Wired’s Top Bloggers

Thursday December 16th, 2010

Just last month Wired did a blog post on their favorite “photobloggers,” and two Wonderful Machine photographers were on the list: Matt Lutton and Rachel Hulin. So I followed up with these two renaissance… people, to hear about their lives as bloggers.

I was disappointed to find that neither of our winners had a blogging ritual. My ritual is famous in the Wonderful Machine office and is one of the secrets to our company’s success. In order to celebrate our photographers’ recognition from Wired, I will share the secret here; hopefully it will initiate a new Golden Age of blogging.

First, I prepare a cup of strong tea. I have an inclination towards Darjeeling and certain oolong varieties. (Oolong is more labor-intensive, as I prefer it gong-fu style.) As I sip the tea, I listen to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K448), responsible in some (admittedly controversial) studies for an enhancement in cognitive abilities. (Based on research with premature infants, some researchers have also suggested that hip-hop should have a similar effect; I am currently conducting preliminary research along these lines.)

As I power up in this high-performance micro-climate, I read basically every photography or advertising-related blog in the world. I have no lucky charms, as I believe that social media interfaces like Twitter and Tumblr have made them obsolete. Finally, after this lengthy preparation, I go over to the desk of director of photography Sean Stone and force him to write the blog.

Just kidding, I write it myself. Here are the answers from winners Matt Lutton and Rachel Hulin.

-Asad

What made you decide to start a blog, and has it been worth it?

Matt: My good friend M. Scott Brauer and I started Dvafoto in 2005 as a photos-only blog, where we could publish our pictures that had no other outlet, with our friends and maybe the public. Sometime around 2008 we decided that we had more to say, and wanted to share some of the stories and work we were seeing around the internet, and changed the format to what we have now.

Two friends with a serious project. (Photo by Matt Lutton/Serbia)

Our goal is to share the pictures and stories that we find interesting, coming from the perspective of two young photojournalists working abroad. Sometimes we’ll have a stronger opinion on something in the news (industry or international) and we’ll run with that. Overall we’ve had a great response for this project, it has become a resource for the industry and those interested in what documentary photographers are talking about.

Rachel: I started a blog after working at Photoshelter for a year as a resident blogstress (I wrote Shoot! The Blog). After I left I wanted to keep the momentum going, so I started A Photography Blog, and about a year later, teamed up with two other folks to make The Photography Post, which functions more as a photo industry aggregator, almost like The Huffington Post.

Do you have a blogging routine, and does it involve any rituals or lucky charms?

Matt: We really don’t have any ritual or superstitions for blogging, we often don’t even worry or think too hard about what we are posting. Posts are written as we come across items that we think of sharing. In essence it is a public presentation of the sort of emails Brauer and I would send to each other. We may have a day where we each post three items, and then go a week or two with nothing new to publish… though a great benefit of having two people writing is that we can cover each others’ backs when the other is busy or traveling. The exception of course is our interview series, which takes some time to arrange and edit.

A lucky seeing stone is a mainstay for most photo bloggers. (Photo by Rachel Hulin/New York)

Rachel: I don’t have a routine so much, but I try to be consistent and just keep an eye open for interesting developments in the photo world and on the internet. Whenever I read a magazine or a book I think about ways it might relate back to an interesting post. I think relating things back to my own life as well does help to personalize it and draw people in.

What are your top five favorite photography blogs?

Matt: There are so many great blogs and websites out there, and we both consume a lot of this media. My subjective top-5 would include Pete Brook’s Prison Photography, LoveBryan, The Photography Post, Asim Rafiqui’s The Spinning Head and The New York Times’s Lens Blog. M. Scott would add Conscientious/Conscientious Redux, Photojournalism Links, APhotoEditor and Too Much Chocolate.

And a great thing is that on each of these sites, they’ll link to dozens of people they follow. It’s very easy and pleasurable to get lost in the great work and passion.

Rachel: This is pretty much an impossible question, because I read so many every day through The Post. But….

• Photographer Grant Cornett’s beautiful, personal work blog.
• Photojournalists Scott Brauer and Matt Lutton keep a brilliant journal.
• A totally amazing political take.
• I’m a sucker for big news shots.
• Also, I’ve always been a sucker for The New Yorker, and they do a nice job here.

Blogs connecting people and ideas make sharing easy. (Photo by Matt Lutton/Serbia)

EXTRA NOTE: I have always wondered what “Dvafoto” means, so I did the natural thing: I spent a few hours fruitlessly combing through Google searches to try to figure it out. Then, finally, I asked Matt. Here’s his explanation:

Glad you asked! It is not d-v-a photo but the Russian number two, “dva.” Dvafoto means “two pictures” in Russian (and Serbian)… coming from both Scott’s and my background/passion for Russian Language/Lit/History. And especially with the first site, where it was two photographs side by side by two photographers, it made a lot of sense. We both studied Russian at the University of Washington, where we met in 2005.