Friday, May 10, 2019

Before They Were Famous

As I've been getting nostalgic about my time in the photography industry, I've been digging into my own blog archives and keep finding moments of GOLD (as well as blog posts I probably should have deleted) that help the next generation of photographers understand where and how digital photography careers exploded 13+ years ago!  Before Facebook, before Instagram- when our social outlets to connect online were through public blogs, RSS feeds, and member message boards that no longer exist.  Luckily some blogs are still on archived servers for your time-traveling pleasure.

Thanks to letting all of my own cringe-worthy-archives stay out in the open... I can go back in time through links to other photographers and see where they started out as well!  I think it's important to share archives so people don't think it all happened overnight.  I also think what you'll see in these various archives and journeys is that Photography can be a gateway drug to other forms of entrepreneurship...

Christine Tremoulet - 2000-2018
http://bigpinkcookie.com/2001/
Our very own PhotoLovecat author/editor was blogging before anyone else knew what the heck to do with a blog.  Blogger and perpetual web geek, turned photographer, and now business consultant.  I give Christine mad props for keeping all of her archives online this long.  I mean, her blog history is basically as old as a blogs themselves.  I think the only thing that came before her blogging was AOL and Netscape!

Jules Bianchi - 2005-2019
http://blog.julesbianchi.com/2005/06/
Jules has often flown under the radar in a lot of ways as far as the photography fame stuff goes, but I've always had a soft spot for her ability to be authentically quirky and offbeat.  She's moved her business a few times and shifted focus like many photographers do, but has maintained her blog archives all along to show how she has grown and changed over all these years, and that really helps others understand the journey doesn't happen overnight.

David Jay - 2005-2010
http://opensourcephoto.blogspot.com/2005/
David Jay has been an entrepreneur and tech geek from an early age.  He started out as a wedding photographer who developed community on OpenSourcePhoto as a place to have open conversations in the photography industry (a competitor to Digital Wedding Forum, which was a private paid forum, where OSP was free and open).  This also allowed him to engage in photography industry problems he could solve with tech solutions.  His presence has been controversial among the industry, but it's never stopped him from creating new businesses.  He developed ShowIT, PASS, Shoot & Share, and now Agree.

Corey Ann - 2007-2019
http://coreyann.com/blog/wedding/justin-jenny-122107
Another PhotoLovecat author and editor that has been in the industry and seen it all over the last decade!  Corey Ann has probably maintained one of the most consistent photography industry profiles I know of in the last decade.  Sustaining her presence as an Ohio wedding photographer and really only expanding to hold the line of justice and call people out against doing stupid things in the photography industry through the PhotoStealers blog.  She has dealt with some of the worst sociopaths the industry has seen and somehow continues to maintain a sense of humor about it all!

Christopher Becker aka [b]ecker - 2007-2018
http://blog.thebecker.com/index.cfm/index.cfm/catID/2/StartRow/500
Wedding photographer, photography teacher, and now Keto-Coach, Becker has had a journey that launched in SoCal and now resides in Missouri.  I think Becker himself would be wise enough to say that he didn't mind ruffling a few feathers along the way in the photo industry, and people either loved it or hated it.  What you can't disagree with is that he's hustled with a lot of heart, and often shared what he's learned with others along the way.

Jessica Claire - 2008(?)-2019(?)
http://www.jessicaclaire.net/blog/7165/jessicaclaireartcom-launches
Jessica has hidden the actual dates on her blog and done a very good job of curating her archival content that remains on her current blog, however, based on the context of some early blog posts, I'm guessing the content in this blog started circa 2007/2008, but she also eludes to having another blog prior to this that is no longer available online.  Jessica went from wedding photographer to ShootSac lens bag creator, and now she has the bug for wedding photography again.  Welcome back, Jessica!

Jasmine Star - 2006-2007
http://jasminestarphotography.blogspot.com/2006/02/
Jasmine Star got her first round of fame in the photography industry after David Jay photographed her wedding and Mike Colon started using her as a workshop model for his workshops (perhaps someone else can figure out the order of events on this based on the archives in her blog and David Jay's blog).  She then caught the photography bug herself, attended a lot of workshops, started teaching workshops, made some public social media mistakes, but has continued pushing forward and sharing everything along the way.  She now teaches online courses focused on boosting social media presence.

BluDomain - 2006-2007
https://bludomain.typepad.com/blus_daily_blog/2006/10/index.html
BluDomain was one of the early photography portfolio website providers to crank out a lot of affordable website templates full of good design and solid navigation tools.  They blogged about a lot of "popular" people in the photography industry at the time in order to raise their own profile.  It worked and they secured a lot of photography industry clients in a few short years.  What they've left behind on this archival blog is the treasure chest of where people were and what they were doing in 2006-2007!  Check out their archives to see a lot of familiar names, faces, and photos from 13 years ago!

Are there some archival blogs out there that you think should be added to this list?  Add them to the comments and let's have a nice walk down memory lane together...

Anne Ruthmann helps creatives find smarter solutions to common business problems as a Creative Business Strategist and author of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  Her wisdom is steeped in the experience of managing her own creative businesses since 2004.  Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.


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