i'll go crazy if i don't go crazy tonight

I had an unanticipated nap after work today. I am now in a weird hyper-alert yet wholly unfocused state that does not bode well for getting to bed on time tonight.

There is at least one benefit: I started cruising Lightroom catalog and came across this photo that I had marked but not finished editing for some reason.



I'm struck how incredibly appropriate this image is for where I am right now. Take a step back...

I've been thinking a lot about this blog and where it fits into my life. Obviously it's been a while since I've updated...at some point the Facebooks and Twitters and Flickrs and Tumblrs and other mangled wordmarks tend to run together and it's hard to find where each subject belongs.

The problem (at least for me, anyway) is that I end up writing the same thing over and over again, but skewing it slightly based on my perceived audience. What I post on Facebook is inevitably different than I post on this blog; likewise, I'll post stuff on Twitter that I wouldn't post on Facebook, and vice versa. Some of my posts on this blog have come almost verbatim from that photo's description on Flickr, while some are completely unique.

Frankly, I don't even really know who I'm writing for.

I've also been doing a lot of studying into some of my favorite photographers, and I've come to a realization: the best of them blog ALL OF THE TIME. And not just about weddings or families or babies or whatever it is they are shooting at that time; they will write about themselves, their travels, their likes and dislikes. It's like a conversation with a friend rather than a brochure.

The words show you what is going on behind the camera.

Sarah Rhoads does this brilliantly. Jonas Peterson doesn't even have a gallery, and simply uses a running stream of commentary. Stacy Reeves, Ben Godkin, Mary Dougherty are but a few that I follow on a regular basis to get inspiration and learning.

This is the kind of photographer I want to be.

I'm getting a little scattered here, so let me try and bring it to my main point.

I think that, for the most part, this blog has fulfilled its purpose. My photographic journey has already surpassed my wildest expectations, and this blog really helped me sort my way through it. But it's time to move onto the next step and put on my big boy photographer pants.

I'm working with my utterly brilliant web guy to completely redo my blog concept for my website. This new blog will be more of "professional" blog, with recaps of all the sessions that I do. I'll be blogging more often, and with many more pictures.

It's the next step. It's stepping back and looking at the whole picture. It's examining where you've come from and where you're about to go. It's getting your brilliance out there for all the world to see. And I've got a bucketload of brilliance, dang it.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting back. Thanks for clicking through and looking at the rest of my pictures. Thanks for coming back time and time again.