Some amateur photoblogs

A highly readable type of photography blog comes from Asia, in the form of amateur photography blogs. Many of the ones I've found are hosted on free services, with default layouts that make for a breath of fresh air. Although Google Reader has a built-in translation function—you do use Google Reader, right?—the thoughts contained in the writing become pretty obscure by the end.

Still, these blogs are notable for the highly personal images which come across them.

Not me

某姑娘

NERORISM

肉博 @_@

睡在布边边

hibernating little V*

I haven't seen any American blogs of this type. Then again, I have barely been posting photos here myself...

Moriyama-san and amateurism

Tensions everywhere we look! Amateur vs. professional, serious vs. light, digital vs. analog!

In the end, I may be considered a "professional photographer" only if that category includes blurred images.

another blogger-style re-blog

"What kind of photography do you do?"

I was having lunch with some people at work, and I mentioned that I liked photography. "Oh, what kind of photography do you do," came the question. I've never had a good answer for this. Maybe I take it too seriously! The most honest answer would be a simple "oh, I'm an amateur." This time, I said something like "well, I don't do anything with fancy lighting. I try to carry a camera with me and take pictures when I'm traveling, or just walking down the street."

If I call to mind some of my favorite photographers - William Eggleston, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Daido Moriyama - I can't group them all together neatly. I'm bringing this up because I try to emulate them. The most fitting category for all of them would probably be "fine art," but this doesn't help because it seems to me that people like Eggleston and Moriyama (less so Sugimoto) forced the term "fine art" to apply to their work. They went out and shot stuff, and it was later interpreted as "fine" art. Aspiring to make "fine art" sounds very humanist (sick) to me, in any case.

Next time I get asked, I'll probably just say "abstract stuff" and be done with it. Having a Moo card for further explanation would also help, I'm sure.