As a person with an MA degree in photojournalism, who worked in ELLE UK magazine and is currently running this blog full time I have come to face a dilemma between wanting to produce top-end, properly planned, editorial looking posts and images, and realising that majority of my audience wants to see something much more easy-going and ‘in the moment’ instead. Throughout these 3 years of blogging I have had this ‘editorial vs. in-the-moment’ conversation with many of my blogger friends who all shared the same frustration and concern. We all tend to put a lot of thought into planning a shoot, scouting the location, creating an interesting outfit, working on our posing and aiming to produce Vogue magazine worthy imagery only to realise that a completely opposite approach will perform best on social media.
If you are a blogger, I bet you know the feeling when you are so happy with a shoot that you produced and just can’t wait to post it and share it on Instagram just to notice that it gets a very mediocre, nothing special kind of response. And then you post a random selfie or a quick snap of your today’s OOTD and that picture will be your top scoring one yet… . So what should we do and what kind of posts should we produce?
I’d say, that in my experience, a good mix of both ‘high-end editorials’ and ‘in the moment’ posts is the way to go. I also believe that you should never lower your quality or standards, or change who you are and what you believe in just to gain more engagement and please a larger audience. In the end of the day, you want your readers to come back to your blog because they like what you do, wear and have to say. You should also never stop wanting to improve your craft, learn new techniques and develop interesting ideas. With such crazy rise of social media influencers, it is easier than ever to lose your identity in the race for numbers. It is so easy to get influenced by what everyone else is buying, wearing, how they are posing and captioning their images, that you end up gradually turning into one of so many drops in the sea of bloggers. So remember why you started this journey, which style you always liked the most, and who you are as a person and work towards making those unique things shine and represent you. And whatever you do, DO NOT lower your quality to please the crowd.
Photography by Patrik Lundin
ALL SAINTS biker jacker and bag
LEVI’S jeans
COS shoes
Plantwear watches
TOYSHADES sunglasses
8 comments
I can understand this dilemma, I’m into that, too. So your words completely mirror my experiences. I love both: editorial and in-the-moment shootings and blogposts. Thank god I’m independent and not a fulltime blogger who must turn into a social media influencer.
Love
Claudine / http://www.claudinesroom.com
I’m pro both, editorial and in the moment shooting and blog posts! In the moment is more relatable/ real material, but editorial is more of a creative outlet, more effort like material. 🙂
Beautiful photos and those sunnies look awesome on you!
http://lartoffashion.com
Oh my goodness Julia! Your words resonate with me big time & so glad you are talking about this! I bring this up in several of my blogs as I have a huge quarrel in my mind about this feeling. It is so nice to hear that serious bloggers with many followers, such as yourself, struggle with this as well. I’ve always thought that blogging was a personal journal or diary that was more in the moment. As blogging & social media as gone bananas, so have the expectations of blogging. There are all these articles on “how to be a better blogger” & that includes perfect, professional photos, perfect backdrops, looks, make-up …. basically being flawless! If that is the expectation, then why not just go find a gorgeous 5’10” model, a crew, world-class photographer, MUA, stylist & editing team? This is purely a hobby for myself & I have no expectations for this to become monetized or my career as I can’t afford a professional photographer, someone to do my make-up, etc. This is fun, creative & something I do when I have free time. But, I feel this nagging pressure to post perfection & post constantly. You said it perfectly …. stay true to who we are. I always remind myself, there are no rules to blogging & all I really want to do is just share tidbits of personal moments in my life. Thanks for the reassuring words to just keep doing what feels best in our hearts & don’t listen to the outside noise. You are truly amazing! So sorry for the long comment, but you struck such a chord with me on this article!!!
Thank you so much for taking time to share your opinion! Just wanted you to know that even without ever meeting you, you seem like the most sincere, beautiful person! Glad to know you x
Love these photos! And interesting post .. I never really thought about it, but I’ve also been surprised at certain images doing well vs others, and it’s true that it’s sometimes the in the moment camera shots do better than the more stylized blog shots. I think you’re right though about keeping it varied.
I adore your blog lady, always have and always will! I completely get this post – it’s always hard to decide which way to go, but the beauty of blogging is that you don’t need to follow a path, you simply create your own! You’re killing it as per, so you just keep doing you love!
Hayley xo
http://www.frockmeimfamous.com
Oh thank you so much dear! You just made my day! See you soon somewhere x
I love this Julia! This is a constant internal battle I’m having with myself. The posts that always perform better for me are with few, low-quality images and very personal text. Though creating editorial-style content all the time would be my dream, it’s just never well received by my audience. But the beauty of the industry is that we all have our own niche, own style. And your photography blows me away every time. So keep doing you my lovely!
Love,
Beth x
http://www.bethnorton.co.uk