I think instagram might have ruined blogging. It's so easy and immediate, whenever I think of something that I might want to say here I realise I've already said in small drip, drip, drips on instagram. I don't know that everyone who reads here also follows me there (@caratakesphotos, just so you know), or the other way around, so I'm not actually sure how much I would be repeating myself, but I do know that this blog is starting to feel somewhat... redundant. And yet, I still feel the urge to put it all in one place, to tell stories that are more than just one picture, one caption, to hope for replies that are words, not a dozen small (but undeniably gratifying) heart shapes. I wonder why I care about repeating myself, I repeat myself all the damn time in real life. I tell the same stories, offer the same observations, make the same jokes. If they're funny once then they're going to be hilarious twice, right? My poor, poor friends. I miss what this place used to be, the community, the feeling of having created something. Instagram is fun but it feels like twitter, each picture another drip into the constant running stream of other people's updates, stories, observations, jokes. Earlier this week I had dinner with a group of seven women, six of them women who I met through blogging, five of them women who have become my primary real life social group in the last few years and of course talk turned to how we had met, when we met, what we used to blog about. It made me nostalgic for blogging as it once was, but also grateful that my social life has (primarily) moved off-screen. One of my friends mentioned how naive we were, seven years ago when we all first 'met'. How we spewed forth our thoughts and our dreams and offered up our lives in total, unabashed detail to the internet, believing totally in our anonymity. 'Those were the days' I thought, and simultaneously 'dear god, we were idiots.' Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this. I think I just wanted to say hi, that I haven't forgotten about you/here/this/whatever it is. That I still want to write and talk and share with you here but that I'm not quite sure how/why/when/what. I'm aware that my blogging has become increasingly about Not Blogging. Which is fascinating reading, I'm sure. I also wonder why I would keep writing blog posts when I've almost entirely stopped reading them. Does anyone read blog posts any more? Doesn't everyone find them almost universally insufferable? Questions questions. In the meantime, happy weekend. (Remember when we used to wish each other a happy weekend every week? And a happy monday? And just a happy happy happy? God, we were annoying.)
I love your blog. Please don't go away.
ReplyDeleteThank you Hannah. It seems I can't leave even if I want to, so I think I'll be hear indefinitely.
Deleteyes and yes. so much here that resonates. and yet. blogging on. happy, friday!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, and yet...
DeleteAnd thank you!
I love your blog posts! While I enjoy the instagram drops I still want to read the blog post puddle (does that make sense?). I don't care if it's just a post every now and then, I really enjoy your writing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I don't comment more often. Maybe because it's often very personal and we lead so different lifes, so that I'm not sure I can bring a lot into the conversation.
Thank you Christiane. I understand the not commenting, I rarely comment on the few blogs that I do read. It's become so easy to just read and move on quickly. I appreciate your comment here though!
DeleteYes, I do read blogs. The ones I find insufferable or make me angry, I stop reading. I will not name names. I rarely comment. I understand when someone chooses to stop blogging. That does not mean I have to like it.
ReplyDeleteFrom the above statement, I obviously enjoy you writing and thoughts. If you do chose to stop, I will understand but be sad.
I wish more people would stop reading the blogs that they find insufferable, it seems so obvious, and yet...
DeleteI always look forward to your blog posts, it feels more like a friendly chat and more interesting than instagram. For the record I use instagram to follow friends, people I know face to face, to stay in touch with their lives. Blogs to me are more what magazines used to be; a fun bit of in depth or purely fluffy reading with pretty photos.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, whatever you do I hope you do it for you and your enjoyment :)
That's really interesting that you still see blogging that way. I used to and now I would like to again. At the moment it feels almost obsolete, like letter writing or something.
DeleteI always look forward to reading your posts... I still did not manage to get a phone that supports instagram and I am afraid I would fall right into the black hole and never come back out.
ReplyDeleteI still like to read blogs and interact because I like the sense of community, the perceptions, the friendships that can stem from it. For something that it's called "antisocial" I think it is very social (eg, your group of 7 close friends from "the internet").
And , your writing and photos are beautiful, as always.
It's true that there is little that is 'antisocial' about blogging. And god, a phone without instagram.... that's an interesting prospect. I do wonder how my online world would change if I just quit iPhoning.
DeleteI hear you on a lot of these points you made. If I want to share something these days, it's to instagram I turn. I only blog infrequently now, maybe once or twice a month and that's only when something starts bubbling up inside me and I really have to get it off my chest. I think it's more like a form of therapy. I love to write though, so I'm glad I do still have a place to do so when the time is right. The thought of feeling obliged to write about nothing in particular, just to fill space doesn't appeal at all. I will say though, even if you feel like what you've just written comes under the category of 'nothing in particular', it's still a compellingly good read! You've just got a way with words like that. I think whatever you chose to do with this space people would be still coming here to read your words and for your interpretation of and outlook on life, which is like a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of people who are blogging these days. Just my two cents but I say keep on keeping on when the mood strikes and don't feel bad when it doesn't. We'll all still be here.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I really appreciate that. x
DeleteJust back from my hols and scrawled through a week's worth of posts solely looking/hoping for something from you. Didn't read any of the others (time to delete methinks?) but truly, so chuffed to see Peonies and Polaroids popping up. I relate to your messages like no one else. Thank you for them Cara.
ReplyDeleteThank you, that means a lot.
DeleteChiming in as another Grade A Lurker who'd be sad to not see you 'round these parts. I've never seen the appeal of using Twitter/Instagram in lieu of a well-curated RSS feed. At least I (and not randomness and the time of day) determine what I read and what I miss. Also, I always prefer the long-ish form writing style of more "traditional" blogging (ha! because that is a thing?)
