A Blog - including photos

keps

Anyone got any suggestions as to the best way to start a blog?

Is it just like buying a t-shirt or what?


Photos would be a large part of the blog theme

nilhg

If you are going to use your own hosting then wordpress with a suitable theme is the obvious choice.

If you'd prefer something more plug and play then have a look at wordpress.com, blogger.com or tumblr.com, there's loads of others as well.

pullandbang

If you run with wordpress there are lots of themes geared towards photoblogs so you'll be spoiled for choice. You can preview each one before you decide to use it. Just jump in and start blogging

pearljamfan

lol, i started a thread along the same theme a while ago, there was some good advice but i just bogged down in all the different ideas i gave up!
ended up doing something via facebook, but i dont like the way photos look on facebook, so i might try again with a blog soon. i opened a tumblr page but cant get into it at all, good luck! ive no real advice for u sorry.

linearcutter

Hey,

I have a Tumblr account set up and eventually found it easy to use once I got it set up and tweaked it a bit. There are many many themes and looks you can choose from and it's hosted free. If you "follow" like minded people, it can be very encouraging to see people reblogging your stuff.

I'm sure the other options have their own pros & cons too, but the big thing about a blog, regardless of which platform you choose, is to keep updating it. It takes a real effort, and I have found that ultimately it has motivated me to take more pictures and that in itself isn't a bad thing. Plus you tend to be a little more critical when choosing ones to put up, which is also a good thing!

If you have any questions on Tumblr, give us a shout. I don't post any text myself, just a picture every day or so, it's here if you want to see!

C

KylieWyley

+1 on either Tumblr or Wordpress.

If you go the Wordpress route, you'll find it's very customizable. Just use a simple one column layout where the image itself is the focus.

Wylie Luke

I recently set up a wordpress.com blog (lukespics.wordpress.com for ref) and though I don't really use it a whole lot just yet I found the whole process very easy and user-friendly, great thing is you can change it/styles after it's set up, include bits and bobs you didn't want to after and really customise is as you please!

keps

thanks indeed for the very helpful replies

*eadaoin

I went with Blogger initially, but I wish now that I had started with Wordpress.org (not .com!) - Wordpress offers so much more flexibility and appears to be a much more professional service.

I've just begun the process of moving to self hosted Wordpress and I'm excited to get moving but it's such a hassle!

Of course the thing about self hosting is that you have to pay for it and your domain name, but it's not expensive and worthwhile if you think you'll keep it up

Some crowd on here before gave away 2 years hosting and your own personal domain name. My website is shanemaguire.ie and it's a wordpress site (though I don't use it for any blogging at all).

Now, without the help of a fantastic boardsie in the Tech forum, I'd have really, really struggled with the site (FTP had me lost!). However, a little bit of persevrance and time, and i think my site is pretty cool, especially seen as it hasn't cost me a penny.


So, through my own personal happiness, I'd recommend the guys I use. Though i don't pay (yet. I do plan to keep it forever and ever and ever), i think it works out at about €25 per year for your hosting and personal domain.

The crowd that did the offer are OVH.ie.

I've found wordpress to be very lenient with allowing me to add, remove and change things to my liking. There's no end to the amount of themes you can use (though of course only so many are suited to ye olde photography).

OVH give you several options for the base of your site (wordpress, etc.) one of which is Zenfolio, who i believe offer a service where you can sell photographs online. I think this costs a couple of hundred a year though, so i never did it. I have a paypal add-on with wordpress, and although it's not the most professional looking in the world, and you'll really have to work around it's awkwardness, it is free, and it still gives people the opportunity to buy from your site.


So yeah, I'd recommend wordpress, and if you have the cash available, a personal domain/hosting package. There's a bit of stumbling around starting out (and as I say, the tech forum here was amazingly helpful to me) but you don't need to be Bill Gates to get everything up and running. It WILL test your patience though!



... Anyway, that's my life story! :P

keps

Thanks indeed kkv-and all who took the time out to reply.

I really am very grateful.

Out of curiosity, have you considered what you plan to blog about, at all?

