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Aim for the Stars, Shoot for the Moon. Copyright 2014 Jimmy Reina

Why blog?

I’m not sure I have anything to say that enrichens the photography dialogue. I’m not a “big picture” guy, and think there are others that do such a great job of keeping the conversation going (my daily visits are to “The Online Photographer”, and “Visual Science Lab”), that I prefer to listen to them rather than provide my limited view.

But why blog? Why not just post to Flickr or Tumblr?

To me, the image tells the whole story, often it doesn’t even need a title. However, I’m a storyteller, and often find myself explaining not the concept, but the backstory. It is usually something like, “I was driving down the street, and I saw……..”. In this respect, I suppose my style is closest to Journalism, I am recording  my surroundings.

I know most people don’t care about the story, they just want to see the photo and move on, so I will try and not bore that site visitor with the backstory. Actually, because I have to tell it, I will still write it, but you don’t have to read it.                                                                                             You can just look at the pictures.

I dislike art that needs to be explained.                                                                                                      I am such a firm believer that the image is the most important factor, that I think even titles are often not necessary. I have seen fellow photographers use a title as an attempt to overexplain a picture to the point where each detracts from the other. The title actually becomes a caption. But I find that the act of working with an image, starting with culling out the rejects, to whatever editing decisions are made, fosters a familiarity and a fondness that lends itself to “nicknames”, which, in my case, evolve into titles.

Sometimes, affection sneaks up on you.

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