Blake and Tom and the Photo Blogosphere

[N.b.: Featured Comments on the "Where'd Nikon Go?" post have been added.]

I already can't locate who told me about this, which is awfully quick to lose track of a tip, because it was only yesterday they told me about it. The news is that Blake Andrews and Tom Griggs, both former protean photo bloggers, had a conversation about the demise, or at least the constriction, of the former photo-blogosphere.

Tom mentions that Blake made 260 posts in 2010 and only three this year. Tom has said adios altogether. At this link, the part about photo blogs starts just above the "fototazo" illustration, in the embolded graf that begins "That answers a question for me." At one point, Blake writes:

I could probably learn the new tech if I wanted. But the thing with YouTube and podcasting is that video and audio are fundamentally different mediums than writing. I guess this goes back to my pre-digital youth. I was a diehard reader from an early age, and that segued into writing. And written text is still my preferred method of absorbing information, and also expressing it. Nothing against YouTube and podcasts, which are much more current with the millennials and whoever. But my brain is just wired for text. Which makes me a dinosaur I suppose.

I could have written exactly the same thing. It's the reason I didn't make the obvious move to the new media either. I made the decision deliberately. I'm a creature of the written word, is all. I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

If you read the whole thing you'll notice one illustration that looks awfully familiar.   :-)   But no shout-out, oh well.

To the person who passed this along yesterday, thanks. [UPDATE: It was Peter Williams. Thanks again Peter!]

Mike

Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Blake Andrews: "Hi Mike, Glad you enjoyed the interview and thanks for the link. I’ve been a regular reader of TOP since the old days. You’re a natural writer, and a breath of fresh air compared to most online photo commentary, which is frankly terrible. As you note, my own blog activity has fallen off in recent years as I’ve shifted my photo energy into other platforms (mostly photobook reviews and IG). But I still follow a few of the old time bloggers, yourself included. Keep on trucking…."

Comments

[Frank Gorga]

Keep writing says this mid-20th century vintage dinosaur!!!

[Keith]

I'm a text guy too. Maybe that's the same as admitting up front to geezer-dom. But text I can skim and pick out the bits I want.

Podcasts are horrible. I can't listen to them. So much blather, so little content. And youtube videos are much the same. Even the so-called news doing what are supposed to be informative interviews feature a questioner asking an interminable question that telegraphs the answer they want.

And yes, I was was looking at my blogging stats, and it's been down down down, in terms of my publishing, and response from readers. In fact, I'm not even sure I trust the stats, so I can't say with any confidence how many actual individuals read my blog. Maybe in 2025 I'll stop publishing altogether.

I bailed out of Twitter years ago. I still have an Instagram account, at least I think I do, but I haven't looked at in quite some time. I was on VERO for a while, and bailed out when they hooked up with what I believe are content pirates. Trying to wean myself off Facebook because of the ads and not showing me what I signed up for. Hmmm, maybe none of the people that are on my 'friends' list are actually on Facebook anymore.

[Mike Plews]

TOP is the only blog I regularly visit. I really enjoy both the photography and OT material.
I am also a YouTube junkie but I am more interested in history than photography. David Starkey delivering an hour on Thomas Cromwell is more my speed.
And yes I am aware of his toxic views on contemporary culture but I'm in it for Tudor history not in it for current events.
Frankly unless you are ready to invest time and treasure in video production leave it alone.
Much of the photo material on YouTube is pretty badly produced. There are however some bright lights on YouTube, Keith Cooper being one of the best.

[Doug Vaughn]

I can relate to this completely. I am much better at reading and absorbing text, and video doesn't interest me as much. In my opinion, the worst thing about photo reviews and tutorials on video is there's just too much small talk (I was going to say nonsense) before getting to the point. In written form, you can speed-read past anything that looks less interesting and go for the meat.

It's funny that I have the attention span for a long article (news or otherwise), and can focus on detailed tasks for hours, but have a very short attention span for video. I guess it's a generational thing (I'm 60), although I'm very tech savvy. My wife says I'm probably just turning into a grumpy old man.

[Adam Isler]

I’m finding that a lot of writing of the sort one used to find on blogs is now found on Substack. Even though I’ve sworn off most social media, I’m finding myself spending too much time there. Might be worth a look, especially if cross-posting is a possibility.

[David Brown]

Between 15 and 20 years ago we were all starting blogs. I had more than one. As you know, they become a “job” and are a lot of work. When after a year I had very few regular readers, I had a “what the heck are you doing this for?” moment.

