To The Bloggers...

How do you do it? What is the trick? WHY are you blogging?

I have to remind myself that the original goal when Stacey went back to work a second time was to blog consistently in order to create enough material for a book. I feel I am in a unique position to be staying at home with my babes. Not that it's uncommon for fathers to be staying at home with their kids these days, but I have enough talent to write good, (*wink*) and take photos, I might as well use this experience to help others.

But blogging plaques me. It always has, and it always will. It plaques me like Facebook and Google + plaque me. I love it, and I hate it. I'm totally into it, and then I'm not.

Forgive me while I question my sanity for a second...

Why would I want to share with the world what's going on in my life? The whole world isn't watching.
Why do I want to be consistant and blog every day? There's no need! Blog as often or as little as you want, it's not your job.
Do I just blog to blog or is there real meaning behind it? This is almost a journal, one my children and I can look back on and reflect about the good times.
Can I be real? As real as I want to be.
Who's reading? Who cares?

I'm not going to get rid of the blog. I'm still going to post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for now. Each avenue is a different platform to express myself. As often as I want to move to the country, sell my phone and shoot with film and develop in a darkroom, I'm still plugged in. In today's world you should be. At least a little bit.

It always comes back to what my wife preaches on a daily basis ... balance. Just like everything I can not let social media consume my life. It is a part of it. It can ENHANCE my life, but it should not be my life.

That's all. :)

-marc

Social Media

People pass by the Darulaman Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Said like Seinfield, "What is ... the deal ... with Social ... Media?" Why are we all so addicted to websites like Facebook and Twitter? It may just be in my geography of people, but almost everyone I know has 3-10 social media sites! And we use them daily, if not dozens of times daily. Why? Why do we feel the need to post any message to the world? Why am I writing this blog? What does one accomplish by posting thoughts, photos and videos to the world wide web?

My english teachers will cringe at the progression of this post, as it follows no coherent guidelines for a proper written piece, but I think at least one of my english teachers from high school follows me on Facebook, so take that. I use Facebook and Twitter. Hi, my name is Marc and I'm addicted to Facebook and Twitter. Not really, I've toned it down in the past few weeks, have you noticed? Didn't think so. I use the Book of the Face and Tweeter for business, but only Blackwell Photography business. I don't promote my little side website business and/or painting excursion on them, but that's a whole nother post. I try to entertain the thousands of viewers watching our photography business thrive. They are hungry for cool images and I find FB and Twitter to be an outlet to generate creative content on. I get that purpose, or say you're a writer, comedian, or run another small business - it's great for reaching new, existing and past customers. You almsot don't need e-mail!

But what about personal ... indulgences of social media for ... whatever purpose? Is it boredom? loneliness, craziness, depression or entertainment ... all these things? I stutter, thinking I started another blog with a question I don't have the answer too. I'm as guilty as those I criticize. I post pictures of my daughter. I don't know who the hell follows me, some like 1700 on Facebook alone call me their friend. I ask political questions to rile people up and share links to friend's cool life and all that fun stuff. But why?

I guess my point is, I barely have enough time to work, survive, give proper attentive attention to my daughter, my wife, and my fetus baby - why would I take time out of my day to share something personal with people I don't even know? Or why would I scroll down and down and down and read what people had for lunch? I do it all the time. I'm doing it right now? Everyone uses it. Some people abuse it.

I think it's a great business tool. When you have something to promote, like a movie or an album coming out, having a large social media database is a wonderful and effective tool. One must learn the ways of the common buyer/website user, and accommodate to their user ship and what not ... (again, another separate post) ... that's all fine. When one starts to post pictures of your hamburger and fries (guilty) and posting that you just took an amazing poo, it goes a little too far. I'm trying to come back to reality, and enjoy more time with my family and friends. What do you think?

Will Social Media fizzle out in time? If so, how soon? How often are you on a blog, or Twitter like site? How do you think Social Media has affected you and your friends around you? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cheers,
-marc

Where I Am - On The Web

The internet is one big bad tangeled web.  I've been contributing to that digital mess of mass information confusion highway since the late 90's.  Today, with my over zealous creative brain coming up with so many ideas and having so many different platforms to chose from, I've found myself on every other corner of the internet.  So, consider this a little map of my art on the world wide web.


www.blackwellphoto.com 
First, and foremost - the reason I always say I'm always on the internet.  Being a stay at home dad, I do most of our work via the web.  E-mails, video conferences, and social networking all make up my day as well as taking care of a 1 year old woman.  So Blackwell Photography's website is the #1 place to find me online.  It is the core of internet presence ... the reason I'm even here, blogging!

Blackwell Photography's webpage is an idea Stacey and I conceptualized one day in the park.  It's a combination of our work.  The Trinity of websites, as I like to call it.  Her portfolio can be found at stacey.blackwellphoto.com, where as mine can be found at marc.blackwellphoto.com.  Our wedding page is it's own seperate site located at weddings.blackwellphoto.com.  That leads to the other subpages, blog.blackwellphoto.com & photos.blackwellphoto.com, where you can view galleries and purchase downloads and/or prints.

