Misstropolis

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Frame of Mind, The Art of Photoblogging

by Robin Hauck

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They are not being measured by Valentino or hounded by paparazzi, and they probably won’t get a 6 picture deal if they win, but the nominees for The 2007 Photobloggies Awards are a proud lot. And when I say lot, I mean a LOT: as many as 20 entries in some 24 different categories. These modern day Renaissance women and men are part of a virtual movement blurring the lines between technique and technology, talent and guts, exhibitionism and display, and even, some might say, between “high” and “low” art.

The Photobloggies Awards is photobloggers’ Sundance. An annual celebration of the genre organized by a group of passionate photobloggers including the prolific and uber-organized Brandon Stone, the awards pique interest, fuel camaraderie in the photoblogging community, and steer neophytes (like me) to some of the best of their kind on the internet.

Since the Misstropolis Photoblog was not ready to submit for the Photobloggies, we are posting our photos here, as a sort of tribute to the art form, and a way to encourage YOU our talented readers, to submit your photos, for our very own photoblog, coming soon. Don’t be shy, send them along.

To backup a minute, here are some useful definitions:
A Photoblog is what it says it is: a web log composed primarily of photos. Photoblogs are arranged chronologically, with the newest entry appearing first. As they are photo driven, they are different than plain old blogs which are mostly text. (Obviously, these lines also get blurred; see Alec Sloth’s).

A Gallery is a collection of images which may sort photos into categories or albums, but does not have to be arranged by date. One of the questions being batted about by the online photo crowd is whether Flickr, the massively popular photo-sharing site recently acquired by Yahoo, is an endless collection of individual photoblogs, or an aesthetically homogenized gallery of individuals photos.

Picture a Week or Picture a Day sites exist in sort of a gray area between gallery and photoblog, Picture a Week/Day sites pre-date photoblogs and blogging software.

Now back to the fun stuff - the photographs. And not just the photos themselves, but the photos in the context of their bloggic setting or frame.

Even a non-committal click through the Photobloggies nominee lists could have you glued to your monitor for hours. Talk about research – this piece took me about two days longer than it should have… Here are a few of my favorites:

“Hello” - http://www.mylalaland.com/hello/index.html
“Daily Walks” - http://dianevarner.com/
“Travis Ruse” - http://www.travisruse.com/
“Rion.Nu” - http://rion.nu/
“The Farmer’s Family” - http://g8.no/index.php

“Photoblogging gives artists the chance to frame the conversation about their art,” says Stone. “Frame”, meaning the photographer can include a description or essay on a photo, taking the interpretive power partially away from the viewer; and also that the photographer can influence viewers’ response to the work by custom designing the blog (or frame) itself.

Photoblogger Diane Varner writes in her “About” page, “My hopes are such that these images will ‘take you away’ for a brief moment… and in that moment, you’ll catch a glimpse of the magic that I experience every day.” Sounds nice, but Brandon Stone wonders if maybe it’s all about a society addicted to “snack culture.”

“You don’t have to read anything; you can just log on and get your fix for the day. People are excited about that.”

Just be sure to enter in the right frame of mind.

Photo 1: Rebecca Dorr “Gammie & Me”
Photo 2: Robin Hauck “Dundree Morning”
Photo 3: Dawn Silvia “Talent”
Photo 4: Rebecca Dorr “Picnic”