Rambling With Resnick

The End of the World As We Know It
A new era begins for Black & White World...and I feel fine

By Mason Resnick

Four years ago this month--November 1995--my labor of love called Black & White World went on the web. Here are its stats for November 1995: it consisted of a single page--a list of my ten favorite web sites featuring B&W photos. Number of hits: 511. Here are its stats for September 1999: the site consists of around a hundred pages, six active discussion forums with over 6,500 messages, a book store, a gallery, an email list with over 3,500 subscribers, numerous articles for amateur and advanced photographers...and of course, the top ten list, with hundreds of sites from previous months listed in the Vault. Number of unique visitors: 20,000 a month. Almost every day I get email from someone who just discovered the site and just wanted to let me know how much they appreciated it.

Not bad, considering this site has been an all-volunteer effort making barely enough income (mostly through book sales) to cover its Internet connection.

Hello, PhotoHighway.Com!

You may have noticed as you logged on to our homepage a new logo atop B&W World's: PhotoHighway.com. You may have also noticed some other changes on the homepage as well as inside the site. Here's why: on October 6, Black & White World became a part of the Photohighway.Com family. I have been hired by Photohighway to build and run their on-line communities--a full-time job. I have been working as a part-time consultant for them since this spring, and am happy to be joining its talented, energetic staff, which includes a who's who of the photo industry. Part of the arrangement I have made with Photohighway is that I will continue to run Black & White World and generate new content--which will be available through both Photohighway and Black & White World.

PhotoHighway.com is a new web site devoted to digital and traditional photography. Its purpose is twofold: to help those interested in digital photography but who are more familiar with film to make an easy transition, and to provide solid picture-taking and picture-using advice that is applicable no matter how you are capturing the image. The PhotoTimes is a comprehensive photography magazine within the site with features, how-to articles, trend stories, web site and book reviews, software and hardware reviews, camera field tests and more. There are several B&W World photographers being featured in the Exhibits area (including yours truly!), and you can buy your film and camera gear through the Marketplace. Finally there is the Community area. This is where anyone with a specific area of interest related to photography can start their own discussion forum, on-line photo album or live chat area--and then invite anyone who shares their interest to add their photos, chat live or post messages.

As the community manager, I am responsible for building interest in the community area, moderating live chat events (BTW: if you ever want to chat, we'll always have a guest photographer or digital photography expert in a live chat session on Wednesday Nights...check the site for times. I'll also help community leaders (members who start their own communities) to publicize their communities and attract people who share their interests.

Everybody Wins

This is a win-win-win situation. Photohighway wins because they will be able to gain good silver-based content by cross-linking Black & White World articles to their fledgling site. It will help them build the traditional photography area of their site, which they want to be as extensive as their current coverage of digital photography. Black & White World's readers will benefit from the fact that many projects ideal for B&W World which required time, and money which I didn't have before can actually happen. We also benefit from being associated with a site that PC Magazine has just rated one of its Top 100 sites on the web. Me? I'm finally getting paid to do something I love!

Here's what won't change:

Here's what will improve:

This is what's new (so far):

There will be more...stay tuned!

Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow

Many years ago, I read a book called Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood by Marsha Sinetar. The book encouraged readers to identify their interests (as opposed to simply looking for a job or following a career track), and provided specific exercises to help you assess the things they truly enjoy doing and then finding a way to make a living doing that. It made a great impression on me. The goal was to integrate what you "do" with your life in a way that makes what you do to make money seem more like play than work because it's something you really like.

I'd always loved B&W, but didn't know how to make a career out of it. As a new father with bills to pay and not much coming from what I was doing at the time--writing press releases--I felt pressure to do things that were less than inspiring, but I learned from that book that it didn't have to be that way. At the same time, friends were telling me that I really should learn about the web, that was gonna be big. And so I started B&W World. If I was going to do the Web, it might as well be on my terms, I thought.

I didn't know where Black & White World would take me, but it's been my anchor for the last four years. It has followed me through unemployment, kept me going through a job I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (a 4-month detour on my way to doing what I loved), freelance consulting and working with some of the top retail and ezine web sites in the photo industry. In fact, I got many of those jobs based on the fact that I was running B&W World in my spare time. So even though it never really earned its keep directly, it has led to several great opportunities, and my new gig at Photohighway is the best one yet.

I'm not writing this story for self-aggrandizement, but rather to hopefully to inspire those of you who are just starting out in your careers or are pondering a change. If you have an idea and it's a good one, go for it. Map out a plan, be willing to change it frequently, be flexible, stray from it occasionally, but come back. Let that idea be the a constant, and keep plugging away. (Reading Sinetar's book can't hurt either.) B&W World's success came about from devoting thousands of hours to this site, and sticking to my dream of doing something I love.

I also know that B&W World is successful today because of you. Because so many people online have discovered and have become loyal B&W Worlders, I have been constantly encouraged to keep it going, even when I didn't have the time or the energy. Some of you have even contributed articles, which has been a lifesaver. So thank you for your support--I hope to give you many reasons to continue making B&W World an important part of your on-line time.

I also hope B&W World's success story is helpful for anyone who is on a quest for making a living (as opposed to just getting or keeping a job). Go ahead--make your own luck!

Farewell, Books.Com...

Black & White World's bookselling partner, Books.Com, was sold to Barnes and Noble late last month. They have discontinued their affiliate partnership program, and I have, regretfully, taken the bookstore offline. It's too bad...Books.Com, formerly Bookstacks Unlimited, actually pioneered online bookselling with a text-only, direct modem dial-in site in the late '80's. They also had the best affiliate program in the industry (but, obviously, not the most successful one).

I am currently looking into my options--most likely either B&N or Amazon--so I can resume offering B&W World readers the ability to buy books via B&W World. If you have a preference, or have direct experience as customer or as an affiliate program participant with either site, please email me.

About the author: Mason Resnick is the editor and publisher of Black & White World and the community webmaster of PhotoHighway.Com. You can send fan mail to him at bwworld@mindspring.com.

© 1999 Mason Resnick/Resnick Associates