Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 : Photography

Interestingly enough, the photo included in this post is my “most popular image” on Flickr. Of all the photos I have on Flickr, models, architecture, events… aside from the one posted on mashable for a story about CommNext a month or so ago, this “Family Portrait” shot taken during a baby sling product photoshoot is the one that people flock to the most.

Why am I writing a post about a popular photo on a Flickr stream? Just as an observation really. This photo is getting consistent exposure via Yahoo! Image Search, and now Google Image Search - which I think is awesome… As a result, I thought I’d take a moment to offer up a word of advise to photographers that might be out and about looking for a means to get people to see your stuff.

Diversify!

When people ask me “what kind of photography do you do?”, my reply is typically “night-time architectural”. This response doesn’t really yield much interest, but that’s the photography I like to do, and I’m not trying to turn a buck with my hobby. But if I were, I’d say - “Family Portraits, with a focus on toddlers and infants”, based on the long-tail spread of interest this photo maintains in my stream.

If you take a look at graph on the right, you’ll see the numbers aren’t terribly high. Yes, it’s my second most popular photo with just under 550 views, which is peanuts compared to most “known” people on the web, but when you look at the consistency with the interest… at 8 to 20 views a day since it was posted… to get to 550 views is actually an achievement. Not to mention the comments, emails, and favorites that this photo’s received. These factors, as well as a little applied common sense, led me to believe that the interest in “Family Portraits” that caputre moments with mother and child are “gems”. So if I were in photography to make money… I’d stick with that.

Funny though, I take an artistic approach to my photography. I kept it all to myself for almost 7 years, never really showing people much of anything. Even still, only 5 people have ever seen my “original” night shots from back in 2000 … So, I don’t mind not getting a lot of attention with my photography, and if it weren’t for Flickr and the stats - I would have never guessed that my most popular work would have nothing to do with that at all anyway. Hind sight’s 20/20, I guess.