Two new blog ideas that will make you famous
Here are some blog ideas boiling about and I’d like to share them with you. I’d have wanted to do these myself but, well, I have a lot to eat with a full plate in front of me. Here they are:
Idea 1. Back in 2005 the company I worked for had already launched a consumer shopping magazine that specialized in doing honest to God product comparisons. Like we’d have 5 of the best sisig in town and compare them. Or six of the most packed burgers. Or they can be as mundane as comparing the total resistance of five brands of tissue paper or the chicken gravy from the top three fast foods.
That magazine was called The Reviewer and it would be cool if a group of people took off and did that again. It would be easier in the sense that you don’t need to have advertising to support you since it’s something you’d have to do by yourself to avoid any biases. The blog won’t review restaurants or establishments. It reviews products in contrast to other products and you’d need to be a very sensitive consumer to see through the marketing. It sounds easy but believe me, it isn’t.
Idea 2. Are you a photographer, talent manager or make up artist? It would be fun to produce a site showcasing the beauty industry with one catch: zero use of Photoshop or any photo manipulating tool (with the exception of crop and B&W conversion). Real photography. Real models. And I mean REAL MODELS. You know how anyone can be a model these days? Well, a blog like this will definitely showcase raw talent from photographers, make up artists, stylists - and yes, bringing back the super models! It’s easy to get shocked when browsing through a magazine and you find out that the model was not photoshopped - you tend to ask for the name of the model and photographer in the credits!
Again, I think this concept would look better as a glossy industry mag but a blog should work just fine.
Any takers? If you do borrow these ideas, tell me. I’d gladly help promote them! 
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I’ve seen porn with raw talent and zero Photoshop. It’s not all that bad. If it works in the adult industry, it just might work in the mainstream.
Ah… The Reviewer… used to be a contributor for that mag.
i know
i remember! heee!
ah… The Reviewer… i even went far to try the things out mentioned in that mag, and realized that yes, it is indeed a brutally honest comparison and an equally honest ratings.
i like the concept that you’re cooking but i also hope you tread on reviewing restaurants and establishments.
Sir,
There are a lot of photoblogs like that now - ie zero photoshop just visit the sites of the members of the rangefinders club and a lot of lomo people :). I am sure there are a lot more.
I learn a lot from these people and other photo-enthusiasts. And I guess that is why I keep a photoblog also - which I re-launched recently.
Film and digital photography … I like
aaaahhh….The Reviewer…brings back so many good memories, right Jayvs?
Hey Jayvee. Oh man, The Reviewer.
Yvette and I were regular contributors! I miss doing those Top 10 Books of the Year lists.
I recall that they kept fiddling with the magazine and changing its format (remember the pocket-size version?), and I used to yammer about how it really should be a website, with proper archives and constant updates. It never came about though. You’re right, it would be cool if some group did that now, as a blog. And you’re also right about it not being easy
I loved reading about comparisons between six different brands of corned beef or pizza delivery services in The Reviewer, but to a certain extent (aside from such factors as price and speed) such things are subjective — quite literally a matter of taste. Also, as a reviewer, I was confident when it came to assessing books or music, but I also found myself evaluating everything from sunglasses to business schools to pre-need assurance plans, which were beyond my range of interests.
Would the core team behind the blog take it upon themselves to review everything themselves, despite limited knowledge — or try to find ‘experts’ for every conceivable product they wanted to feature? (And can there be such a thing as a corned beef expert?) Would there be regular ‘departments’ or just a new array of products every post?
(The Reviewer seemed to take both approaches: it had the same people reviewing cars and CDs etc. month in and month out, but it also had a pool of freelancers who would be assigned to review pretty much anything. Am wondering if there’s a better way to go about it.)
I like the idea of no advertising — running ads for products in a magazine devoted to evaluating products with no bias always seemed kind of iffy to me. Still, the team would need to be funded somehow to afford all that corned beef…
I kinda hate to say this but “zero use of Photoshop” is kinda unrealistic at this day and age. Though I’m quite confident with the OOC (out-of-camera) images on my cam, I still work in RAW but only use global adjustments like a bit sharpening, levels and contrast to get what I like out of the picture. Even in the film days “photoshoped” photos are still done in the dark room, using varieties of dodging, burning and softening while developing the film.
As for those over-processed - photoshoped photos and cinematic feel with cyborg eyes glamour shoots, now that’s a real turn off. I guess the best term is for the photos is to “keep it real” and natural. That would showcase a good photographer not relying much on processing effects but natural lighting and clever positioning of strobes.
hey ferdz you raise a really good point! i was actually coming from the angle of the models, more than the photographers. there’s a huge difference between the models many years ago and the models today i guess. i think its really because its easy to retouch these days? (i.e. FHM covers?)
hey Luis! Nice to hear from you! I really enjoyed those “scientific” reviews we used to do. Maybe it’s time to start one again?
haha. So true Jayvee, A lot of those FHM covers uses a lot of clone and healing brush tool. Even the liquify tool. hehe. I guess the challenge is to get really good models talaga that doesn’t need too much retouching. hehe
do those models still exist?
Its not impossible. I think one can exsist without using photoshop or gimp. There are still a lot of things that can be re-learned from the pre-digital photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Weegee.
Its a matter of research, learning, testing and putting one’s mind to it.
For me.. Both of them could be better. Why I have to choose between them, if I can choose both.
Maybe it is, Jayvee!
RE: retouching model pix — I remember when one of my friends was working at an ad agency in the 90s. She said that they had to clean up/enhance almost every image of every commercial model they used. The one exception, who didn’t need retouching? G Toengi.
I wonder whatever happened to her?
Love the idea of doing a Reviewer type blog
Wouldn’t know how to get started though. Help? 