ReplyDeleteI really need to get back to having a well curated RSS feed. I just found I kept adding and adding, and the more posts there were the less I wanted to read any of them. And that the blogs that I once loved no longer seem to happen and so I just felt sort of lost among a sea of posts from the more corporate or politcal blogs that post 3-10 times a day.
DeleteI believe I originally added your blog to my reader vis a vis your wedding photography site but I think you have such a wry sense of humor and natural, no BS voice that I have been a consistent reader for several years now (sans commenting!). I would be sad if you stopped blogging entirely!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think it's unlikely to happen, I seem unable to stop even at the times that I want to!
DeleteI read the below blog post yesterday while I was waiting for my to-go lunch order to be ready. And it made me really happy. And I appreciated how well she elaborated on a previously posted instagram. And I thought about how glad I am that there are three or four of the blogs from 7+ years ago I still love to read because the people were real and brave then and they still are now... even if just takes the length of time for someone to make a sandwich to read and even if they don't post all that often anymore. http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2014/08/on-sisterhood-and-skateboards-and.html
ReplyDeleteOh thank you Addie. GGC is one that I always think of when I think about how I would like to blog and how I miss what blogging used to be.
DeleteI read your blog and have been for a number of years now, even predating widdle and puke!! I love it. I love your style of writing and the irreverent way you talk while still always making the relevant point. You make me laugh and cry. That's a gift. I'm someone who had largely tried to stay clear of too much social media, it's too easy to disconnect from real life. But I love my blogs and still religiously keep up with the ones I love. So please please please stick around here. You would be sorely missed
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love that there are still people who keep clear of the more immediate (insta) forms of social media and value the 'slowness' (so to speak) of blogging. It inspires me to find my love for it again!
Deletei read blog posts. instagram can suck it.
ReplyDeleteTell me what blog posts you read. Please.
DeleteI read blog posts:). Write them too. And wish everyone happy weekend. And meet bloggers in real life and like them very much <3.
ReplyDeleteWell you can get away with wishing people a happy weekend, in person and online!
DeleteI still read you (but not blogs in general any more? I don't know why. About the time I got sick of my own blog I retreated from the internet almost entirely. It started to seem both too much and also, a lot of it, fronting front looking for free moccasins or whatever. Not you, just...lots. Also, commenting on IG is disposable - I worry far more about writing in proper blog comments;) but yeah, I still read you (and esb) and you do write so well.
ReplyDeleteI do fucking love Instagram though (the rabbit hole nature of it particularly - finding people through people) (also, in terms of actually connecting with real life people I think maybe it feels like blogging did some years ago -- in that I actually have)
Fucking emojis though - those things are a terrible addiction atrophying my ability to articulate how I feel (kiss face! Rictus grin!)
YES. The people looking for free shit and the emojis.
DeleteI only read two blogs now, yours and Miss P's. I wouldn't have found either of you without them and you wouldn't have both contributed to a Pretty Important Day had the blogs not existed. So, I check in every so often to see what you are chewing over. I love your writing, I really enjoy your Instagram and I hope you continue to periodically come back here.
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you. It does make me smile that blogging and the internet have actually brought so many real people into my life and me into theirs. It helps to remember that when I'm disenchanted with the whole online world.
DeleteI read very few personal blogs anymore and rarely/never comment, but I am always glad to see a new post from you. As much as I enjoy them, I don't mind that they have become less frequent. One of the things that's always concerned me about bloggers who post about themselves at least several times a week is that it feels like they live their lives as a form of public performance or consumption, and I've certainly never had that sense about you or your blog. I'm behind the times and only recently joined Instagram. I mainly use it to see snapshots of my friends and family's daily lives. I will start "following" you (which sounds super creepy), but I would miss the voice you have in your writing, which is both more self-critical/reflective and literary, if that makes any sense, than most bloggers'.
ReplyDelete(This is the Meg whose wedding you almost photographed in Colorado two years ago. I still feel bad about the Internet losing the email with the contract and how rude I must have seemed, but in hindsight, things probably worked out for the best. It would have been a logistical nightmare and such a long, hard trip; I would have worried the entire time about the inconvenience to you and your family. Ironically, we had another Scot as our photographer. He moved to Colorado years ago, but I think he probably even went to the same art school you did. He was my photography professor at the University of Denver. I'm sure the last thing you want to do in your line of work is look at more wedding photos, but here they are, just in case:
https://www.facebook.com/roddy.macinnes/media_set?set=a.4444225705102.2187693.1273154499&type=3
Anyway, I was so glad to see you had moved to London, just as you'd hoped. I'll keep reading your posts for as long as you care to write them. All the best.)
Meg! It's so lovely to hear from you. Thank you for commenting and I'm sorry that our real-life paths never did manage to cross. I'm so glad that you found a photographer and how funny that he was also a Scot. The wedding looks wonderful, thank you for sharing the photos. Look at those beautiful sunflowers and your lovely dog! I hope that you had a wonderful day, you certainly look incredibly happy in the photographs. Thank you again for commenting. x
Deletei feel like i live in a different world... here in panamá. i guess i do in many ways. but i still love and cherish the blogs that i read. i only do Facebook because it's the easiest way to semi keep in touch with people back home. i refuse to get on instagram or twitter or flikr (and whatever else there is out there) because for me and my lifestyle, it's too much info! too much connection to a screen!
ReplyDeleteso with that being said, please continue writing in your blog, even if it feels irrelevant to you in the moment. :) <3