I think, in my many many years of internetting, I've read precisely one Blog's posts (And I didn't even get through all of them, nor did I continue to check back, though I probably should have).

Can't remember the actual site name at the moment (it's a user on here), but the blog posts consisted of this photographers photoshoots broken down into what he was planning to do, what he did, what equipment he used, what lighting etc. and all through he had great photographs on display, showing his results.

They were portrait photographs, which I was strongly interested in at the time (still am, but have no one to practice with properly, so optimism died off a bit). I assume there are many other blogs like this one out there, but that's the only one I've ever really come across / spent any time on.


So it's really worth trying to think deeply about what you want to focus on and who you plan to aim at. Personally, I'm thinking of adding a blog to my site, but I'm unsure of what direction to go.

I was thinking of a weekly update, detailing happenings in my surrounding area, and including photographs, but not banging on about the actual photos too much (so it'd hopefully be of interest to locals in my area, particularly those who aren't photographers/enthusiasts).


But even that in itself creates a massive challenge, as it means I have to be there when stuff happens. As it is at the moment, I'm on the town at weekends photographing people's birthdays, anniversaries, etc. in different venues, so although I could do a bit of a short blog on that, it'd interest only the people in the photographs and it'd make for a tedious weekly read-up.

keps

thanks KKV

And the truth is I havn't really thought about it too much!

I contribute to a good few forums - most of them non-photo related (book-reads/history/politics etc)

But I find when I have a photo I like - I drop it into their forums which is a bit unfair really as they are not photo forums.

So I thought a link to a blog might be better??

Also I think I would like to tell the story behind a photo- and other things like technical details. Even if it only to myself:P


I love getting feedback on photos(negative just as much as positive as long as it's constructive) - but nothing on Boards works in a coherant way in that regards as far as I can see.

In summary - it will be a toe in the water!

Thanks to all for the interest and advise:)

linearcutter

My own motivation in starting a blog was purely to give me somewhere to put my photos other than a folder on my hard drive. It began as such but has become a habit I can't break.

Basically, if I don't put a new photo up in a few days, I feel I'm being lazy and go out of my way to update it. I'm currently just putting up pictures without any text or analysis and find that the practice of going out to take photos, sorting the good from the not so good (about a 1:100 ratio!!) and choosing ones to put on display has been a turning point in my approach to photography.

The blog is like a natural full stop to the process, which relieves the guilt you sometimes have when you see a bunch of unloved images on your hard drive. Not to mention the commentary from people who choose to follow or repost your blog. I've even sold some work through it.

I think it's alot to do with a persons habits and personal discipline, but a blog for me, should satisfy a need in you first, rather than trying to pre empt others needs. There are so many niches out there that your sure to peak someones interest, and given how networked the internet is these days, word gets around.

Be sure to post a link to your blog here if you set it up.

Cutter

AnCatDubh

keps wrote: »

Anyone got any suggestions as to the best way to start a blog?

Yes, decide on why you want to start one.

This is the most important point.

If it is because your photography is starting to get mundane on you and you need something to spur you on then it isn't the best idea (imho). In this case, return to start and get the photo thing going again for you.

If its for people to stumble across your photos and go wooo and wahhhh, then don't bother - just head to flickr, or pix.ie, devian art, etc..., as you are likely to get more views that way and better discussion (and maybe better interested individuals).

If its to 'build' a following, then yes by all means start a blog, and name drop it at every available opportunity but don't expect overnight success at having a gazillion followers. Building a following is a "many years" effort normally and you should be doing it because you enjoy doing it. You need to update it and update it regularly.

As for technologies, if you aren't going to program one yourself, I personally like the tumblr stuff. Nice and easy, it will front a www.yourdomain.ie if you want it thus saving you on any hosting charges. Also, like posterous - simply easy to update. Email, lowest common denominator. I've tried wordpress a few times (and will again i'm sure) but I just can't love the damn thing. Too clunky. Bah......

dmg1982

I used wordpress and liked it a lot, but then used squarespace.com and never looked back. Not free, but seriously easy to use and fully customizable

melekalikimaka

+1 for wordpress.