Are You a Food Blogger or Healthy Living Blogger? + A giveaway!
Hey there! I hope everyone had fun celebrating the 4th!
We took a day trip to Napa to drink a little sparkling wine before relaxing with an afternoon picnic and an incredible view.
We had a great time and I plan to do a dedicated post on that soon but I wanted to take a minute to have a little blog talk today.
To be more specific, I want to talk about lines. The ones that separate us from being a food blogger or a healthy living blogger.
Before I started my blog, I imagined I would fit in somewhere in the middle. I knew next to nothing about food photography and thought as long as I invested in a nice camera, I would eventually figure things out.
Although I wanted to start a blog for several years, I decided to wait until after we moved to California, in August of 2012, so that I could establish myself at a new job and start working a few extra weekend shifts to save up money to buy myself a lower end DSLR. I tried to learn a few things about food photography to make my pictures look presentable but I never thought about taking it much farther than that.
However, as I fell deeper into the blogosphere, I couldn’t help but compare myself to other food blogs and notice the stark difference from my weeknight dinner shots to their perfectly styled photographs taken only in natural lighting.
I decided I wanted my food to look as good as it tastes and made a commitment to myself to start dedicating time on the weekend to creating a few recipes that I could shoot strictly in natural lighting.
Soon thereafter, I started to submit a few of my favorites, such as my Baked Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Donuts, to food porn sites like Foodgawker and Tastespotting to see if they would get accepted.
Well, I was quickly denied, with a capital D.
I’d be lying if I said my ego didn’t get bruised every time I got an email stating that my submission had been denied due to “tight composition” or “lighting issues”. It left me feeling both depressed and utterly clueless.
Between being told my photos weren’t up to par and dealing with recipe failures that consumed my precious time on my weekends off from work, I was ready to throw in the towel on becoming a food blogger.
But as I dabbled in the idea of focusing more on the healthy living side of things with daily eats and personal check-ins, it seemed ill fit for my personality.
I’m somewhat of an introvert and I don’t enjoy being the center of attention. And I’m pretty sure no one wants to see awkward selfies of me and Coco everyday.
Anyway, I guess I’ve been having an internal blog-identity crisis for a while. I love creating healthy recipes that taste good and it feels amazing when the pictures turn out good too.
On the other hand, I love talking about health, fitness, and other randomness that connects me to so many other people out there who share similar interests. Sometimes, I just want to make friends and have fun with blogging.
But the more time has gone by, the more it seems as though there is a divide between healthy living bloggers and food bloggers. In fact, some blogs that I have read for a while originally began as healthy living blogs and are now mainly food blogs. It’s almost as if you have to choose one direction or the other.
Ultimately, I plan to keep doing a little bit of both because that’s what makes me happy but I worry that being in “the grey” might confuse people on the direction of my blog.
My main reason in addressing this topic is to hear your thoughts. I want to know if you think there is a divide too.
Do you think combining both makes for boring the food lovers on one day and boring the healthy living lovers the next? Do you think you have to choose one or other?
Either way, I would love to hear what you have to say, blogger or not, so please (if you have time, of course) let me know what you think!
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Okay, now I want to back track a little and talk more about the food photography aspect of things.
Even though my ego was bruised after Foodgawker denied my pictures, I was not about to stop there. I was determined to get more of my recipes accepted and I decided to start researching more about food photography and what this “tight composition business” meant. Along my journey, one extremely helpful blog that I came across was Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Sally is not only incredibly sweet, but someone I really look up to as a blogger. She is super creative with her recipes and her photography is truly amazing. In a section of her blog that is dedicated to tips for bloggers, she recommends a book called Tasty Food Photography by Lindsay at PinchofYum. After reading how helpful Sally it found it to be, I decided to check it out myself.
I have to say, I completely agree with Sally. Tasty Food Photography really is a huge help to someone who wants to step up their game in food photography. It starts out with all of the basics to get you acclimated to the fundamentals of photography and works it way from there with lots of great tips and tutorials.
While I still have so much to learn, I feel this book has helped me immensely and I know I will continue to refer to it for different tips and tricks in the future.
