Thursday, May 08, 2008

I feel a tad behind on a lot of things lately. Or maybe it's just that I'm overloading myself with new activities and some of the older one's are getting neglected. New things in the works:

- New website / updated work / new categories
- New Wallflower portraits
- Women In Photography Project and pending launch set for June. ( Co-curator Cara Phillips has been a really fantastic person to work with. She's been super ambitious about getting some amazing photographers to join with the project. Humble Arts Foundation has backed us with plenty of support and Made by Brown is designing us a fantastic website to host the W.I.P. showcase. The whole thing is going to be a fantastic site if I don't say so myself.

- And on the note of fantastic sites. I've been wondering lately what makes a good site or a good blog. I've kept my eye on quite a large number of great blogs for a while and I've been trying my hardest to maintain one myself (wanderlustagraphy). I've kept the site running for over a year now and can't tell if it's doing anything for anybody. My initial idea was to open up the photo community to people where photo communities don't necessarily thrive. I'm lucky that I live in NYC because there are an abundance of things to see and do here that keep me in the loop with photo. The site has introduced me to some amazing photographers in some of the most random and tiny spots on the map. My inbox is usually fairly full of photographs from eager photographers anywhere from Hong Kong to Castlemania, Mamou, LA to Warsaw. Yet there feels to me to be a lack of actual community on the site. I've tried initiating comments or feedback, I've tried posing questions or putting ideas on the table.. but for the most part I've tried doing small curated updates once a week from those who have sent work in. I guess this is my attempt to ask.. what makes a good blog?

Here are a few that I've been keeping my eyes on lately (in no particular order):
(Oh and in slightly embarrassing news.. I just figured out how to use Google Reader. My life has gotten immensely easier. All my blog favorites updating all the time!! Whoopeee.

Conscientious continuing to just post like a mad man with lots of good stuff.
Will Steacy's Blog cracking me up with his top 10's.
Brian Ulrich's Blog keeping me up to speed on fairs and the state of chicagraphy. :)
Amy Stein's Blog keeping me informed on various photographers and events.
Richard Renaldi's Blog digging his posts regarding film and photographers.
Shane Lavalette's Blog Always throwing good stuff on the table.
I Heart Photograph New to this one but I've been really enjoying the work.
Shen Wei's Blog Trying to catch up with Shen and his many travels these days. :)
We Can't Paint Another blog I am new to.. but really diggin.
Tim Briner's Blog Keeping my eye on Tim Briner's ongoing project Booneville.
A Photo A Day (APAD) Informative site!
What's The Jackanory Keeps me up to speed with events, openings and such.
Cara Phillips' Blog Just posted a really really great thing "To Be a Photographer"
Justin James Reed's Blog always a sweetie with great photos and such.
The Personal Document a new site showcasing documentary photographers.

The list could go on forever.. as they say, It's a Blog Blog World.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Amy, I've been following Wanderlustography in my RSS reader for awhile now, and I've always been impressed how you end up publishing a bunch of amazing work from folks I've never heard of.

There's something about that sort of a project that just makes it a lot less likely to generate discussion and comments. It's easy to start a discussion on last weekends openings or the best way to send promos, but a lot harder to actually talk about other peoples work. Especially looking at a single image and not a whole body of work. Especially when it's not a well known photographer (somehow it's easier to criticize someone's work if they're on the a-list..) That doesn't mean it's not working, though.

One place where you've been really successful is getting those relatively unknown photographers from all over the place to send work your way. I bet more people appreciate what you're doing than you think.

A Rare Breed said...

Maybe you've already seen it, but another great blog is James Danziger's A Year in Pictures (pictureyear.blogspot.com). It brings up some really interesting photographs and often explains the history/backround too.