Flash in layman’s terms is similar to video. I allows you to stitch together a series of photographs, images, text or just about anything into a nice package that can look fantastic on a website.
The downside to flash for photographers:
Ever come across a great photography site that looks fantastic. The images flow wonderfully. The how site is easy to navigate, it’s a great experience.
But why then is it not on the top of any search engine?
Simple, search engines don’t understand flash. It’s like showing a blind person a book, without Braille. They know what it is, but can’t work out the content.
Braille to the search engine comes in the form of text. And, flash has none.
SEO and flash, can they get along?
Not really. Search engine’s simply can’t see Flash, and, probably never will. Trying SEO on a site built on flash is a virtual waste of time.
Should you dump any notion of using flash?
This depends. If your website is entirely made from flash, and nothing else there are two things that will happen. The search engines will glance over it, and all you content will not be recognized. You will give the majority of your users an nice experience.
If all you are doing is putting up a portfolio to show clients, then go for it.
If you are trying to get as much exposure for yourself on the internet, then you will have to give a website created solely on flash another think.
The future of flash?
Html5 is a code that’s is being seen as the end of Flash. Or at least the end of the need for flash. The argument continues on. Html 5 is new, and while it is, and will be adopted by all, there is still life in flash for a long time to come.
Can you have the best of both worlds?
Yes, you can have a portfolio site that’s made from flash, and have a text version of the site as well. There are pro’s and con’s to this. Including more work, but it can deliver the best of both worlds and is worth a consideration.
Romania has some great undiscovered landscapes. Old rustic farms to rolling hills of green merge to unfold a world from yesteryear. All surrounded by beautiful pine forest.
This unusual Buddhist temple is located in Chiang Mai Thailand. The Silver Temple (Wat Sri Suphan) is, as the name suggests, made from silver. Though the main construction materials are regular they have all been either coated in silver paint or silver sheets.
The Beijing state circus is well worth a visit to in the evening. Try to arrange seats to the front even if the do cost a little more, the show is quite spectacular.
Featuring a cast of incredibly flexible acrobats, you’ll witness people bending their bodies in incredible directions. Jumping through rings of fire. Somersaulting through loops high in the air. And, balancing all manner of things.
In the photograph above the acrobat is balancing empty glasses while spinning around, and then moving into different positions. Later the top glasses will be filled with water, and not a drop will be spilled.
Above the huge great staircase in ancient Persepolis is the propylon (above). The ruins of Persepolis still stand today in magnificent splendor in Iran.
What’s more, Persepolis is one of the few places in the world you can wander around and enjoy retracing the steps of Alexander the Great, Darius and other formidable legends of the past.
Photograph of the main courtyard in the Forbidden City
Built in 1406 Yongle Emperor Zhu Di it became the seat of the Ming Dynasty until 1644. These days it’s no more than a tourist attraction. With scandals such as Starbucks opening inside it, and foreigner only stalls with outlandish prices. Hopefully it’s historical value will come about one day again.
Salvador Dalí is one of the great artists from Spain. A visit to Figueres in Spain, next to the Pyrenees border with France, will show you why. Known for his outlandish works of art. Dalí’s museum is no exception!
The cost of running a travel blog is not often understood in its entirety
How much does it cost to run a travel blog?
Over the past 6 articles I hope I’ve brought an idea into both the workflow of how I write on The Longest Way Home.
I think the myth of quickly uploading a few photos and scrambling together some content has been dissolved.
Everything here takes time & money. Both of which, like anything in life, are finite. And, as such need to addressed.
The cost behind a single published article:
This is hard to give an exact quote on. For many reasons. Primarily because I do try to get many things done at once.
A trip to a market might result in two articles in a location with free wifi. Whereas a trip to a remote area, might mean one article and having to pay for expensive wifi when I get back.
Not to mention many photographs don’t get used, they get saved so that’s not factored in.
So let me tackle this as an average costing, here we go.
