Thursday 21 January 2010

2 Year Anniversary - Where to now?

Today is the 2nd anniversary of my blog. No picture for today, only a few things I want to say and see what other people think.

A lot has happened in the last two years and I had a great time updating the blog every day, it was not always easy but it was worth it. I met a lot of great people from all over the world through this blog and have learned a lot about photography since I started it.

Last year I even had the chance to publish a book on the GRD III for Ricoh and have some of my pictures printed and displayed in the window of the biggest camera store in Düsseldorf.

I have now uploaded the book to Blurb and you can get it by following the link below:

A Serious Compact
By Cristian Sorega


You can also download a pdf version here or see the web version here.

Now after two years I wonder where to go from now and if it is not time to make some changes to the blog and/or the format.

I have been thinking to maybe start a new website which is more dedicated to photography and showcase my pictures better, like Zenfolio, or maybe change the format of the blog and post only when there is something to post instead of daily?
Maybe I should focus more on the camera and hardware reviews on my wordpress blog?
Should I just go on as before and see how far I can get?
How about the content of my posts, should it remain the same or focus more on specific themes (photography, post processing, gear, all of this)?
There are also quite a few of my older pictures that I like and would want to post but with running the blog and doing other things it is not easy to go through older pictures.
At the same time I would also like to create more books and get more pictures printed, creating a book takes time so maybe I should focus more on this.

One of the main questions is also the name of my blog, should it remain the same or should I change it to something more general? I have thought of changing the name to 'One Day, One Picture' if I keep the format but this is already taken so will have to see what other name would fit.

In order to give me time to think about the future of my blog, I have decided to take a short 1 week break from posting. Don't worry though, I will not stop taking pictures and will be back next Friday. Instead I will use the break to write my review of the GXR and start working on my next book project.

12 comments:

  1. I'm at a similar crossroads and as a result, I have slowed down to a crawl since the holidays only looking at your blog and a few others. With opportunities, things change and since your work is highly recognized, it is time to make adjustments for the future. Congrats on the anniversary!

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  2. Cristian,

    Inspired by your blog I started trying to take a picture a day. So far I have managed to do so since 1/1/09. Not published anywhere, but just done for myself to see if I could do it. So I understand that taking one a day is a very tough discipline.

    Perhaps you should keep publishing one a day, but only new pictures when you feel you have a good one, but otherwise an older one from your archive.

    Whatever you decide I look forward to seeing it.

    Your blog is an inspiration, I enjoy it immensely.

    PeterJ

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  3. I probably don't have any useful input, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your blog, the photos you post and the comments about the cameras. My next camera could be a Ricoh, in part because of the great photos on your blog.

    You should definitely continue in some fashion; whether you keep the same format or change it, I will keep following!

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  4. I think your blog is a unique intersection of general photography and Ricoh cameras- meaning not only great photos but great information on Ricoh cameras. As long as you are primarily shooting Ricoh, I would encourage you to continue with your current format (by that I mean the name, not the hosting format) After all if you area Ricoh shooter then why not? Or if you drop the Ricoh association, maybe think of another interesting theme that better fits your style and preferences.

    I don't think it's necessary to stick to the 1 photo per day rule, OTOH I think it is a good creative limitation to enforce yourself to- you have done a great job so far! Even if there are days in which you don't love your shots, you never know when you might be surprised at the outcome or response.

    Cheers
    Steve

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  5. Hi,
    As you blog regular visitor, first I would like to say happy anniversary. I think you are as good on reviewing equipment as on photographic journey.
    I like to see both active on you blog.
    New look, new name is not important as it's content, which I think it is getting better every day.
    Thanks for excellent works.
    Regards.

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  6. Congratulations on your second anniversary, Cristian. As a relative latecomer to your blog site, I have to say I enjoy it immensely. You have a rare combination of photographic talent and technical expertise. When it comes to Ricoh cameras, you are both knowledgeable and helpful.

