“…not too far in the future blogs are going to drive new work to photogs more than websites – which are starting to look quite static and inert compared to the dynamism and fluidity of blogs.”
Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances
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I tend to agree — I get plenty of gigs from my blog.
I agree as well. I am actually thinking about getting rid of my website altogether and replacing it with my blog.
Rob,
I just shut down my site in favor of blogs and tumblr like sites. I agree with this, for now. Will see in a few years what changes.
laurence
I have noticed this trend about a year or so ago. I think it was only natural development – photographers were getting tired of having to pay a designer every time they wanted to put new content on their site. Sites with an incorporated blog were becoming more and more frequent.
And now I am am seeing a websites built on a blogging software, like this one http://www.amivitale.com. It is built on wordpress – a content management system (CMS) that apparently had been developed for blogging, but is very flexible and can be used for building any kind of website. Amy’s site looks like a website, acts like a blog.
I have started blogging about a year ago and the only thing that prevented me from moving all of my content over from my regular site is that my wife is becoming a web designer/developer and can update anything I need right away (drives her nuts, though).
When I think about it, a blog IS a website, the only difference is that you can publish content without having to write or understand code under the hood. It’s like driving a car without being a mechanic, in a way.
Blogging as definitely changed the way we use the internet.
Traditional sites are dead.
I agree with Chris, and have embraced the movement from static portfolio website to the dynamic, free-flowing photography blog. While my main “portfolio” website gets me in the door and shows I’m competent, my blog gets me hired. I think it’s invaluable for a client to see your personality, thought process on different shoots, and most importantly – that you’re busy.
And don’t forget, after the shoot takes place and you blog about it, it’s a nice thank you and give back to the client/agency for their PR/SEO needs. And an excuse to be back in touch and stay fresh in their minds.
There are tons of people that can put up 100 great photos on a website – but there aren’t that many that can talk about what they’re doing consistently day-to-day.
goldenbergphotography.com
blog.goldenbergphotography.com
@stuart goldenberg,
Well done Stuart. Love how clean your blog is and how simple the posts are. Great example for people.
@stuart goldenberg, A blog also lets you show personal that would not otherwise be seen by a client or potential client. The personal work often enough snags the job, or maybe the next one. Way better than mailing promos.
Totally true.
Also, well curated blogs with multiple contributors like http://www.theones2watch.com are probably already getting people tons of work. Kind of like a new school sourcebook.
“Blogging declines among teens, young adults”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10446816-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
I’m definitely in the “agree” camp. I’ve changed over two of my sites over the last couple of years to be more of a blogging format, not to mention doing the setup for a few clients.
The static website information is still good & valid, but it seems to be moving in the direction of being used reference info, not communication.
I have to agree with a most of the opinions regarding Photo/blogs as better avenue to attrack customers.
It may not make site designeres like Rob overly excited, however I imagine they can really jazz up a blog to really fit the personality of the photog.
I agree about blogs.. I find websites are great in many ways.. they can basically be like a multiple page advertisement in a magazine.. but often they are lacking real depth. A blog can be personal – real – or whatever. A website can be the same but the coding and computer time of website design is just a huge pain. I did my own website years ago and it is painful to update it. It just takes a ton of time. My site is in a huge way needing up dating.
Can anyone direct me to software to build a site based on blogging software? Amy Vitale has great work and the site is easy to navigate. How did she do it?
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