Chase Jarvis Blog: Top 20 Photography Blogs According To Some Math

Top 20 Photography Blogs According To Some Math

6/15/2009 01:00:00 PM

Thought y'all might be interested in a list of the top photography blogs (according to some math) that was recently forwarded to me unsolicited from Invesp Consulting, a firm specializing in internet data. According to them, the ranking was established "using 16 different criteria and an algorithm that took 8 months to develop...and from a sample of 20,000 photo blogs". Links to all the top 20, plus a hundred or so others, after the jump . If some of these sites aren't one your list, check them out and consider subscribing. [Click the 'continue reading' link below.]

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1. Digital Photography School
2. Strobist
3. DIYPhotography.net
4. The Luminous Landscape
5. Digital Camera Reviews & Photography Tips
6. PopPhoto: Tests & Reviews
7. Digital Camera Reviews, Ratings, Tips and Comparisons
8. Chase Jarvis Blog
9. 1001 Noisy Cameras
10 A Photo Editor
11. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips
12. Photography Served Featured Projects
13. Pro Photo Life
14. Photojojo
15. Shoot the Blog
16. Photoshop User TV
17. TwipPhoto.com
18. Pioneer Women Photography - Ree Drummond
19. Joe McNally's Blog
20. JMG Galleries - Jim Goldstein

More after the jump. [Click the 'continue reading' link below.]

Remember this list is just by somebody's math and is not my list, nor should it be yours definitively. It's a by the numbers approach that some might find useful.

Of note is that a lot of these blogs are gear, tech, and how-to related...all important for sure, but that said, I'd encourage you not to get too hung up on gear and specific how-to stuff. It's addicting and easy to do that online, but it's only a fragment of the picture.

Instead, consider seeking out some blogs that also reveal a wider range of subject matter. Elements of creative culture, mindset, vision, approach and the numerous other elements of photography, film, or art that are arguably the most important elements of these crafts. IMHO, you'll find that info more readily from the blogs of independent creatives, ADs, PEs, and art sites than you will from some other, more-easily-stumbled-upon blogs. But that's just my 2 cents.

Spend some time digging deeper, lemme know if you have favs, report back. I'd love to see more independent artists higher on this list in the future.

Here's all the data and results by category that Invesp used, with links to a hundred or more photo blogs.

Labels: profile

50 Comments:

Ryan said...: So what are your top 20?; 1:39 PM
Keith Taylor Photography said...: This post has been removed by the author.; 1:43 PM
Keith Taylor Photography said...: Chase,

Check out Don's blog here:

http://www.lighting-essentials.com/

He always post great insight that deals with the bigger picture when it comes to photography - it's a great source of information. He is a great teacher.

Keith Taylor

http://www.keithtaylorphotography.com

Also - check out my blog if you like. I don't post as often as I should - but when I do I always try and put something in that is of value to somebody that is interested in photography without out geeking out about gear.; 1:45 PM
Ilan said...: Pretty cool list. Was bit surprised to find my blog on few of those tables :); 1:52 PM
Nick said...: My favorite photography blog is "The Online Photographer" at http://www.theonlinephotographer.com

Good stuff. I enjoy reading it as it's about photography. Not how to take better pictures, or how to use photoshop or lightroom, or what camera beats that pants off of another camera. Sort of a wide angle view of photography.

Highly recommended.; 1:55 PM
Stephen said...: ha, DPS, Strobist, Jarvis, and McNally. The only 4 I read are in the top 20 :P; 2:10 PM
Jamie Orillion said...: very interesting list.; 2:12 PM
Ed Z said...: Some more "artistic" photoblogs I like:

What the Jackanory: http://www.whatsthejackanory.com/

Conscientious - http://jmcolberg.com/weblog

Don Giannatti - http://www.lighting-essentials.com/

T.O.P - http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/blog_index.html

