Why write a blog

So, accepting the fact that I have become a born-again blogger, I might as well actually post something ...

... and there's nothing like starting from the start.

The reasons I've decided to start this blog are three-fold:

1st, i'm reliably informed - by members of the various flickr groups I subscribe to - that having a blog helps your google ratings; it seems google's bots are far more attracted to changing text than they are to styles and pictures, and there's nothing wrong with trying to attract visitors to my humble, self-made site, db-images.

2nd, following a life-time of working for 'the man', I'm now trying to turn my life-long hobby into a business and, though I've only been working at it for a few months, I'm finding it to be quite an eventful journey; worth recording i think, though perhaps not in it's entirity. But I'm already surprised by the number of people who, when I introduce myself as a photographer, express a real interest in photography and are keen to chat. A perfect example presented itself yesterday when I went shopping for some outdoor wear: it was early, the shops had not long opened and the long halls of shop-fronts were thinly populated; one of those 'dawn of the Dead' moments I sometimes get when places I expect to be really busy turn out to be really quiet. Anyway, having circum-navigated the shop a few times, and still wearing the same blank expression, the young girl who was looking after the shop asked if she could help me find what I was looking for. I told her, she suggested a few items which i tried on, then I went to make the purchase. I don't even know how our relatively superficial conversation turned to photography, but she was immediately interested. We got chatting: she said she had bought a Nikon SLR from a friend and had considered going to college to further her interest in photgraphy in general and fashion and wedding photography in particular but, she said, she wouldn't be able to get a grant. I told her about my good friend Tom Thomson and his decision to follow his calling, and I invited her to come and use my studio anytime she wanted.

Hmmm, began running at the mouth a little there, but do you get my drift? If I'd told the girl I was an accountant for a cement manufacturing firm, then I'd probably have left the shop a lot earlier. But photography offered a common point of interest, so we chatted for a while. I hope she takes me up on my offer of studio time, and I hope she makes the move from shop-assistant to student of photography.

3rd, next to photography, a residing passion in my life has been the act of writing. I love the written word, I love the way words can be conjured together to illicit all manner of illustrations and emotions. So, blogging will allow me an opportunity to exercise that pastime.

I hope, in this Blog, to be able to record the 'Venture' rather than 'Adventure' of my decision to take up photography as both a means to earn a living, and as a means of expressing myself. And, if I can attract a few new contacts and some kindly and/or critical comments along the way, then I'll be happy with that.