Why Blog?

A tiny hiccup was heard in the blogosphere a few weeks ago when I launched PasoRoblesPhotographer.com. Another burp will pass quickly when I push the “publish” button for this, the first official post on Pixsylated.com.

Why Would A Commercial Photographer Blog?

As a professional shooter, why would I want to spend more hours in front of my computer? As if my twin mistresses Photoshop and Lightroom haven’t tried to monopolize all of my time. I have a couple of motives for my blogs.

Reason #1 – Paying It Forward. I had the good fortune to meet Bruce Fraser in San Francisco about six months before he passed on. Just as Bruce managed to touch the lives of virtually every digital photographer through his research, writings and workshops, in a mere 90 seconds together, he branded my soul with the thought of a world in which people freely share information for the betterment of all. [more below]

I had the honor of creating the image that was used on the Bruce Fraser Tribute DVD. Many thanks to Larry Baca, leader of the tribute committee, for giving me the shot (glasses).

While I’m not ready to work for free, Bruce’s wisdom on the value of sharing one’s knowledge continues to inspire. Further, my work in photography over the past 20 years has repeatedly been pushed forward through the insights and suggestions shared by colleagues and mentors. Pixsylated is my first public venue towards paying forward the help that my career has received from others.

Reason #2 – Marketing. My first blog, Paso Robles Photographer, is a marketing tool I created to communicate with my local clientèle. I live in Paso Robles, a small town about half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Our claim to fame is that we are the hub of California’s central coast wine district with nearly 200 wineries in the neighborhood. For more than a year, it drove me crazy that my commercial site would not show up when someone Googled “Paso Robles Photographer”. So I grabbed the URL for “Paso Robles Photographer” and created a blog that Google has recently discovered. I’ve added several resource pages that local clients find helpful. I post links to web galleries for nearly every local shoot. Google is paying attention and so are business owners in my hometown.