    I am guessing that a change of name for your blog site might be because you have your eyes on a Panasonic GF1. :)

    Whatever you decide to do, I wish you every success. Enjoy your seven-day break.

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  7. First of all "happy anniversary" to you. I enjoyed your blog very much ... the technical information you gave and also the pictures you are posting. I think may be there is time for a change. I think in the last months you become more and more a "photographer" and it could be better to concentrate more on pictures than on technical informations. At the end the photographer is making the picture and not the camera. Could be enough just to change the format of your blog to have more focus on your pictures. Anyway I will follow up and will enjoy you nice photography.

    Peter

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  8. Hello Cristian,

    I really like your blog and I enjoy your style of photography. I check it most days to see what your latest photo is like. I do hope you find time to keep posting on your blog, and if you could keep the "one picture a day" going that would be great, although I appreciate that requires a lot of work. Maybe you could post more photos from your archive? I also enjoy your camera reviews and I wish I had access to all the Ricoh gear that you have! I look foward to reading your GXR review. Whatever you decide to do, I do hope you continue to publish your work on the web in some format. Thanks for a really great blog!

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  9. Hi Christian,

    Happy anniversary and also congratulations to the book!

    I had a quick look at the book and it looks very interesting with great design. Keep up your great work and let your motivation guide your direction.

    Marco

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  10. The funny thing is that I always thought you started earlier blogging, but because of your daily posts you had soon outnumbered me.

    I post regularly, but not as often as you. I still find it difficult at time to keep a certain level of quality. For me that is the most important reason to not start on daily posting.

    So that could be a consideration for your blog. Less posting, raise the bar on the photographs you eventually select and leave behind some of the pressure of daily posts.

    Another option could be to change the name of the blog. I know you like the GRD, in fact I have never seen anyone who has so many GRD's. But a more general name would not be bad at all, like your own name for instance.

    Good luck with the next two years and I look forward to another meeting this year.

    Cheers,
    Wouter

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  11. Hi Christian,
    I think Wouter's comments are right on the mark. I just started my very own blog, so I can't offer experience based on 2 years of blogging. That's very impressive and a feat I hope to emulate.
    http://www.bmupix.com/

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  12. Thanks James! I think making changes is good but I am not sure if the blog format alows me to make the changes I want so will keep the changes small for now.
    The end of the year with the holidays but also shorter days makes it difficult to keep the motivation up.

    Thanks for your comment Peter! I am glad my blog inspired you and that you have managed to do this for over a year now.

    Thanks for your comment Apertome! I am very glad you enjoy the blog and my comments about cameras. I am sure you will enjoy the Ricoh camera should you get one.
    Glad to hear you will keep following my blog.

    Thanks for your comment Steve! It's great to hear that you enjoy both my pictures and the information.

    Thanks for your comment Muddy! I am glad to hear you are a regular visitor and enjoy my reviews and pictures.

    Thanks for your comment Calvin! Glad to hear you enjoy the site and find the technical information interesting-
    You are right about the GF1 but I have decided for now to keep shooting with what I have and wait before purchasing another camera. The name of the blog should also not really influence my choice in cameras.

    Thanks for your comment Peter! I am glad to hear you think my blog became more and more about photography recently, I will try to keep this trend up.

    Thanks for your comment Peter! Glad to hear you visit my blog every day and enjoy the pictures, I will certainly keep this up.
    The reviews will be all put on my Wordpress blog but this might recieve some changes soon.

    Thanks Marco! Glad you like the book.

    Thanks Wouter! We both started blogging at around the same time but you had a head start. You do focus more on the pictures and this is something I want to do but at the same time enjoy my daily posts.
    As for the name change, I need to find a good name for my blog and then will probbaly make the change. Or I might just get a Zenfolio account and see if this could become my main photography page.
    Looking forward to another meet-up this year.

    Thanks for your comment Björn! Glad to see that you started your own blog, it did help for Wouter to persist on this ;).

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