The dark side of an ego-blog

For English readers, sorry for the delay;)

Poses, different places and lots, lots of clothes. These are some of the keywords related to a breaking phenomenon in the fashion blogsphere: egoblogs. Their owners are responsible for creating original looks with many garments we already have in our closets, what implies they´re a huge source of inspiration.

Many of these girls are worlwide known, but an extra task must be added to the personal style, a task that often keeps a low profile. What is behind a click of the mouse to pick a picture? And above all, what is behind this kind of blogs?

Not only the moon of Pink Foyd has a dark side, but egoblogs too. They´re not expert photographers. Instead, they work in engineering or advertisment for a living. Before the creation of the blog, some of them already had a previous knowledge of photography, like Diego, Collage Vintage photographer, thanks to a subject of his degree. As time goes by, they have been developing a hobby they try to improve day a day: "I read photography blogs, magazines, search on the Internet... but the way I learn more is by trying different things and making mistakes" declares Pablo, of Soft&Grey.

Altough they all agree with the fact that their photographer skills are getting better, they also say they still have a long way to go. Blake Brysha, from the USA blog On the Racks, claims that "I don’t think I’ve ever been thrilled with the pictures I shoot and by the time I load them up on the computer, I always notice something that I could have done differently to make them improve." For this online marketing expert, "it’s human nature to be overly critical of your own work, no matter what you do, but I also think it’s how we getter better", a point of view that Pablo, from Soft&Grey, also shares: "what in the beginning I tought it was a good result, right now it´s unacceptable for me".

Sometimes is the own blogger the one who teaches the photographer how to take the first steps, like the case of Estefa, from Soft&Grey, or Cristina Morales, author of the blog La Petite Nymphéa. For María, Cristina´s little sister and also photographer of the blog, posts have been very useful because she has learnt that "behind a pic there´s always a previous thought and several steps to follow; not always the first shoot is the right one". And in this phrase agree all of them because they have stated that at least 100 photos are taken for each post. 

Plenty of these images we see when surfing the net are pretty gorgeous, but to the talent or the learning of these amateur photographers we must join a good support material. For some of them a reflex camera is essential for a good quality result, but others like Blake Brysha prefer a personal style rather than a good camera: "More than anything I just think you need to find some sort of style of your own, own it, and constantly try to improve it, no matter what hardware you’re working with", refering to alternative materials such as smartphones or tablets.

While taking a picture, we must bear in mind what we are photographing. According to all the declarations, poses are chosen by the blogger, what gives a natural vibe to the photo. Looks are chosen by the models too, tough Diego and Pablo coincide that "they give some advice when they are asked about".

The choice of places is another kettle of fish. Living in big cities like Madrid or New York are a great advantage because "there are endless posibilites", as Diego from Collage Vintage says. However, as María remarks, the fact of looking for alternative things for a blog is a "big headache", especially the location: "my sister doesn´t want (and I agree with her) her posts to be tedious, or to take pictures in crowded places".

All these aspects contribute to make a blog successfully. A success with many hours of hard work behind that has provoked not only being fond of the blog, like all photographers have admit, but also their own  involvement into the fashion world, especially into the blogsphere.

But a question has to be considered: which is the cause of sharing this passion with a fashion addicted, a person who is mad about clothes? In many cases, the photographer is the own couple, so the answer is really easy: the love to the other person, as Pablo suggest: "you can´t understand a personality without that "something" it belongs to". Nontheless, it´s a kind of love that goes a step further, as Blake Brysha asserts: "it´s really a matter of loving what you are doing and who you´re doing it with". This is the distinctive that gives sense to a blog. And, after all, what contributes to make it unique in the whole world.

Pictures from,  La Petite Nymphéa, Soft&Grey, Collage Vintage and On the Racks are the favourite ones or they are in the favourite sets of the respective photographers.