Beginning again

I am going to start blogging again.

I only ever started as a necessity for school, but I have decided to post something new on a regular basis now. I have struggled to embrace blogging. The whole process is tedious and time-consuming, but it is useful for those same reasons. Editing, uploading and embedding might be frustrating, but they keep me in touch with my work and with the variety of ways available to share that work.

I've determined that my hesitation to make time for blogging has something to do with my personality and my upbringing. In the Philippines, we rarely had reliable electricity, much less internet. Typhoons and brown outs reduced us to candles, flashlights, and kerosene lamps. When we did have working electricity and a functional internet connection, I spent my time writing emails to friends and family overseas. Personal, direct communication was (and continues to be) my arena. Public speaking terrifies me, but I love small gatherings and serious conversations. I want to gauge people's reactions. I want to see how what I do or say affects people. That is difficult to accomplish with social media.

So why become a photojournalist? Isn't it their job to inform the masses? Their images and their words are of course, published, not private. This brings us back to my upbringing again. Comfort zones are meant to be challenged. Period. If I really hope to help people learn from one another, shouldn't I do everything within my power to make that communication happen? If that means opening my work and my opinions up to misunderstandings or criticism that I cannot directly address, so be it.