Why I [finally] Started
.. Ahh I finally finished this.
I made a goal for myself that by the end of the year (at least my 26th birthday) I wanted to create something & be productive outside of work on a day-to-day basis. I’ve had people ask, joke, and suggest I start a blog for some time now. I never really thought much of it other than snapping pictures around this great city of mine and posting them on Instagram. As time went on I started getting an influx of messages from people asking about particular things I’ve done; where to eat, where to buy, where I travel, how I edit, ect. I figured, hey, let’s dive in and create a platform that I can use to further explain, suggest, and promote within my lifestyle.
Not to mention, website development and I go far back — like very far — back to dial-up internet and domain(s) produced from Piczo. I say more than one domain because who actually had just one Piczo account? not me that’s for sure. Piczo served as such a creative platform much before we were forced into using “user-friendly” interfaces. Practicing HTML and code with almost no boundaries. Creating great forms of social media profiles before the #aesthetic. I think anyone who would have created a Piczo would have tried having a homepage song (I actually used the Harry Potter theme song once and that is wild to think about now seeing as I’ve only watched the first three movies — sorry avid Potter fans). Guestbook? you bet ya. The early days of comments and likes so to speak. That said, for someone who was not of the age demographic whatsoever I had quickly discovered MySpace and became friends with Tom. MySpace was great — it taught me a lot of the ways I use social media and photography. Imagine hosting, HTML & creating a network. Besides having the nerve-racking task of rating your friends in a “top 8” segment, MySpace allowed this lil’ rural boy in 2007 to bring his first 6.1 megapixel Nikon DSLR content online — regardless of subjects, it was a creative outlet for myself.
As platforms changed I dabbled in anything that was new and fun at the time. Deviant Art, Daily Booth, and the big bad of Facebook. Facebook served its purpose for me and honestly, I use it for work scheduling and as a facilitator of my information to other websites nowadays. Instagram however, that was and still is my jam. Originally I downloaded Instagram on my iPod Touch (I was a BIG Blackberry boy and still longing for those BBM days) thinking it was purely a photo editing app. Not understanding what or why the little “heart” was at the bottom and why there would be a comment section, so I continued to edit away. As Instagram grew I fell more and more in love with the platform itself. Cutting out pointless uses and areas, this IOS based app was great for people like myself that only cared about the image and phenomenology around attaining the image. I find enjoyment and fun shooting images with friends, getting #ThatShot and the editing afterwards — it’s easy to comment or place judgement on those that do it for the constant strive for perfection (also known as my mini thesis I wrote at university on perfecting the online persona) but there are others that purely find the fun of what goes into an image.
Lastly, while planning for our trip I had been searching far and wide through Pinterest and Insta for travel blogs, guides, you name it — that would help spark interest into the areas we were visiting. I wasn’t sure if I wasn’t finding what I was hoping for or if I was getting caught up in “I’d design that website this way” mentality but I knew that this feeling proved to be enough to put into a project. So I did. I planned out what I wanted to see while traveling. Photographed it (with MUCH help from the girls — honestly all my friends are my photographers, I’ve trained them well). Came home. Wrote it up. Made a website. SO here we are friends and family — Let’s start something fun~