5 Years of Photoblogging

I started Film Photography for the 21st Century in 2014.  I’m not entirely sure what my intention was.  But you may have noticed that my subject matter and frequency of posting waiver fairly wildly.  I know this isn’t what’s recommended to be a successful blogger but hey, I just appreciate your readership as I continue to sort out what it is I’m doing here!  And maybe you can chime in and let me know what you’d like to see more of.

Anyway, in looking at my stats, it’s very clear that the film photography community prefers my camera reviews than my attempts at journalism, but I’m not giving up yet!

My Ode to the Humble Nikon FM2n

One of my first blogs, My Ode to the Humble Nikon FM2n still gets a majority of my traffic.  And 5 years later, my FM2n bodes are still regular shooters.  These will certainly be lifelong use cameras, so long as they hold up!  And I believe that they will.

In a similar vain is another of my favourite blogs, Defending the Nikon FM10.  I still see this blog cited, by others, not just myself (!) in discussions of the FM10 and Cosina legacy cameras.  I think that this is a body that will remain a center of controversy and therefore people will keep finding use in articles about it.

Behold, the Konica III

Behold, the Konica III has been backlinked to in other Konica blogs several times.  I read over it now and am very happy with the photographs and the enthusiasm with which I wrote it.  I haven’t been so excited about a camera since.  Thanks to Filmosaur, Mike Eckman and Jim Grey for the support!

I’ll also never forget when MiNT Camera reposted my review of their TL70 and the CEO personally emailed me to thank me for my feedback!

The blogs that were most important to me though, were the ones where I played journalist.  They don’t seem to pull the traffic that camera reviews do, but these projects are what my photography aspires towards.

In 2016 I broke a national news story with the help of Buzzfeed, regarding a transgender teen being removed from a Ted Cruz rally in my blog, A Turbulent Cruz in Frederick.  My coverage of the story also sparked another blogger to accuse me of conspiracy!

Hillary in Harrisburg

Next, I covered a Hillary Clinton rally, hopeful of her election as U.S. President.  Well, we all know how that turned out!

Rockin’ Out with Kodak TMAX P3200

In March, Kodak sent me some of their newly rebooted P3200 film and I photographed a local band with it.  Rockin’ Out with Kodak TMAX P3200 was picked up and republished by Petapixel.  I took a lot of shit in the comments section, as often happens to film shooters on that site, but I’m most grateful for photogs like Steve Bleistein who, in his Emulsive article, cited my work as inspiration to use this awesome film!

And I feel like I helped some 120 shooters by interviewing a Kodak representative about their new backing paper.  This blog was picked up by Film Photography Project.

It was an honor to interview movie and television photographer William Gray this year.  WOW, I can’t believe Natalie Portman is part of my blog now!  And I have some more interviews with other influencer film shooters coming soon.

Interview with Production Photographer, William Gray

I hope I’ve managed to keep your attention and I’ll try to keep providing useful, inspiring and fun content for the us 21st Century Film Photographers.

Thanks so much for reading!  And let me know if there’s anything, or anyone, you’d like me to feature!

Follow, Favorite, Like, Add, Contact Johnny Martyr