Leading into the "social networking sites" in a minute, but still sticking to business.  You can find Blackwell Photography on Facebook by clicking that link.  Twitter, Yelp, Myspace, Tumblr, too.

My personal Facebook site is dedicated to blogs I post here, random status updates, and also a place to share news/blogs/photos/& stuff.B.  It's an overall gathering place for your MB fill.  If you're a Lucas Grabeel fan, or a Drew Seeley fan - you aint gettin' through to this one unless you're super cool.  Haha!

My Twitter page is more laxed and I like to have more followers.  The more the merrier - for some reason...  It's a little more raunchy and fun.  I still promote Blackwell Photography through it, but now with the new BP Twitter, it'll more be a home for letting you know I posted a picture of Zoe somewhere.

My Twitpic is a photo site dedicated to my every day blog kinda pictures. Photos of my hot wife and I going out on dates, to shots of me on a movie set.  Whateva.

My tumblr is a place to post iPhone pics.  Anyone with an iPhone needs 1 dedicated place to upload those pictures to for years.  It's the only way to create a good archive.  And after many attempts and many different photo sharing sites, I've grown to like tumblr for my iPhone viewing needs.

Of course, this blog at Blogger is an old journal of written madness.  It dates back to 2006, so I'll keep it around for a while even if I don't post to it on any regular schedule whatsoever.

Photographers Not Being Photographers

I'm going to rant a little bit.  I'm not as fired up as I could be, nor as I have been about this subject, but I just read yet ANOTHER blog post from yet ANOTHER photographer to, yet again, OTHER photographers on HOW TO BE a "professional" photographer.

I'm sick and tired of "photographers" trying to teach the rest of the world how to be photographers.  Every other photographer you find on the net these days has a blog, or a podcast, or a book on how to be a photographer.  "Here's how I do it - follow these easy steps and you will be a successful professional like myself!"  It's all a facade!  If you were or are a successful photographer you don't have time to write seminars, create online classes, and write photos for dummies books!

I'm all about helpin' out the next guy.  An amateur comes to me with questions about getting into the business, I'm more than happy to share with him what I've learned in my experience.  I understand it's important to influence new photographers correctly so the market doesn't suffer, but this is getting ridiculous.  I mean, it's like being a professional race car driver, and telling your competition what you've done to your car to make it faster.  "Here, take my clients!  And my income, and all my ideas!  For free!"  Essentially what's happening, right?  I've fallen trap to a few of these photographer's gimicks.  I understand, drive more traffic to your website and you might get a few more gigs a month.  But at what cost are you willing to get those extra couple gigs.  The cost of creating a bigger cesspool of guys with cameras?  At giving false hope that anyone and everyone can be a photographer?  At driving the market down as more and more amateurs pretend to be professionals?  You're hurting yourself as a photographer and photographers in general.

If you're working enough so that you think you can give others advice on how to works just as much, you don't have time to write a blog every day.  You just don't!  If you're on Twitter more than you're behind your camera, some thing(s) are NOT right.  If you think Facebook is the only way to market your photography, you gotta pull your head outta the south end of a north bound horse.  Photographers have an unhealthy obsession with social media and they're exploiting the beautiful world and business behind photography with it.

Wanna be a professional photographer?  Good for you.  First, don't steal my customers.  Second - work really hard!  Really dive into the art and techinique of photography.  Learn that first.  You won't succeed if your photos suck.  Then learn some business, because what everyone will tell you, some more often than others, is that you hafta run a business to be a professional photographer.  Now...before I start being hypocritical, I'm gonna end by saying this;

You're a photographer?  Great!  Now show me photos you've taken.  Write me a news-letter once a month showing me everything you're working on, take videos of your photoshoots, create photo books, post iPhone pics on Twitpic, I don't care, just be photographical!!

Peace,
-marc

Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell vist LA!

The oldest versions of the Blackwells traveled from the middle of nowhere Alabama to the big city of Los Angeles, all to see the youngest version of the Blackwells.

I think my dad has been out to L.A. 4 or 5 times now!  Margaret has been out at least 3 times!  They love it out here, but we can't quiet convince them to move here.  ;)  Yet.   How great would it be?  Zoe would learn math and we'd always have a babysitter!

While they were here we all did a lot!  We saw the Santa Monica Pier and 3rd street promenade, went to the beach in Malibu, went hiking at Runyon Canyon and ate a lot of good food!  Zoe also learned how to moo (thanks grandpa!) and she's doing long division! ;)

I took a break from Facebook and Twitter for 7 days, and it was wonderful.  I don't feel like I missed a thing, or like anyone missed me!  While social networks are great, it's important to keep perspective in the real world and stay focused on what's REALLY important.  There's no need to fill your brain with useless information like your friend's friend getting a sandwich at Subway.  My brother Blake said it best "someone's hatin' that it's Monday, and someone else is lookin' forward to Friday!"  Sums it up pretty well!

We had a great time with the family, and now it's back to business!  We have very exciting news to announce to you when the time is right - we're just getting all our ducks in a row.

Hope you all are well!

Peace,
-marc