The photography blog is its own art form. There are the personal blogs, running from the diaristic to the professional, and the blogs that act as visual archives and news bulletins, posting about the larger cultural climate of arts and photography. If you have a semblance of interest in photography at the current moment, you have undoubtedly looked at both kinds, and likely have your own list of favorites.
Ofer Wolberger started his blog, Horses Think, in August 2007; almost five years later, he has nearly 1,300 subscribers to his RSS feed. Posting a combination of videos, events, calls for entry, and interesting photographic projects, Wolberger began his project without expectations, hoping simply to “engage in a conversation that was only happening online.” As it turned out, Horses Think not only created a forum for virtual dialogue but, interestingly, helped forge real life connections. The Brooklyn-based Wolberger has met many current friends through the project. “The community that has formed as a result of the site has been the best part,” he adds.
While it has become pivotal for artists to have an online presence, there is a reason you don’t see many painting blogs. Active photography feeds proliferate the blogosphere because of the specific nature of the medium. Unlike art forms that have three-dimensional surface qualities, photography is perfect for viewing on a screen. In addition, as it becomes more and more a digital medium in itself, the Internet is the perfect platform for reproducibility and distribution. Still, the photo blog doesn’t escape a certain ethical and aesthetic conundrum. As Wolberger puts it, “Experiencing photographs online is not really experiencing them at all…there is always a little disappointment when looking at work on a screen. Unless it is a project intended for the web only, it is important to remember that we are experiencing a reproduction.” This is what photo bloggers and readers must grapple with: knowing when to slow down in the face of a medium — and its platform — that moves at the speed of light.
With that promise and complication in mind, here’s a list of some interesting photography blogs. Beware the lovely rabbit hole into which they lead.