Book Reviews

Blogging For Photographers; Showcase Your Creativity & Build Your Audience; by Jolie O’Dell; Focal Press, www.focalpress.com; $24.95; (ISBN: 978-0-415-66266-6)
With the swift advances and the continuing simplification of technology (smart phones, laptops, tablets and more), the Internet has been transformed into the ideal venue for artists of all sorts. The Internet can now be used as a gallery and a marketplace with unlimited potential. As a result, photographers by the thousands flock to various sites to showcase and share their work while others build their own websites to advertise their studio and attract new clients. With the potential to be seen by—very literally—millions of people, this is a wonderfully golden opportunity but for the beginner it can also be a bit confusing as to exactly where and how to get started.

Jolie O’Dell’s book Blogging For Photographers: Showcase Your Creativity & Build Your Audience can easily and expertly guide you down the path to success. It begins with the basics like the hardware you’ll need, blogging using your smart phone and how to make the most of various image-editing programs. O’Dell then moves on to building your blog with themes, templates and widgets and choosing a URL. She then moves on to explain how to make your blog come to life by choosing what your topic will be, using social networking and ways to make your new blog profitable. What I find invaluable is the addition of a Resources chapter at the end of the book that lists sites that you’ll find helpful to your blog and a glossary of useful terms in case the language of the Internet is Greek to you.