May 14, 2004: Scenes from the MBA
I was talking with Tien Mao the other night, and we were debating the pros and cons of including personal details on our websites. I argued that doing occasional posts about my cat, my lactose intolerance, and my nights out with friends adds a little variety to my usual posts about buildings and abandoned cityscapes. But then last night I was out shooting with Mike, who argued for the other side: people come to sites like this for the pictures, not for insights into our personal lives. So I'm not really sure where I stand. I love photography, but Bluejake is ultimately a personal site, and it seems a little much to go out and create another blog for posts like this one, featuring pictures of my friends from NYU. So there you go. [More scenes from the MBA can be found in the gallery section.]
Comments
I struggle with the same problem between showing personal live or just showing pictures on my blog.
As of now I started another site just for my photography, but yes, it's becoming too much work to keep both site up to date with content.
But either way the cat photos rules, that should stay no matter what!
i'm in the frame of mind that you post what you're happy with, whether it be personal or not. if people like it or not is up to them as long as you're happy with it.
and the more photos of these hot b-school women is more than welcome. also, what song did you end up singing?
Why not just go with your gut, Jake? Your pictures tell a lot about you, especially when you put a little commentary below them, illustrating what you're thinking. At the same time, I love your photographs from personal life-- at times, they don't need any explanation at all. I think including both lends balance to the site.
My blog is 99% non-personal but I read plenty of quasi-personal blogs (like this one). For me non-personal works best because the point of my blog isn't for me to post about my life, it's for me to be funny (or at least try to be). The point of this blog seems to be for you to post your photos of the world around you, which includes your personal life. So I think personal posts have a place here. Granted if you started rambling about what kind of soap you use or bitching incessantly about your high-school friends I would probably stop reading. But in moderation I think a bit of personal life is ok.
I don't know what it is Jake, but I love the look of your personal pictures (those just of your friends and such). What do you do with your flash to acheive this look? Are these ones on the Digital Rebel? To me it is just a soft, kind of fine art type of look. Your blog is great, a true example of what they should be!
these were actually shot with the G2- use the canon 440ex flash attached and pointed straight up at the ceiling. only about a 20% yield on the pix, though, b/c the ceiling was painted black!
I enjoy the back and forth between your personal shots -- except the cat shots! No more cat shots! -- and your documentation of the city. I wish, though, that you'd caption them more fully. I want to know who the people are, how you know them, what they pay for their apartment ... that sort of thing.
What is just same old ordinary to you is different and interesting to me. I like the shots around town, as well as the pictures of different people. It gives a good feeling of what your area of the world is like.
Knowing what little I know about you, I find your photos much more interesting than if I knew nothing. That is, say you go to an art gallery. Which photos are you more drawn to or inspired by? The ones where you know absolutely nothing about the photographer except his lens and aperture choices? Or the ones where there's a little bio like, "the photographer was raised by a spinster aunt in a house with a dirt floor in Fargo; at the age of 12 he got his first Instamatic..."
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