Blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote eloquently in yesterday's Sunday Times about the decline of the once all-powerful American newspaper (Oh Rosebud, where are you now?). The story will be familiar to those of you who have followed the posts of Richard Koci Hernandez who has almost single-handedly championed the advent of the photographer-driven multimedia story, combining still images and a soundtrack, as a viable and emotive medium.
Should "club" (amateur) photographers be worried/interested or care less?
The answer is "of course". The print media provide an outlet or channel for photography and photographers. Many of the world's great names have built their reputation on images appearing in print and this may not be as possible in the future. And many of those 'names' were once amateurs. BUT…
As each door closes another opens. We are now seeing the birth of a new-ish media that provides a direct connection between the photographer, the image and the audience. The blog offers photographers great and not-so-great the opportunity to forge a new outlet for their work. The blog changes the nature of a photographer's pretty-but-pretty-static website that may have been no more than a portfolio into something approaching a news channel with specialist news for a specialist niche market. I urge you to google the name of your favourite photographer, check if they have a blog and subscribe. Then read, view and learn. Turn on, tune in, checkout. Start with Joe McNally and Vincent Laforet and go from there.
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