I started blogging way back when, in summer 2013, when the blogging world was a much simpler place. Camera phones were sufficient for outfit pics, blogs looked pretty basic, as opposed to the sites we see in 2017 that could give Vogue.co.uk a run for its money. I already had an SLR before I started blogging from my school days, as I did a lot of art & photography. And similarly, I had bought a macbook during those years too to get me through my coursework. So I was pretty set up to start a blog, I didn’t buy anything specifically to start posting. I used the trusty SLR I already had, just later saving up investing in the odd new lens to improve my shots, but n3othing to break the bank.
Back in May, said trusty SLR died a death. I’d had it for a good 5-6 years, and used it religiously for my blog and otherwise. It was a sad time, but it forced me to focus on my photography a little more, and actually get a new camera, which is an idea that I’d been toying with for a while but didn’t want to commit to before. Standard. So, ahead I went and took the plunge and spent a little more than I was comfortable with on a new camera. And in case that wasn’t enough, I obviously needed the additional lens for those blurry backgrounds. Der?
Now all of that is great. A little ( o r a l o t ) painful on my bank account. But I was set up now for my next blogging chapter. Right? Wrong. June came around, and my beloved MacBook Pro started going downhill pretty rapidly. My keyboard/ trackpad are broken so I’m currently using a pretty embarrassing plug in keyboard/ mouse sitch. Definitely not instagrammable, ya’know what I mean.. And I definitely do not have the funds to just replace a Macbook in a heartbeat, I’m sure plenty of you will feel me there. Basically, that rainy day we always save for (a bit) happened. I had a storm to get through with my camera. And just when I thought I’d dried up again, it started to pour.
Now, I know, I know, these are serious first world problems. And trust me, I put my moans into perspective against the rest of the world on a regular basis. I know even without a macbook and a camera, I’m still incredibly lucky to have a roof over my head and food in the fridge. But this post is solely focussing on the fact that I’m feeling serious pressure to keep up with the blogging industry. As I said, I started my blog 4 years ago, and there were really no standards back then. People didn’t judge you if you didn’t use a macbook, or avoid your posts if that perfect (and completely un-natural) flat-lay or blurry background was no where to be seen. Nowadays that is the bare minimum that we seem to have to meet to ‘qualify’ as a blogger. Madness I heard you say ?… and I completely agree.
I read a pretty fab post by Chloe a while ago, about how blogging has become a task for the middle class. And honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it until I stumbled across Chloe’s post, and then suddenly, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s unfortunately true. Obviously you can write a blog post on your old school laptop and take outfit pictures on your phone, it is possible. But is it good enough? Let’s be real, probably not. The epic quality of images and content we see from bloggers nowadays is pretty much editorial magazine standard in a lot of cases. It is the new media. And because of that, the quality is escalating at a rapid pace, along with the pressure bloggers feel as a result. As great as it is to see blogging become such a force to be reckoned with in the mainstream media, unfortunately it is also making a lot of smaller bloggers feel inadequate and pushed out of the blogging community- which in my personal opinion, isn’t the same supportive community as it was a few years back either, probably for the same reasons. The nature of the beast is ultimately competition, survival of the fittest. She (or he) who takes the most badass shots, edits them to perfection on their iMac, writes the most gripping and witting post with the best clickbait headline, will win.
I love having this space of the internet, I love taking outfit pictures, I love experimenting with new looks, I love rambling into an empty blog post and filing it somehow into a readable chunk of information to post. Blogging isn’t my job, and doing it around a full time career is tiring and hard to fit in at times- sometimes you just want to come home and slob around with a glass of red wine ya’know? But if I don’t love blogging, I wouldn’t bother. I wouldn’t invest any time or money into it, but I do. And the fear of a new macbook is hanging over me but it’s something I’ll have to be savvy and save for later this year, because I don’t think I can live without one (once you go mac, you never go back). It’s not, by any means, a life necessity, or in fact a blog necessity, but it’s how I blog, and that’s my hobby, like another mans running club. The way the blogging world is evolving, and we all gotta’ do what we gotta’ do to keep up, and keep enjoying it.
K x
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