Bloggers illuminated by their screens

I’ve been a blogger for three years and am generally an avid blog reader. Blogs have become my primary source of information, they feed and comfort me. Today, bloggers are even more influential because they analyze and filter information which was not initially evident. Some bloggers are even recognized and respected in their chosen field. I wanted to explore connectivity in the digital age and how we live and use our time. This series shows how bloggers – from dark corners – add value and change people’s interaction with the world.

I firmly believe that bloggers connect and bring us closers. In some ways, bloggers have reversed certain tendencies in our technological age by creating genuine exchanges between bloggers and readers. Blogging is an interactive platform which allows for dialogue and builds relationships both online and offline. The belief that technology is isolating is a widely debated issue – there are without a doubt many positive effects resulting from digital evolution.

I started taking pictures with the idea of allowing viewers to look into this secret garden using computer screens as the only source of light. The concept was to start with one blogger, who would give me a recommendation to someone else on his blogroll. The photographs are  linked in the same way that blogs are linked together online. It’s through our screens – these bright lights – that the world opens up and we find ourselves connected to each other.

By replicating this online concept offline, I recreated a similar relationship between bloggers and readers. As a photographer, I found myself in a position where I see the blogger yet they don’t necessarily see me. I did not realize this symbolism until a blogger pointed that my work identically reproduces the interaction between the blogger and his audience – the reader can see and know who the blogger is, yet the blogger knows very little about the individual readers.

I started this project in the beginning of 2010, but I stopped because of my travels. In fact it was beneficial to pause and edit all the portraits, giving me a chance to stand back and reflect on the project. I’m actually still in the process of editing the photographs. I’d really like to see this series in a gallery.