This blog is about words and images, most frequently words about images.  Maybe there are some like it on the web, maybe not.  The great gift the internet has given us is ultimate control over content.  I create the content, edit it, filter it, and publish it. 

But then what happens to it?

The audience is where I lose control as a blogger, and the one major failing I see in self-published work.  Just like the zine scene, which I inhabited during my high school years, a few blogs rise to the top and gain some recognition while the rest remain adrift in the vast sea of the online universe.

For this reason and many others, I see submitting to real-life publications as a necessity to pull myself out of the crowded streets of the blogosphere and enter the more established traditional field of professional, paper publications.

The only trouble is, I am still trying to exercise that same control over content while not relinquishing total control over audience.  I pick and choose, this favorite piece of writing there, this photograph here.  I enter my work for publication only when I feel very strongly about the contest and am really invested in winning: which means, of course, I never do.

It's not about picking your favorite contest or magazine, and it's not about picking one favorite piece from six months' work.  It's about spreading your work widely as dandelion seeds and seeing what takes root.  It's about finding every opportunity that could possibly be relevent and going for it, even if it's not something terribly exciting.  It's about building a list of small accomplishments before trying for the long-reach, dream opportunity.

If there is one thing I want to take away from my short list of carefully chosen contests and publications, it is I need to do more in every way possible. I need to let as many eyes see these words and images as possible and just wait for something to stick.  And most of all, I need to keep working, keep thinking, and keep trying.

Notable news: a week or so ago, I finally posted the final draft of my article about the Lumix on the JPG Magazine website.

Despite being busy preparing for the holidays, I made a little time last night to go outside, freeze my fingers off in the cold and wind, and take some pictures.  Graduate portfolio deadlines are beginning to feel close and I am getting antsy to work on a series of work again.  Rather than start a new body of work, which would be par for the course, I am continuing to investigate my night photos.  I want to talk more about security/insecurity, anxiety, and solitude.

Not knowing if the strong wind gusts would make clear pictures impossible, I packed my heavy-duty tripod but did not venture outside walking distance from our apartment.  Much of the street lighting nearby made it look as if I had used on-camera flash, which was disappointing.  However, I found the fire hydrant somewhat interesting.



I am undecided whether I prefer moving in tighter to block out the immediately recognizable vehicles in the background.  In one of these images I allowed my own shadow into the picture.  I am not sure whether I like that or not, either.

My favorite from the shoot is this next one.  It captures exactly what I was looking for last night in the ghostly tree, the motion blur as the branches swayed, and the warm glow of the window in the background.