Every time I look at the steelworkers above I wish I could step into the picture and talk to them because I have a ton of questions that I need answered and I don’t want to use old Doc Google to get them.
That is because sometimes we want to connect with others. Sometimes we want to look them in the eye and hear them tell you about how they got their job, if they are ever afraid of heights, what happens if they need to use the bathroom and have they ever accidentally dropped their lunch.
I want their voices, their expressions and their words to color in this photo.
Every Communicator Needs a Real Camera
Geoff makes a case for why communicators need a real camera. I find it compelling for multiple reasons both personal and professional.
The primary one is rooted in my desire to expand and improve my skills as a storyteller and communicator. Every time I share a story I try to verbally paint the picture I see in my head and I do the same every time I write one.
I own several simple point and shoot digital cameras and an old Nikon DSLR that I inherited. Sometimes I’ll use my own shots here on the blog but that doesn’t happen real often. It is a combination of I don’t like the quality or I don’t think it is appropriate for the post.
So I tend to use something from Photodropper or Zemanta but my preference would always be to use my own stuff, to have ownership of any and all media that is used here.
It would make it easier to make sure there aren’t any copyright issues ever.
Speaking of copyright issues I have avoided using the now “free” Getty images because I am not comfortable with the way the program works now, but we’ll cover that at a different time.
A Different Time
Those three words are chapping my hide now because they remind me of all that I want to accomplish and how little time I have to get it done. They remind me that my laundry list includes cooking and photography classes, travel and an enormous amount of reading and writing.
Why?
Because all of these things tie into personal and professional goals. If I want to become a better communicator learning how to take better photographs makes perfect sense. If a picture is worth 1,000 words why wouldn’t I want to learn more about it.
If I want to be a better writer than it makes sense to put myself in a position to have more experiences. Experiences are blog fodder. Experiences are the moments that make up a life and though I have had tons I haven’t had nearly enough.
And I especially want to do more and see more with my kids. My children need more time to see more of the world and to benefit from the life experiences that come with those.
“Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost“- J.R.R. Tolkien
Some of you have been a part of the journey for a while now. Remember  The 100 Year Old Penny and how I talked about semi anonymity (yeah, I see you guys in the stats trying to figure out who I am) and how I talked about wandering with purpose?
Well one of the nicest parts of blogging is how it enables us to look back and measure our progress and I am grateful for that. I am grateful for being able to read blog posts about my children when they were little and less little. I am grateful for being able to read posts about my grandparents when they were still around and not just posts about empty tables.
It is truly surreal to me that they are all gone now and my siblings and I have moved up the old generation chart. We are not the kids any more, we are in the place our parents used to occupy and our parents have moved into our parents position.
That 100 year-old penny I found generated many of the same thoughts as the guys in the picture in this post.
If A Penny Could Speak
If a penny could speak what stories would it tell? In whose pocket or sweaty palm did it find itself in? Would they be famous or ordinary people?
Would it tell me that presidents had held it? Would it tell me about hanging out with Einstein and Salk? Would it talk about being with Mantle or DiMaggio?
Or would I hear stories about it hanging out with thieves, murderers and associated sociopaths?
There are stories to be told and even if it had nothing but tales of young children who used it to buy dime store candy I would be interested.
People Scream In Cyberspace But Nobody Listens
Sometimes people email me  to tell me they are sorry but they have to unsubscribe because I publish too much content. Part of me feels badly about this. My fragile male ego wonders why they had to go and part of me says so what, better to have the die hards, better to have the people that really want to be here.
And then comes days like today where I check my stats and see traffic has plummeted and I wonder if Google has penalized me. I suppose I could check Google Webmaster Tools and see if there are any notes. Maybe some spammer got through the filters and tied on some nasty links.
Commenting may not be what it once was but the spam is coming in huge buckets of gunk but I don’t care. I just empty the spam folder and go about my business.
I keep writing first for me and then for you. I keep plugging away doing my best to improve and telling myself that organic growth is always best.
And then I take a quick tour of the blogosphere and I read some posts here and there and my reaction is sometimes People Scream In Cyberspace But Nobody Listens.
They share their deepest secrets and chase the demons from their heads and no one says a word.
If I was going to do that I wonder what picture would I want to take to go with it.
geoffliving  It is so noisy and so cluttered we have to consistently look for tools/resources to hold someone’s attention.
I have been going through my posts to slowly try and add photos to all of those that don’t have one because it makes such a difference. I hear you about the royalty check, I am typically a fan of cash over exposure.
I think telling a story with a photograph is just an awesome way to stand out today. It’s hard to make compelling stories findable today. Great headlines like yours work, but with images becoming an increasing part of the feed I think it’s becoming a must have. The Getty Images thing is a disaster, though, I’ll take my royalty check!