These Traces | A Newsletter
As a card carrying geek, I’ve always felt very comfortable juggling RSS feeds in various apps to manage the content I wanted to read on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Over the years I tried out various platforms, eventually settling on Feedly (1), mainly because I liked its visual approach to content (as opposed to the more iTunes-like list view found in many other readers). But I’ve always been aware that this wasn’t necessarily obvious to everyone. So once in awhile I’d receive an email asking how to get alerted to new posts or subscribing to the blog...and I’d usually spend a bit of time explaining that whole RSS deal and how to use it.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago when I finally decided to set up a “newsletter”. I put the word in quotes because frankly, it was little more than a glorified automated RSS alert system: new blog post = trigger = send. The resulting email however, was a pretty ugly affair—an excerpt of the new story with a couple of links to recent posts thrown in for good measure. Nothing to write home about. Which is why I didn’t: I just posted a form on the homepage and left it there to be discovered...or not; I didn’t feel it was worth mentioning.
Today I’m changing this.
New Outlet. New Scope.
The newsletter now has a name: These Traces. It refers to our inherent quest as photographers, to our place in the universe as documentarians and storytellers—whether we’re aware of it or not. No matter what our approach is, no matter how serious our pursuit, we are leaving traces behind that will define our lives for others. The newsletter now follows a specific schedule: every two weeks, on Thursdays. And much more importantly, it will now deliver its own distinct content as well—no more dumb triggers. I see it as an extension of the blog, an outlet that will allow me to write about topics I may have previously dismissed—a curation of interesting links/articles for instance; tools and apps I use; short commentary about articles, events, material I’m reading or...anything interesting I run across. And FYI: nothing political. That’s a rabbit hole I want to steer away from, even if it burns my soul to its core. Life’s too short.
Certain elements will be recurrent. Each issue will feature a previously unpublished image, its metadata and a short backstory, either purely technical or impressionistic. It will of course also include an overview of recent blog posts, so if you’ve missed anything you’ll be able to easily catch up. Basically, I want you and I to get something out of it.
At this point you’re probably thinking: oh...here it comes...there’s a price tag. Nope. These Traces is a freebie. I’ve given myself a mission this year to Publish (with a capital P)—and there’s quite a bit in the pipeline on that front. But I see this one as a very personal exercise, about discipline, expansion, creativity and allowing thoughts to flow on a regular basis. I do hope you’ll join me:
If you were subscribed to the old newsletter, you’ve been migrated. You’ve already gotten a glimpse of what’s ahead and I’ve shared some of these thoughts with you. For everyone else, These Traces officially launches next Thursday, February 20th.
Here’s to treading new ground...
P.S This should be obvious but I want to make it perfectly clear: emails will never be used or shared for anything outside of this newsletter. You can unsubscribe at anytime and that’ll be the end of that. We will still be friends, promise ;)
P.P.S Images shot with the X-Pro3 and XF 35mm f/1.4 R. That’s kinda my goto these days.
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1. I’m still hanging on to what’s now called Feedly Classic though. Sadly, not a fan of the updated version.
