Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Blogs?

A number of social media and PR bloggers are slowly becoming avid photographers as well, toting their Nikon or Canon DSLRs around wherever they go. They’re always snapping photos at events, at home, just about anywhere. However, there is a method to their madness (I think).

We’re all familiar with the phrase, ‘A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.’ A picture is an easy way to tell a story, to set a scene. Sure, you can do it with words, but as we all know, sometimes words can’t quite capture the moment like a picture can. If a picture is worth a thousand words, is it also a substitute for a blog post or a good addition to one? Of course!

A photo can be a great compliment to a blog post, but it can also be a blog post…just a simple photo, with a sentence or two. In that way it’s a very efficient way of blogging that involves less writing. The right picture can also be a great inspiration for a post. Many times when I’m stuck in a blog-rut, just looking at photos can inspire a number of different ideas. The downside is that I find myself writing less and posting more photos.

Ask any friend that is a photography buff, “Would you rather spend an hour writing a blog article, or taking photos outside?” I think you already know the answer.

Like many of my blogging friends I was recently bitten by the photography bug. My interest came from the conference circuit. I was attending a number of events in 2006 (NewComm Forum, BlogHer, Gnomedex) doing the live-blogging thing at most of them. At each event I was always impressed with the photos that people like Scott Beale and Kris Krug were taking and posting. I wanted to do the same. Great photos could enhance the blogging I was already doing.

My gateway drug was the tiny Nikon Coolpix I carried around. Sure it served its purpose, but I needed to upgrade. In September of 2006 I purchased a Nikon D80 and haven’t looked back.

But let’s be honest, many of us are gadget geeks, and nice cameras are a big gadget. It’s also easier to ‘sell’ the purchase of a nice camera to the loved ones, “Honey, think of the great pictures I can take of the kids!”

I think for many of us photography is an evolution of the social media work we do in our everyday lives. Pictures allow us to communicate and convey messages in a different way. As I said earlier, photos can replace the written word, or enhance it.

It’s another tool at our disposal, but it’s also a gadget! (It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping!)

In preparing to write this article I began to think about the friends/colleagues that now carry around DSLR cameras. The list is long, and got longer after the holiday season, as many friends found DSLRs under the tree.

Of course there is the eternal Nikon/Canon debate, but among my friends Nikon is the clear winner. In the Nikon camp there are: David Parmet (D80), Brian Oberkirch (D70s), Jake McKee (D50), Dave Coustan (D80), David Alston (D80), Tris Hussey (D80), Jeremy Pepper (D80), Chris Scott (D40), Judson Collier (D40), Chris Gent (D50), Erik Hersman (D40), Tom Biro (D80), Paul Stamatiou (D80), Mike Manuel (D80), Stephanie Roberts (D80) and Mario Sundar (D80).

In the Canon camp there are: Chris Heuer (XTI), Brian Solis (XTI), Chip Griffin (30D), Howard Greenstein (XTI) and Alex de Carvalho (XTI).

With all these friends, photography is another touchpoint. It’s a frequent topic of conversation at dinners and conference meet-ups.

Josh Hallett is an internationally recognized thought leader in the convergence of social media and corporate public relations & marketing. Josh is currently a New Media Strategist at Voce Communications providing social media consulting and development work with brands like Yahoo, Sony Computer Entertainment America and a number of B2B/B2C firms.