Photography costing workflow:
This is my far the biggest expense.
Taking an average photo session of lets say 2 GB of material after the first edit. It may take 6 hours to process everything including backups to external drives.
I like a quiet environment for this. So normally it occurs in a guesthouse room.
Uploading 2 GB to Zenfolio. For this I need internet. 2GB + average shared upload speed = 14 hours of uploading. (this does not take into account breaks in the connection, which are frequent.)
This also requires a constant electricity supply, and, leaving the laptop unattended for periods time. So it has to occur in a private room.
Average cost of room (Asia) USD $10 – $15.
The processing happens at the end of the day, as does the uploading. So, it moves into a second day. Thus, equaling two days total. (it does not factor in additional online photo backups)
Total cost $20-30.
I need sleep, so I do most of this at night if possible. However an increasing number of guesthouses turn their wifi off at night. What’s more. Wifi signals often do not reach a room.
So, I am adding in another $12 for a third day if it means sitting in a common room.
Double up the work for content:
Now comes content writing. Here after a nights sleep, and if the wifi is still active I can produce 1-3 articles. Depending on what’s been happening, and content available.
Few people think about the amount of time they spend online that amounts to the running cost of a travel blog
For the purposes of this work flow, I am including only food & water expenses for being stationary during these days.
Let’s throw in $20 there. And, not include internet costing or accommodation.
Promotion and emailing:
Let’s skip sitting in a guesthouse room for a while. And move onto on the road activity. And, it’s again internet related.
Mobile promotion of an article. Based on Philippines mobile internet costs it’s about $5 per week.
This includes quick email replies. Approving comments. Twitter and Facebook promoting.
Eating and working:
Many places offer free internet where you dine. I find this difficult unless it’s unlimited internet. And, it’s not too expensive.
I generally try to find a coffee place that doesn’t limit you on time. But this is an added expense. $2-3 a cup of java.
Moreover in both places there’s not often an electrical socket.
I use both of the above for comment replies, emailing, and content edits. Rarely, for photo uploading.
I do take advantage of free wifi too. But, again, generally speaking you need to buy something at a place.
Total cost x 2-3 times a week $15
Adding up the costing workflow:
If you add up all the above it comes to $75 per week.
This is not an accurate figure though. It’s not taking into account the fact that I am traveling, and might be in a wifi enabled guesthouse anyway.
I am also not including costs on backup’s of backup’s I mentioned in the Photography workflow.
Another thing not taken into account here is a social life. Maybe I meet some people, and head out for the evening. Is this a lost night of uploading?
So with the greatest respect of making an approximation on this number I’m shooting at $60 per week.
This is based on one photo shoot and two articles along with promotional and content workflows.
That’s one big expense.
Breaking down the costing workflow total:
There are however some other factors not being considered here.
Photographs from one day’s shooting can be used in several future articles and not just 2.
Is it fair to label backups, hosting etc as a travel blog expense? I think it is.
Either way, it’s easy to see that the biggest cost factor in running this travel blog is the photography side of things.
I generally only post between 3 and 4 photos per article of post.
However, in a photo shoot there can be as many as 80-100 photographs.
Do they all get used on the website? No. Do they all need to be backed up and uploaded? Yes.
Alas it’s a catch 22 again based on my predicament of having no base.
Open to suggestions of how you do it, and alternatives?
In the next part of travel blog workflow costings I’ll cover my revenue business workflow? Aka how to recoup some of these expenses, and some rationale behind it all.
Bullet holes in romanian house, Bucharest, Romania
Bullet holes in Bucharest, Romania
Travel Photography from Romania:
December 21, 1989 saw the capital of Romania, Bucharest fall into a revolution as then President Nicolae Ceausescu
felt the wrath of the Romanian people. City after city broke down as the people called for the end of his regime.
Ceau?escu fled to different residences via helicopter over the next few days. Only to be finally captured under charges of illegal plunder and genocide. A short trial was held, and both Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were executed on December 25th 1989.
