By Krista Ferraro
Technology is constantly transforming the way people express themselves. Personal diaries have evolved into public, Internet-based weblogs and now traditional handmade photo scrapbooks have also gone digital.
Photoblogs, a new art form combining photography with online weblogs, are growing in popularity and the trend is catching on in Centretown where residents have embraced the new medium and are producing photoblogs of their own.
Lana Stewart started photoblogging about four years ago. She says she became inspired by reading other peoples’ blogs and decided to make her own. Her online journal began as a food-related blog and then changed focus to her travels. Today, Stewart combines both themes as evident in the blog’s title, Place + Thyme.
Her interest in photography encouraged her to start a photoblog.
“Photos allow me to express things I couldn’t put down in words or speech alone,” says Stewart.
Not only has her photoblog enabled her to express herself, she says it has also helped her stay on top of her photography.
“I knew that if I went days or weeks without posting someone would e-mail or comment. I feel pressed to serve readers,” says Stewart.
Although she admits to falling behind with her blog in the last few months, Stewart says she plans on getting back on track and posting a new photo every day.
“Once the canal opens I’m going to be really diligent about one (photo) a day,” she says.
On Robyn Paton’s blog, Mintyfresh, a new photo can be seen every two to four days.
Paton began Mintyfresh about a year ago as a written blog and later developed it into a photoblog.
“I had a camera and I decided that I was going to learn how to use it,” says Paton.
It was her move from the Ottawa suburbs to the downtown core that inspired her to finally put the camera she owned — but never touched — to good use.
“There’s a lot downtown to take photos of,” says Paton.
She says her photoblog was a way of storing images of things she wanted to remember but had nowhere to display. Instead of simply putting them in a folder on her computer, she decided to post them on her photoblog.
“It’s a way of keeping track of stuff,” says Paton.
“A lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon,” says Roger Martin, computer technology coordinator at Carleton University. “It allows people to have a voice. You can write, post and publish immediately.”
Martin says companies such as Blogger started the blogging trend by producing free software allowing people to subscribe to their service and begin publishing immediately. The photoblog is the latest development in blogging.
With the advent of high-speed Internet allowing pictures to be uploaded faster and the explosion of digital cameras at reduced costs, Martin says the popularity of photoblogs will only continue to grow.
Whether as a hobby, an art form or a means of expression, photoblogs are providing an online portal for creativity for both Stewart and Paton.