Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“In this strange new world where so many of us—still—take life for granted, I’m glad and thankful too for being alive for another year.”—Joe Farace
I don’t know if anybody will have the time to read this post today but it includes some thoughts I felt like sharing with you as we jump feet-first into 2024.
In all of the writing I have done for books, magazines as well as this blog I always tried to be completely honest with you in my opinions on the pros and cons of any of the cameras, lenses, software and techniques I used, tested and wrote about. It didn’t matter to me whether these approaches to photography were done for mental therapy (like this blog) or for publication because I feel that not doing so honestly would be doing all of you a disservice.
That’s why no manufacturer, their representatives or PR agencies has ever paid me money or in merchandise to say what they wanted me to write; to say anything other than what I believed in my heart to be true. This approach to photographic ethics has, as I’ve found to my chagrin over the past forty years, has had an adverse affect on my income and visibility as a writer or, God help me, a photographic personality.
Into The Future…and away we go.
Because of changes in the way photographers work, how they consume information as well as how COVID effected almost everything in society, the photo magazine scene and photo book publishing industries imploded removing a traditional outlet for me to reach out to photographers. While I created this blog to be a outlet for my writing about photography (and related topics) but more just as important, I wanted to let my book and magazine readers know that I was still alive, had images to share and something to say about this hobby and avocation we all love.
This and all my previous blogs have accomplished part of that goal and while these days it is almost impossible* to create a truly uncensored blog without nanny software (and social media) dropping the hammer on the kinds of images that writer/photographers, like myself, may produce and that the software used by thousands of companies and institutions, don’t permit. (Don’t even get me started about censorship on social media…) Consequently I do what I can within this format to share images that, I hope, combines the best of both the art and craft of photography. See yesterday’s post on what I plan to do about one of these items
And Now a Soft Sell
While this blog remains free to access, it’s not free to produce. There are costs associated with producing it from the cost of domain renewals, server space and access along with software that runs and protects the site. My Webmaster, Tim Fiedler, is paid to keep this and my car photography site/blog up and running and unencumbered by the inevitable software and security issues that plague all on-line activity.
Yes, there are a few sponsors here but I don’t have the kind of personal sponsors many manufacturer-paid bloggers have who pay them to write and say favorable things about their gear and help these companies sell their products. The sponsors you see here are companies owned and run by people who respect what I do and my ethical approach to photographic writing. These current, and all of my former sponsors, have never told me what to write and what to say about their products or even their competitor’s products.
If you own a company and would like to be a sponsor of this blog or my car photography website, please click here and I will let you know how affordable it can be. So much so that a single sale of even one of your items would recoup all of your investment.
And with that little begging out of my system, I would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year 2024 and may it be a better, much better year for all of us.
*I am planning on doing something about this. Look for an announcement real soon now.