A few years ago, I was showing work at a Texas Photographic Society event, and several people asked me if I was on Instagram. No one asked about a website. The next day I was on Instagram. It, too failed to get traction. I still have a website, but it gets very little traffic. However, it requires little maintenance; certainly not daily.

I am an old darkroom hand (60+ years) and I am a good teacher. Earlier this year, I worked out an outline of a series of videos to teach the basics of darkroom work. It had about a year’s worth of weekly episodes. Then I “sobered” up. I’ve turned my attention to a book idea that had been simmering for a while. It is a lot of work, too, but it’s fun, no deadlines, and the work will end.

I admire those like you that have made a go of a blog, and people that were early on in social media and Youtube. It is a chore to stay current and build an audience. And yet, there is so much dreck out there. Keep up the good work, Michael. Stay on point!

[Richard Tugwell]

Well, I for one am thinking of diving back into the photoblogoshpere after almost 20 years. Not that I ever got noticed much back then, but that's not the point. I've decided I need to do more joined up writing, keep my hand in, and some kind of journal seems a good way of doing it. It won't be an equipment blog - more "here's what I saw today/yesterday/this week" kinda thing

[Joseph Kashi]

I prefer the efficiency and nuance of a carefully written, edited, and revised written article to most videos, which are typically rather disjointed and take more of my time to convey less actual information. It's also easier to preserve on my local computer and later go back to a written text.

With carefully moderated reader comments, as we ss at TOP, there's more interactivity as well.

So, thank you for the additional effort that's needed to produce this blog. Who knows, perhaps the written blog will return to favor much in the manner of film.

[Stan B.]

I enjoy videos- the very, very few, I can, in fact, tolerate. But vlogs usually consist of equal parts: 1) personality, 2) ego, 3) actual content. And the end product is usually overwhelmed and consumed by the first two factors.

Blogs were more... thought provoking- perhaps, because the very act of writing demands one to actually think about what they want to say, before refining it into the language that best conveys those thoughts. Small talk and bad jokes are not gonna get you to the punchline. Blogs were also more interactional- readers had to actually... read and absorb the info, before responding in like manner. Meaningful discussions were more apt to occur, some with actual wisdom and consequent learning thrown in for good measure. Perhaps one day (much like film and vinyl) the act of reading and art of writing will once again regain its analog dominance.

[Thom Hogan]

As someone who trained in the video world from 1970 to 1980, you'd think that I'd have been one of the first to YouTube, or vlogging.

But one thing I learned very early on, perhaps as early as 1973, is that there different types of media personalities possible. The on-air, in-front-of-camera types tend to be spontaneous and charismatic and extroverts. You're as close to one-and-done as possible in the video medium, or else you get very fast into editing hell, as take two doesn't match take one so you have to make take three. In order to get continuity and consistency, you start needing more people involved.

The behind the keyboard types tend to be constantly revising what they're saying as they're typing it, coming back to the same thought and re-examining it, more introvert, and less prone to "publish now or die" type thoughts.

There is an in between, which essentially is the TikTok type crowd that is journaling their life as they go. But for that to blossom into something long-term viable for money, you end up in the video camp or else you get trolled to death.

I can cite many clear examples of all these types. The world is big enough for them all.

On the flip side of that is the consumer of content. The question there is what kind of content are you actually looking for, and it ranges from entertainment to information, with a whole bunch of overlapping and intermediary possibilities.

The Doom Scrollers are basically bored and looking to be entertained at some level. At the other extreme are those that will investigate every word, pixel, and data point in depth, seeking either validation or information, sometimes both.

Now match up the creators with the consumers. Vlogging works best for the doom scroll entertainment seeking types, and that's the reason why short TikToks have come into vogue. I make it a point to watch what these folk do when I'm out observing them on public (watching while seated in an aircraft waiting for the doors to close is good for this sort of observation). The reason why we call it doom scrolling is because those folk will endlessly scroll right past things that don't immediately command their attention. But their attention span is short, so they'll watch a short Tok or Story, up/down vote it, and move right on. I rarely seem them rewatch a clip, let alone take a note of something they learned.

What I've tended to find with longer form YouTube watchers is that they're looking for either pointing in a direction or validation.

I could go on, but basically there are perhaps three or four classes of consumption, and three or four classes of output that matches one to the other. The trick is knowing which lane you're in (both as a consumer and as a producer).

But I need to get back to the creation work I'm doing right now, so won't elaborate more.

[Dillan]

I certainly feel this change too. I much prefer reading to Youtube, but I am now watching more Youtube than I want because current blogs are getting difficult to find. Sure, I enjoy my weekly trips with Thomas Heaton and Gavin Hardcastle, but I prefer to read.