So…Lindsay just released an updated version of Tasty Food Photography and she was sweet enough to offer her affiliate sites (notice the flashing icon on my side bar) a free copy of her book to giveaway to a lucky reader!
In addition, she is also running a limited time discount code (newversion30) which expires on July 8th. Yes, that’s one day from now.
To enter the giveaway, log in to the Rafflecopter with your email or Facebook account and follow the directions for multiple entries and more chances to win. After the giveaway closes on Sunday, July 14th , I will notify the winner via email and send your information to Lindsay, who will then send you the link to download the book!
Thanks for entering and good luck!
I definitely consider myself more of a healthy living blogger, though I have dabbled in food blogging! I would love to learn more about lighting and setting up the picture with adornments :)
I consider myself to be a “lifestyle blogger” more than anything else. Yes, I post recipes(with photos that make me cringe, lol!!), and I write about healthy living topics but I also dig into topics like friendship, family, reading and just general randomness!! Previously, I had a healthy living blog called Fit Minded Mom and it was growing nicely but I ended it because I didn’t like being “categorized” if you will. If I had intentions of making money off my blog, then I would probably stick to one topic but I do it more of a hobby so that makes it an easy choice for me!!
I have always really enjoyed your blog. I don’t think you have to be strictly one or the other. I actually get bored with the blogs that are all fitness or all food. As someone who’s life is in the gray, I like getting both fitness and healthy living inspiration and also decadent treats. But you should be true to yourself and do whatever makes you happy at the end of the day. :-)
Thank you so much, Melissa! I am very lucky to have you as a reader and I’m glad to hear you like a mix of things too. You’re totally right-I will definitely keep doing a bit of both because that’s what makes me happy! :)
Let me just say that I think your food pictures look AWESOME!! Keep up the good work!!
I would pretty much love to learn every single thing that I can about food photography. I am a total amateur! haha
Thank you Hannah! I appreciate your sweet comment. You certainly don’t need any help in the creativity department, you make some amazing recipes! :)
I have the same blog identity crisis every second. Am I an HLB? A food blogger? A “lifestyle” blogger? And then I just stop caring and start writing my all-over-the-place blog posts, and all feels right in the world again.
Lol, classifications really shouldn’t matter, right? All that matters is that you’re true to yourself. :)
I have had the same identity crisis as you! I have tried doing more lifestyle posts as I felt they would be fun and spice things up a bit, however they were hard to stay regular with, so I guess I would just classify myself as a food blogger. I love Lindsey’s eBook! I already have it, though, so I won’t be entering the contest so another lucky person can win ;)
I hate that I feel pressure to classify myself because I want to do both, you know? But it can be hard to find that balance sometimes. Even though your blog is mainly about food, I still enjoy your stories and your personality that comes through. Besides, there’s always Instagram if I want to see cute pictures of Maddie! :)
Oh Sarah – your recipes and photography are amazing! I have a DSLR (Canon Rebel T3i) and I know how hard it is to make each picture look as wonderful as it does to the eye (and please enlighten me on WTF tight composition is?!). While I’m no professional I think your photos look amazing. And maybe they’re not up to Food Gawker’s standards but I can promise that every single person that reads your blog loves what they see. I’ve made one of your recipes and it was delicious which is way more important to me than looking good in a picture ;).
My advice is to write what you’re passionate about. Maybe that makes you a hybrid food/healthy living blogger and you’re in that gray area. But if you like it – stick with it. I love what you’re putting out there – even the selfies of you and Coco ;). Hope you guys had a great weekend!
You are just too sweet!! Your comments always bring the biggest smile to my face.
Tight composition is when you are too close to your subject which is a common “rookie” mistake. The more I read about it, the more it makes sense but I still struggle.
You really make me feel great with your encouraging words though, thank you! I hope you had a great weekend too! :)
I can 100% relate to this post. Me and Foodgawker have a love hate thing going on. I tend to like tastespotting.com a little better. I’ve found they accept much more than Foodgawker. It’s still very picky but a little less exclusive! I’m still finding my way with my blog. I have some interests that do not relate, and I like to talk about them all. It’s difficult, but I think you’ve totally found your balance. I love your blog!