A Visual Society - http://www.avisualsociety.com/

Kirk Tuck - http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/

Hey Hot Shot! - http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/

Zack Arias - http://www.zarias.com/

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't shamelessly plug my own:

F/1.0 - http://www.f1point0.com/blog; 2:26 PM
Dustin Schmidt said...: Jonathan Saunders blog, I Like To Tell Stories is fantastic. Not surprised it's not on the numbers list. It's more of a thinking man's blog, but appreciated by those in the know. Recent recognition at this year's Webby's brought it some of the attention it deserves.

http://www.iliketotellstories.com/; 2:32 PM
Paul Pomeroy said...: Quite a few of those top 20 are included in Aphlog (A Photography Log), a really nice link aggregator for photographers.; 2:33 PM
Johanna said...: Interesting list.
Congratulations on beeing number 8. :)

- Keep it up; 2:38 PM
sandra said...: My favorite, and a daily read is shuttersisters.com. Creative photography from a woman's perspective.; 2:57 PM
Ryan Smith said...: It's not on the list but I highly recommend Heather Morton's blog at

http://www.heathermorton.ca/blog/

Although relatively new, I also recommend my own blog here:

http://www.usplayingwork.blogspot.com/; 3:05 PM
Jerome Love said...: great list, thanks for sharing!; 3:44 PM
Shelby said...: I thought this was going to be your top 20...how about that? Post your top 20 blogs that you read.; 3:59 PM
Slippery When Wet said...: Zack Arias http://www.zarias.com/

Melissa Rodwell http://fashionphotographyblog.com/

Bert Stephani and Pieter Van Impe http://www.squeezethelime.com/about/

James Danziger http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/

Not totally photography but he is hitting the photo/video convergence thing pretty well

Stu Maschwitz http://prolost.com/about/

Stu Maschwitz; 4:08 PM
Blackey Cole said...: I like to add a few blogs that I visit regularly to so your readers will know about them also, plus my blog which I am getting up and running and try to post something useful to each week. I am working on finding my niche. So some C&C would be welcome.

First the two that I feel needs mentioning. DigitalProTalk.com ran by David Ziser. He gives excellent tips for lighting and running a photography business especially for wedding photogs. Next would be PhotoshopInsider.com ran by the one and only Scott Kelby. His post run the gambit from Lighting to equipment to post production. He also has a guest blogger every Wednesday. So there are a couple of great blogs to read.

You can find mine at circlew.wordpress.com. I blog about various things namely photography and my life. I cover topics for photography, p[ost photos for C&C, blog about the VA Medical system, and finally about my other hobby which is shooting, namely Cowboy action Shooting.; 4:25 PM
Mike Yip said...: Nice list. :D Do share with us YOUR list.; 4:31 PM
Aimee Greeblemonkey said...: I am a big big big fan of Darren's DPS. Especially after the redesign. And Ree (Pioneer Woman) is amazing.; 5:00 PM
Scott said...: I start every day with CJ.
It's like having 44oz Irish Coffee, but without the subsequent sloppiness and crazed raving.; 5:42 PM
Lenn Long said...: Interesting. I was surprised not to see John Harrington's PhotoBusinessForum as well as Aaron's WhatTheDuck.net; 7:15 PM
StephenElliot said...: Um, I'm gonna question their math on this one. If they supposedly spent 8 months developing this algorithm, then how does one explain the fact that their list doesn't contain a number 16??; 8:08 PM
jeremy said...: no8 is the greatest; 8:28 PM
Jeffrey Friedl said...: Their research seems sort of suspect.... if they were to include my blog, it would appear at #14 on the RSS list, which seems unrealistically high.

(I have a lot of Japan-related artsy-fartsy photography on my blog, but I don't consider it a photo blog, so it's proper not being on the list, but I can't imagine it'd rank that high if it were, so I find their research unrelistic.); 9:59 PM
udi tirosh said...: Chase,
would love to know your top 5.
udi; 10:46 PM
Aaron Hockley said...: I'd never seen/heard of Pro Photo Life before (#13) so I headed over the to check it out... and found out that it hadn't been updated in five months.

