Chase Jarvis has a good breakdown comparing WordPress and Squarespace for creatives and photographers. My own thoughts below started out as a discussion of content creation applications, but then transitioned into broader thoughts on writing and sharing online. These ramblings were drafed as an entry in my personal journal, but after reading I figured I would share here.
For my own photography projects, I briefly used WordPress but became pretty overwhelmed and impatient with trying to set up galleries and a theme that I liked. I was also using a basic hosting plan, so my site loaded slower than I expected. I’ve since moved my photography site to Adobe Portfolio, which is very easy to use but has limitations. I appreciate that the Adobe Portfolio integrates with Lightroom, though the amount of customization is limited. It also lacks a blog. It is free, however, with my Adobe subscription, and the site loads quickly.
I miss publishing on this blog. I used to love the feeling of typing something of my own and sharing it with the world. I also miss some of the under the hood tinkering with WordPress. I thought is was cool working with a free, open source software. It felt like I was making the Internet more democratic in doing so.
There is something about having your own space on the web, for your own ideas, that is not social media and not controlled by an algorithm. I have referred back to my blog over the years to recall and share a project I did for ideas I had long ago. That’s not possible with the ephemeral nature of social media.
Perhaps a personal /professional goal in the new year is to take more time to write and publish online? Should I create a personal or photography blog? Or simply expand my this blog to cover more of my interests in addition to the “library stuff”? In writing this, I’ve already got some ideas churning. I just need to set aside the time, and get out of my own way, to write and publish them.
I have written quite a few “I miss Blogging” thoughts over the years, so we’ll see if this just turns out to be another one of those posts.
This post was also written on my phone with the Android WordPress app, in my recliner, while drinking coffee on a Saturday morning. Please forget any typos or fat finger errors.
What do you say?