Yes, Tastespotting is slightly less picky, although, they don’t allow pictures of food with bites taken out of them.(?) I try not to stress myself out about it anymore and just take plenty of extra pictures to keep trying to submit until they take one, lol.
Finding balance has been very challenging for me but I hope to keep doing both because that’s what I love.
Thank you for your sweet compliment! I love your blog too and am amazed that you’re only 16! I had my head in the clouds when I was your age so I thinks it’s awesome that you are focused on all of the right things. :)
Ugh… I relate to this on so many levels. While I enjoy writing recipe posts there is no way I could do 3-4 new recipes per week plus I also like writing about more healthy living topics like my marathon training and traveling, etc. Maybe one day I’ll define myself but for now I’m just a “random topic” blogger ;)
Lol, I like that classification! ;)
Foodgawker always has the same sad comments about my pictures (lighting, composition) even when the pictures are miles different in both regards. It’s hard to find a happy medium :(
Also, it’s your blog. Write about whatever you want :) I mostly read food blogs, so it’s nice when there’s some healthy living thrown in to the mix.
I know, sometimes I get crazy and think whoever is in charge of accepting photos at Foodgawker has a personal grudge against me, lol.
I feel as though you and I are on the same timeline with our blogging.
I’m a keen reader of many blogs and had also been planning the launch of my own blog for some time before I actually went ‘live’:) I however, always planned on being a ‘healthy lifestyle blogger’ with the main focus on recipes.
Somewhere along the way the food photography really began to a play a part and I found myself loving the creativity of shooting/styling the images. My dilemma is that ‘healthy food’ sometimes doesn’t look as…ahem…sexy…ahem…as some of the unhealthier counterparts. For instance quinoa is super delcious and good for you, yet, on camera looks like a lumpy bowl of mush:( FoodGawker no like lumpy mush!
You are doing a great job and I check in all the time to follow along your journey. I think that a big part of blogging is also about the personality and you have that, for sure:)
Ugh, you’re so right! Not only is healthy food harder to make look “sexy” but people aren’t as attracted to it as the unhealthy stuff. It’s tricky, for sure!
It’s so easy to compare yourself to other bloggers and wonder where you fit in and how you’re doing with it but staying true to yourself and not comparing yourself to others is what’s most important, I feel. But I’m still guilty of doing it from time to time.
I appreciate your kind words more than I can say, thank you! :)
I say do what makes you happy! I love the mix of both actually. I think it makes for a more interesting blog to have several things to blog about and share with your readers. Your photos are just fine too! :)
Thanks Tracey! I’m glad to hear we have similar “blog taste”! :)
The blogs that I LOVE and find myself checking regularly are the blogs that document a healthy lifestyle, meaning they feature not only healthy and tasty food and fitness, but also friends, family, adventures and stories. I go to food blogs for recipes, but only occasionally. I find blogs that ONLY document fitness routines and what the blogger eats to be sort of repetitive and boring, but love reading about the way a blogger incorporates those things into his or her healthy lifestyle.
Sometimes I feel the same way as you, though. There are times that I read other blogs and wish that I could have consistent awesome recipes with beautiful photos, but right now that isn’t possible and not what I’m truly interested in. I love experimenting and trying new recipes, but developing them isn’t what I love to do. Of course, that may change as I develop some skills in the kitchen :)
Blogs that are for fun should be just that, which means it should be a blog that makes you happy and that you look forward to writing. I love your blog so far and look forward to reading more!
This looks like a very interesting book!! I would love to learn more about staging and lighting for better photography.
I don’t think you need to worry so much about defining yourself either way :) I love love love reading your blog I think of it more of a life blog than a food or fitness blog strictly either way but that’s what I really enjoy about it and other blogs that are similar is that it has some of everything and not just focussed on one thing. Don’t get me wrong I love reading new recipes but I don’t love food only blogs nor blogs that just strictly focus 100% on fitness as real life is a bit of everything :)
I think if you love food photography then definitely keep going with it but don’t do it if it is stressing you out or making you compare yourself to others. Sometimes I have the crappest photo ever for a recipe but I try not to beat myself up for it as I’d rather spend more time reading other blogs or doing the things I love than trying to spend ages getting the perfect photo (don’t get me wrong I already do spend ages on blogging!).