IMHO, a blog that hasn't been updated in five months is dead.; 11:00 PM
Me said...: Chase,
I agree, less tech and more general art inspiration is what you need to keep things fresh.
Here are a couple of my favs:

http://www.booooooom.com

http://www.aperture.org/exposures

http://iheartphotograph.blogspot.com

http://ffffound.com

and of course a completely selfish plug:
http://gwinterbottomphoto.blogspot.com; 11:33 PM
Ruud Welten said...: Thanks for sharing this list Chase! Too bad they go on bragging about their awesome algorythm ... but it's definitely worth a look!; 1:55 AM
Clark Griffiths said...: The two that I have found to be the most beneficial for me have been aphotoeditor.com and Nick Onken's blog shoptalk. These two really focus on the business side of photography. Onken's blog also focuses on the creative process and speaking bluntly on what it takes to make it in the business.; 5:21 AM
Anonymous said...: This guys is funny and smart, should be on every list:

http://www.onewordphotography.com/blog/

I also vote for:

http://blog.jonathancastner.com/field_notes_and_late_nigh/

and:

http://blog.johnloomis.com/; 6:49 AM
www.robhammerphotography.com said...: thanks. got a lot of reading to do.; 7:01 AM
fas said...: Darrens blog is really awesome. No wonder he is the problogger and DPS comes 1st.; 7:35 AM
Tim said...: Thanks Chase. As a beginner, this will be a big help as I investigate and learn.; 9:43 AM
photo retouching said...: A really useful article to find all the best blogs. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do!; 10:12 AM
Ryan said...: Would love to see your top 20. I subscribe to a lot of flickr posts via RSS.; 10:37 AM
Ben Olivares said...: Great list, congrats for your rank, I think Zack Arias and Melissa Rodwell should be on that list.

http://fashionphotographyblog.com/
http://www.zarias.com/; 10:56 AM
Katie Wilkins said...: Still, you're above "The Photo Editor"!! Kudos buddy!; 11:12 AM
Stefan Tell said...: Interesting lists, but it would be helpful if they could make more specific categories (or sub-categories), now some of the tops spots are held by blogs that feels more like review archives or just consumer oriented guides.

But, good links nonetheless. Especially with the different metrics that lets niche blogs get in here and there.; 12:30 AM
Ryan Marr said...: The Atheist Poncho made the list!

That's exciting.; 9:15 AM
Martin said...: For the french speaking people, here is a site I read.

www.time2shoot.com; 3:56 AM
Rich Green said...: I vote for John Harrington's - http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/; 10:30 AM
Anonymous said...: Thats great Chase....My eyes must be going but I cant believe scottKelby.com is not on there.; 10:55 AM
Restless Nic said...: A lot of good blog suggestions have already been offered, one I didn't see and one of my favorites is Zeke Kamm's "Nice" at:

http://www.nicephotomag.com/

Funny, informative and inspirational in a kick in the butt sort of way.; 3:47 AM
KEVIN WINZELER PHOTOGRAPHY // said...: I haven't seen this one listed yet, which also has very cool imagery: The Big Picture

I've been enjoying blogging a bit more myself as well: Kevin Winzeler Photography; 6:29 PM
Michael said...: Pro Photo Life has ton of great videos. That's why the site is still popular.

A site does not have to be updated daily, as long as it have great articles and videos.; 7:34 AM
bryan said...: Interesting Photo and videos...; 11:08 PM
MatrixCateringEquipment said...: Pretty cool list. :); 8:23 AM
oana H said...: What do you say about this one.

http://manic-light.blogspot.com/

I know it's a the beginning but I would really like to hear your opinion.

Best regards; 3:18 AM
Wilhelm said...: cool list. I hope you keep up your good posts to climb to the top!; 12:31 PM
Shamima Sultana said...: very lovely...; 9:53 PM