This is a guest post by Leah Schulz who runs a photography blog: A DSLR Fairytale where she shares her adventurous photography journey. You can also find her on Facebook.

Owning a camera is a good place to start. Over Christmas, I received my first digital SLR camera, a canon T2i Rebel, and I decided to write a blog about my adventures in DSLR photography. My blog is obviously still really new, but it is building momentum quickly (over 700 total followers in little over a month) and I believe it’s going to have long-term success because it was created on a solid foundation.

In this post I will share my blogging story and what I’ve done to lay that foundation.



Make sure you have enough passion for the topic of your blog, to insure its sustainability over time.

Let’s face it, most blogs don’t last. They begin with the best of intentions, but for most people the initial excitement wears off, and their posting efforts find themselves in a great big sea of deserted blogs. This is why it’s so important to blog about something you find interesting enough to continually write about over time.

I have always had a zeal for taking pretty pictures, and I dreamt of someday owning a camera that could deliver the kind of photographs I wanted to take. When someday came sooner than I expected, I knew I was set for a grand adventure.

When my camera was purchased for me (by my Prince Charming) for Christmas, I was so excited I could hardly think of anything else while I waited for it to ship. In those few days I realized how much fun it would be to document my photography journey, and thus the idea for my blog was born.


Your photography blog should have a unique point-of-view and a creative theme to support it.

When creating a new blog, it is important to have a unique perspective. People enjoy blogs that have a defining point-of-view and an overall theme that supports it. I am passionate about writing, (I have a BA in Journalism) and I had considered starting a blog for some time, but I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to focus on. I would come up with an idea, but inevitably realize I couldn’t sustain it.

Finally receiving a DSLR camera seemed like a fairy tale come true, and I knew a fairy tale would have to be the theme of my photography blog.  I chose the title http://dslrfairytale.com/ (quickly bought the domain name) and decided the by-line would be Happily Ever After with your DSLR Camera. There was nothing else out there like it, and it felt right. I knew learning photography was something I would become more passionate about as time passed.


Know who your ideal target reader is (for me, beginners to DSLR photography) and it will make it easy to pick topics that are valuable to your readers.

While the quality of DSLR cameras keeps increasing, their price has very drastically decreased. This means there has been a spike in the number of non-professional photographers and newbie’s (like me) who are buying them up. We were able to purchase my Canon T2i online for $600, which is only $200 more than the high-end point-and-shoots.

What this means, is that there are many people out there like me who are interested in learning how to use their new DSLR cameras and excited about showing off their pictures. I realized that my target audience is just like me, and I started writing simple, short and easy to read posts regarding all things DSLR photography. Like how to take professional pictures with blurry backgrounds and what the heck the rule of thirds is.


Create a photography community within your blog and cultivate relationships with other photographers.


By adding a since of community to your blog you insure that people will want to come and stay a while. You make them feel welcome and invite them to take part in your blog. A Facebook Fan page is a great partner for any blog and can be a home base for your blog’s followers.

I make my Facebook page  as inviting as possible. I ask questions like which camera brand do you prefer Canon or Nikon, or what do you love about photography? These kinds of questions engage your followers. I also post pictures and invite others to post theirs.

Last week we had our first photo of the week contest. The photographers posted their pictures to our Facebook page and at the end of the week I picked a winner and made a gallery with all of the beautiful pictures included.

Also, it’s important to take your eyes off of your own blog and the efforts surrounding it and show a little love to other photographers. I appreciate and admire photographers, so it’s a joy for me to check out what they’re doing and promote it. I love learning from them, and I believe studying other’s photography styles can really help you develop your own.  I am fascinated by creative people so connecting with them is exciting, and of course networking with others always helps to spread the word about your blog.

Lastly, be enthusiastic, realizing that if you’re not passionate about what you do, no one else will be either. 

Passion is contagious, if you enjoy what you do and put forth a wholehearted effort, others will take notice and want to be a part. It’s something you just can’t fake. Love what you do, work hard at it and be creative, and you will find yourself on the road to blogging success.

Leah Schulz