Types of Photo Blogs

Written by Eki Qushay Akhwan

In the previous post, I hinted that there were photo blogs that, in my opinion, did not qualify as photo blogs because they contained too few photographs and were saturated instead by ads. The namesake and the few photos contained in this kind of “photo blog” are, in my opinion, just a masquarade for the real thing, which is to host ads.

Anyone who are well-acquited with blogging of course know that the internet is not a pristine place where only good things can be found. There are junks, recycles, and second hand items, just like in the real world. Everything is eventually up to us, users and consumers, to pick and choose what we want to have – stone or gold, junks or things of value.

Intelligent choice, of course, can only be made if we know how to filter out the bad from the good. This article is trying to highlight the different types of photo blogs to help you make the choice about which type(s) of photo blogs to look for to satisfy your needs, which can be of serious purposes – like finding inspirations for your budding interests in photography or satifying your thirst for aesthetically stimulating visuals – or less serious aims like making connections and just browsing for fun.

Personal and casual-sharing photo blogs
The personal and casual-sharing photo blogs are photo blogs whose aim is to share photos with those you know, e.g. family members, friends, and colleagues. The subjects of the photos in this kind of photo blogs are usually the person(s) who owns the blog, those who close to them (family, friends, colleagues), and anything related to threir activities. The theme of this kind of photo blog is usually documentary. The picture quality, technically and aesthetically, is generally not of the main concern as the pictures are meant to be shared with those who are related to the pictures.

Serious/Professional Photo Blogs
Serious/professional photo blogs lies at the other end of the continuum of the personal and casual-sharing photo blogs. The owners of this kind of photo blogs are usually professional photographers or those who have keen interests in photography (i.e. photo enthusiasts). Their purposes for creating the blogs are usually to display or exhibit their portfolio, share their works with those who have similar interests, and/or offer/sell their works. Pictures in this kind of blog are generally of high quality both technically and aesthetically. Most of the time, they are also inpirational in the choice of their subjects, angles, and other techical and non-technical aspects. I love to stop by this kind of photo blogs to get some inspirations, and this is the kind of photo blogs you should be looking for if you are serious about your photography.

There are a number of sites that collect photo blogs like this, such as photocommunity, photobloggit, coolphotoblogs, etc. Places like this are a good point to start a photo blog walk and find serious photo blogs.

Documentary, information, and news photo blogs
Photos have undoubtedly become inseparable part in the dissemination of news and information. This kind of photo blogs does not present photos for the exclusive sake visual enjoyment, but also present information. World class magazines and news organizations like the National Geographic, TIME, Magnum Photo Agency have photo blogs or photo related pages of this kind. They have not only pictures of great quality, but also pictures that do tell stories. This kind of photo blogs are very useful to visit both for the visual insight and inspiration they give and the information content.

There are of course other kinds of photo blogs. Their varieties and number are growing substantially day by day. But the last two types I mentioned above should be a great place to start your photo blog walks and get your visual inspiration.