[Stephen Cowdery]

Some ruminations from a 20+ year blogger:

After a peak in about 2008-2011, my visitors dwindled to about a third, which has remained constant since then. I still get flurries of interest from time to time to various posts (both old and new), just enough to keep me doing it. My blog (covering a wide variety of subjects) is about 50% writing, 40% images and 10% videos, a mix that works for me. TOP is one of about a half-dozen blogs I read regularly, Mike's variety of content is indeed the spice which keeps me coming back.

[DavidB]

I started my photo blog in June 2010 and still update it a few times a month with new photos and commentary. It was never meant to be much more than a way for me to document what I was photographing.

For years, the site has been mostly ignored. However, in the past six months I have had photos from my blog used in two issues of a magazine (Arizona Highways), two book covers (not yet published, so we'll see) and the National Park Service plans to use one for their updated brochures for the near-to-me Wupatki National Monument.

So perhaps photoblogs are still useful because they are searchable in a way that social media sites are not.

David Blanchard

[Hey, congratulations David. Those are nice scores. A big compliment to your work. Good going. --Mike]

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I think the blog vs. podcast (or text vs. streaming, more broadly) divide isn't so much about attention span as it is about data rate. The streaming content moves at a steady pace, and if things go by too fast to follow, or too slowly to hold your attention, you tend to change the channel. Reading is both much more flexible than viewing, and also much more under your own control.

[Mel]

And here I thought I was the only person who'd prefer reading to listening to or watching alternate content providers. As one commentor said, I can scan text fast to get what I want rather than plow through a video or podcast. If there was a way to speed up the audio on these things I might turn to them as an option. Anyone know of a way to do that?

[On a YouTube video, go to the gear icon, fourth from right on the bottom, which when you hover your mouse on it says "Settings." Then go to playback speed. I often speed up videos to 1.25 or 1.5 X to get through them faster. --Mike]

[Sroyon]

I follow Blake on Instagram and always enjoy his photobook reviews, although my own photobook collection is tiny (a dozen, maybe) and will probably stay that way. I didn't know he has a blog. I nosed around a bit and found this Prime Photoblogs post from 2009, featuring TOP among others. Not surprisingly, quite a few links are now inactive, but I found it interesting that many of those were custom sites/domains, perhaps indicating that the bloggers were more "serious", but ultimately cost money and effort to maintain. Whereas the blogspot ones, for example, are still around.

As for text versus video, I am generally very much in favour of text (though there is surely a sample bias among TOP readers). But I do find video useful for some things, like tutorials for photo and video editing.

Sometime back, I shared this tweet in my Instagram stories, it says "I really want everyone to pivot back from video. I fucking hate video. Do not ever make me watch a video just to obtain information. Making me watch a video instead of giving me text I can read is an act of violence against me specifically. When will it end."

Several people (most of whom are in their 20s) replied to my story saying they feel the same way. But there's probably a sample bias among my IG followers too...

[Michael Newsom]

I follow Petapixel, Gerald Undone and Curtis Judd blogs, and of course, this blog. I also follow a few camper van blogs. The best camper van storyteller blog is a young woman named Christian.Schaffer. YouTube is great for visual learners. I learned Fourier transforms much better on Youtube than in a math/physics classroom.

[Tom Burke]

Like others here I used to be a blogger, from about 20 years ago to the pandemic. I wrote two, in fact, one on cruising and cruise holidays, and the other on general travel. The former got some attention - several hundred distinct visitors a day at its peak, and a few mentions in the UK cruise community. The general travel blog never got beyond my own family. As time passed my wife and I lost interest in cruise holidays and were almost grateful when the pandemic shut down the industry; I took the cruise blog down in early 2022. The travel blog is still up there but is getting neither new posts nor readers; it, too, is probably not long for this world.

I have to say that I do enjoy YouTube videos - well, some of them. It seems to me that the best YouTubers are first and foremost excellent communicators, and I'd probably be happy to watch their videos on anything. Marques (MKBHD) is a good example - his post of some years ago on Apple's wheels for the then Apple Mac Pro is excellent. But there's a lot of dross on YouTube and it's increasingly hard to find good content. (That said, YouTube is superb for practical, factual information. I learned how to fix both a refrigerator and an electric oven from short YouTube videos, not to mention obtaining familiarity with issues such as the transfer procedures at Dubai International Airport. I'm a fan of those practical videos.)

I think that TOP is now just about the only blog that I read as a matter of course. Occasionally I'll catch up with Thom's two websites, bythom and sans mirror, but that's about it.