"Urgent" Copyright Andy Marfia 2008. Featured on Gapers Block 10/15/08
Gapers Block turned 10 years old this week, and I just wanted to give them a hearty blogging congratulations! I've been a contributor to their Rearview photo blog since 2005. I don't let many people use my photos for free, but Gapers Block is on that list because I like their Chicago focus, the exposure certainly doesn't hurt, and Andrew Huff and everyone whom I've met through that publication are all really nice people.
In fact, I partially credit Gapers Block for my resurgence as a photographer. A quick story: though I had been dabbling with film since the late 90s, my interest in photography had mostly waned by 2005. Two things happened around that time: I bought my first DSLR, and an ex-girlfriend who-shall-not-be-named told me about this local blog I had never heard of, named after a traffic slow-down. They had published one of her photos, she bragged. Well, I thought, if her photograph could be featured, I wanted one too!
After a bit of research, I found out they were accepting submissions through flickr, another web site that was new to me. I promptly set up an account, and eight years later I still use flickr pretty religiously, and I still submit photos to the Gapers Block flickr pool. Sure, I've been published elsewhere, but Gapers Block was the first, and I'm grateful for that.
So to summarize, if you're looking to get back into photography, this is what worked for me:
1) Date the wrong girl, 2) get jealous over a photo submission, 3) find Gapers Block, 4) find flickr, 5) obsess about photography forever.
Hey, whatever works, right?
You can find most of my Rearview photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abmarfia/tags/gapersblock/.
"no entry to the golden city" Copyright Andy Marfia 2010. Featured on Gapers Block 07/26/10
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