JF Martin

March 20, 2021

Restarting my Photo Legend Series

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I love photography. I consider myself a serious amateur photographer. My first contact with this art form goes back to when I was a teenager. But, what's even more interesting is photo with a story behind it, because they all have a story behind, right? I love when photographers tell their story about the when, the where and how a photo was made. Something like this one, from Om Malik. These stories can put me in the photographer’s mindset, when the photo was taken. It become another experience. It brings inspiration.

My love for stories behind the picture explains why I started a photography series on my main blog called « The Photo Legend Series » in early 2019 (you can see the series here). But the thing is, my main blog is hosted on WordPress.com and WordPress is about... words, more than pictures. For me, anyway. The blog uses a visual theme that is not suitable for showing pictures. On top of that, publishing pictures on WordPress is too cumbersome. Services like Flickr, 500px, SmugMug, VSCO, etc. aren't meant to show and tell. I’m not even talking about Facebook or Instagram. My quest for the ultimate photo story sharing service is an ever ending story. I'm anxiously waiting for alternatives like Glass or Bokeh. Meanwhile, what can I do?

The answer is simple: HEY World. It might not be the perfect fit for photography sharing. I can't write a photo caption. HEY World front page doesn't show any pictures (but the first picture is included in the RSS feed, though!), only the first few phrases of each posts. This apparent weakness could be a strength, though. From a visitor standpoint, only showing the first few phrases of a post might be seen as a teaser, provided my writing takes advantage of this limitation. Also, since I’m using HEY World to host the Friday Notes series, each post of the Photo Legend series should be titled accordingly to make it easier to spot on the main page or via the RSS Feed. Something like « The Photo Legend Series — Tagline ». How about that? One last thing, each post could have two parts: the first being the story and the other could be the way it was processed. I like that.

What's your name, again?

Finally, I’ve never been sure about the series naming « Photo Legend ». Is « Photo Caption » better? What about « Photo Stories »? Let’s look at terms definitions.

« Legend »: 
« the words written on or next to a picture, map, coin, etc., that explain what it is about or what the symbols on it mean »

« Caption »: 
«  brief text over or under a picture in a book, magazine, or newspaper that describes the picture or explains what the people in it are doing or saying »

« Stories »:
« a description, either true or imagined, of a connected series of events »

I think the word « Legend » is still the best fit with my intend. It's a keeper. 👍🏻

The legend

Oh, and I almost forgot about the picture above. Taken during an abnormally warm winter afternoon. The warm weather created a nice misty atmosphere. Then, there was this guy with a dog, walking in the park. I took my iPhone 11 Pro out of my pocket, using Halide, I snapped this picture, in RAW, and later processed in black & white with Pixelmator Photo on my iPad Pro when I came back home.

See you very soon for another photo legend.  ಠᴗಠ

JF Martin aka Numeric Citizen