.

I do think, Don, you hit the nail right on the head in your last sentence. Use your blog to highlight what didn’t make the cut. Everyone can attest at one time or the other to an assignment where the ‘best’ image or images did not make the cut. Use your blog as an opportunity to highlight what you perceive to be your greatest work! This only furthers an editors insight into your judgement towards the quality of your work as a photojournalist.

Thank you again for all the kind replies. I’m grateful for Rob for the opportunity to have this conversation with all of you.

cheers, Ryan Schick

PS. Don, I’ve added your blog to my list. I look forward to seeing your posts.

Back then, submissions were albums, slides, or plain white paper queries that included the infamous SASE (stands for self-addressed-stamped-envelope.) Replies took weeks and months. The world turned, but it turned a lot slower and it was vastly more difficult to break down the barriers between freelancers and editorial.

Early on, I became keenly aware of the need to find a balance between getting a foot in the door and becoming a royal pain. Yeah, I welcome the new modes of getting one’s work seen, and being able to read what is important to the next generation of photo editors is of immense help.

This blog is becoming a daily read; thanks.

Meanwhile, I’m gonna re-think my own blog…

How do you feel about the use of interactive panoramics as well as the use of diptychs/triptychs from a photo editing standpoint?

I sent this link to Rob awhile ago looking for his expert opinion but have sadly yet to hear anything back.

Do you think this might be the direction that photo editing projects on the web could eventually take and if so then how long?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

first portfolios got louder
then webpages
now blogs are screaming.

and thats even a good thing?
I guess it all started with David Bailey
where is the good old gentleman version of photography

I’m already feeling that the traditional website is now “over the hill” — too stagnant and stale. Like it or not, the Blog is where it’s at. New, fresh, and ever changing. I’d love to see a webpage, set up like a grid, with screengrabs from thirty or forty blogs, almost like when you walk into the Circuit City TV area, and you get that grid of TV monitors. A portal for photo blogs, but like Google Reader, but more graphic.

And yes, you should have seen Garden and Gun open on this 30″ monitor. Wow. But I just can’t get over the title — it makes me cringe. Similar to naming a teen magazine “Foam”. When I think of foam, I think of that weird pollution stuff that washes up on Hermosa Beach, and I think of contraceptive material. Could that be a positive thing? Do you think the publisher ever did a Focus Group on the title? Same for Garden and Gun…

Excellent feature, Rob. I could have read four times as much.