Accompanying Photographs

Diego Lynx

I have read several places online about the importance of making sure that any photographs you include in your blog postings should match what you're writing about.  If you're writing about frustrations with the writing process, find a photograph with a frustrated writer or someone beating up their computer.  Writing about chocolate? Show pictures of chocolate.  Writing about the ruins of an English monastery?  Show photographs of the ruins of an English monastery.

To help with this, there are countless sites offering stock photography for you to use.  For the most part, you find the stock image site of your choice, enter a keyword search and you can find a free image you can use to give your blog entry a bit of pizazz.

Here's the thing, though: I find stock images on blog posts to be really annoying.

This is primarily because I'm a photographer.  I decided back when I started blogging that I would only blog provided I posted one of my images along with the writing.  I didn't care if the image had anything to do with the written content, only that I liked the image and thought it was good enough to share publicly.  This got me in the habit of having to carry my camera with me and working on my photography.

The photographs I use with my blog are just another part of me.  They show another part of my life, another part of my creative side.

I know this is my choice and not everyone has the interest in doing this for their own blog.  That's fine.  Part of me, though, still sees the generic photos that accompany many blog posts out there as being akin to a Hallmark greeting card attached to their personally crafted content.


What do you think of generic, stock photographs being used on blogs?  Do you like them?  Do you care one way or the other?


-- Tom