I’ve been working on updating this site for a little while now, trying to think of the ways in which i can not only make this site an expression of how i think and write but also be a visual representation of my journey. Part of this visual expression is through my phototagraphy. Like many people i take photos whenever i travel somewhere. But for me, i try to be more intentional about when and what i take photos of. My memory is not what it used to be and i tend to forget things easily. So when a moment comes that makes me feel or think of something i’d liek to remember, i try to make sure to take a photo. In trying to get better at photography and capturing other moments and beautiful things, i’ve also fallen for the idea of just capturing moments, without any intention other than because it’s there.
How do i showcase this though? How do i put it out there in a way that makes sense to me? I already have my photography blog on Tumblr, and i’ve shared different posts that include my photography and travel photos. I’ve even created these little posts i was going to call “Snapshots” that are some writings up of the places i’m travelling around in but predominantly showing some of the photos from these places.
That didn’t strike me as the right approach however. Some of the photos i’ve taken are of distinct moments and themes at the time that made sense or are just nice photos i want to have out there. Trying to categorise them or put them in some specific post related to a specific theme or location didn’t seem entirely right to me either.
The solution that i eventually arrived at was a two-fold one, Rolls and Trips. These are new ways for me to try and express these ideas of mine, of sharing my photography across my travels but extending that even further to what i write about and where i write these things. I’m writing up a larger piece around this, so i won’t delve into it too deep for now.
But it was in the thinking around these themes and ideas that i asked myself what this place really is becoming. It was always going to be a home for my writings and photos, but what type of site it is, it’s “identity” of sort out in the wider web is what got my gears turning.
A digital garden is a close candidate. It’s what people reach to describe something as when something isn’t quite a blog either. But digital gardens imply tending of notes and ideas that evolve over time. These evolve over time and often link together other ideas and pieces of writing. But that’s not what this site is, though certainly i borrow heavily from that philosophy with my Notions. My intent is most definitely not to cultivate things in that manner.
A blog however feels even further off than a digital garden. A blog has a reader in mind from the start. Posts are artifacts, published to be consumed. I don’t think i write like that, or at least i don’t want to nor intend to.
What i keep coming back to is that this is just… a home. Somewhere to put things. Some of those things are finished and some of them aren’t, and some of them might never be, and that feels fine. A home doesn’t have to justify its rooms.
The problem is that a “personal site” doesn’t really capture it either, because that phrase has become so generic it has practically lost its meaning. Everyone and their grandmother with a portfolio and a contact form has a personal site.
Maybe the more honest and direct framing is that this site follows closer to the shape of how i think, which is across many themes and ideas of which most are half-formed at best. My travel notes sit next to writings embracing local-file philosophy which sits next to a film note which sits next to an observation about privileges. This isn’t because i’m trying to be eclectic for the sake of being eclectic but rather that it’s just what is in my head and what i’ve managed to put up the time and effort to publish about. These aren’t content pieces, they just happens to be the rooms.
In short, i don’t know if there’s a name for what this is. There probabably doesn’t need to be right now.