Where do I want to go with my blog?!?!

In the beginning of August, I attended Blographer and BlogHer ’12 in NYC.  I went into these conferences with a question, Where do I want to go with my blog?  Ads?  Do I want it to monetize it?  Self hosting?  I have been blogging since March 2011 and loving it.  It is my creative outlet for my photography.

On the Thursday before BlogHer ’12, I attended Blographer.  It was a conference that Adorama hosted for the day.  WOW!!!  It was exactly what I needed.  The presenters were great and it gave me the vision that I needed.  Lotus Carroll, a Blogger/Photographer, from Austin, TX spoke about she had ads on her blog at one time and felt as though it stifled her blogging.  She couldn’t blog about certain things, because she would lose some ads. She decided to take them down.  That hit home for me.  It was at that moment I decided I didn’t want to monetize my blog, but instead pursue selling my photography and photography jobs (engagement, family, events).   I started this blog to spread laughter, fun and love.  I want to be in 100% control of what I post.   I have taken photography classes at Allure West Studios in Doylestown, which has allowed me to develop my photography.  Because of the photography classes I have taken, when at Blographer, I wasn’t lost when they were talking about photography techniques.  Also, while there I made the decision to start upgrading my lenses.  Starting to save NOW!  Thank you everyone for being so helpful.

With having made the decision to pursue my photography, it changed how I approached BlogHer ’12.  For me attending this conference by myself was a little overwhelming.  It was a conference of over 5,000 bloggers.  I am glad that I have attended many conferences in my professional career, so I knew what to do.  I looked at the agenda and attended workshops that were things I wanted to learn about:  self hosting (don’t think I am going to do), celebrating small blogs, and a photography workshop!  Also, I attended the keynotes.  They were great:  Martha Stewart and Katie Couric.  There was a panel discussion led by Soledad O’Brien, which I loved to hear from Christy Turlington.  Great experience and got what I wanted out of the conference.

On Sunday morning, I walked around Central Park (I will blog about it) and went to the train.  And to my surprise, my BlogHer experience wasn’t over!  While on the train, I met Miss Lori.  We were two passengers trying to get on the train with our bags from the conference, which mine was filled with swag!  Thank you Miss Lori for your time and words of wisdom.  I look forward to following you and advancing my blogging/photography career!  You never know who you are going to meet when you least expect it.

I am EXTREMELY excited about the future of “TRAVEL WITH LAUGHTER”!   Thank you everyone who has supported me and I look forward to continuing the blog.

“Travel with Laughter”