I hope my comment and all the others make you realize how much everyone loves reading your blog. No word of a lie I have shared your mushroom and barley soup recipe with all of my friends and family :)
Thank you for your sweet comment, Jan! I’m so glad you like my soup and share it with your friends & family, that makes me feel so good!
I do love food photography and creating recipes, it is just hard to find the time for it when I work full-time so that part is stressful. But I love doing a little mix like you say, it keeps things fun! :) And yes, I spend ages on blogging too! It’s crazy how easy it is to get lost in all of the great blogs out there.
I’m always so jealous of your picture taking skills! Haha. Seriously though, your pics are amazing, keep up the good work. I find it really hard to get a good pic because most of my picture taking is at night, after work. I try to get in a few shoots on the weekend but we are always away on weekends. It is definitely ok to be both a healthy living blog and a food blog. The two go hand in hand. You can’t be a healthy person unless you eat healthy food.. right? A lot of the blogs I read are both of those and more. Just let the posts flow and don’t try to label what you are.
That is what’s so hard about the food blogging part- finding the time to fit it in on the weekend when you have natural light. It really is a commitment you have to make to yourself and I struggle with that when whatever I make turns out crappy, lol. But when it turns out great, I love it.
I appreciate your compliment on my photos and I think you’re right about labeling myself. I need to just let it flow! :)
I would consider myself a healthy living blogger. I’ve actually struggled with taking food pics and have looked at other sites (Sally’s being one of them!) to try and learn how to take better pics. I’m definitely in the process of learning to get better on that one! Aside from food pics, I feel like browsing other blogs has taught how/what people want to read about, and has and will continue to help me become a better blogger (at least I hope so!).
Sometimes I feel as if I am debating with myself to stick to one subject either food blogging or healthy living. And then I think of a blog like yours, that I immensely enjoy reading, and I think of what brings me back. I love that you aren’t just posting recipes all the time. I love how you share your experiences and tell a story through all the beautiful pictures. That’s what makes it FANTASTIC. :) I agree with you and many comments posted, in between is the best way to go. Love your blog, don’t change a thing.
Thank you so much Kathy! I appreciate your encouraging words and I love your blog too! :)
Interesting post for sure! And to be honest, one of the things that I adore about your blog (just one) is your photography…I think it’s gorgeous! And I think it’s fine to straddle that line between food blog and HLB. If you’re writing about what you want to write rather than pigeonholing yourself, you will come across a lot more naturally and be that much more exciting to read ;-) I wish I had more skill when it came to food photography though! Soo winning that giveaway would definitely be nice!
I’m going through the same thing right now. I wanted to start a food blog, but I feel like I’m starting to transition more into a healthy living blogger. I definitely fall behind on creating new recipes and my pictures aren’t exactly up to par with the rest of the food bloggers out there. Plus, I’ve really found myself becoming more passionate about fitness as well, so why not incorporate everything in?
I don’t know if you really need to choose one side or the other. I like dabbling in a little bit of everything for now :)
You sound just like me! I love both but there’s more pressure on the food blogging side. But, if you love it all then why not mix it up! :)
thanks for leaving the comment, lady! your blog is awesome. i love the idea of being a food blogger AND healthy living blogger. i think a lot of people can relate to wanting to eat fun, delicious food but also be healthy.
i’d love more skill in food photography. it’s such a learning process. also, i discovered pinch of yum’s book a while ago and always wanted to get my hands on it. i’d love a copy!
Thanks for stopping by Caitlin! :)
I like that you mix healthy living and food. Makes it interesting!! I want to learn more about food styling and composition.
I struggled with this question a few months ago when I first created a blog. I think I fall somewhere in between a food blogger and healthy living blogger. BTW, your photography is amazing! I have much to learn from you. :)
Thank you Jillienne! I still have a lot to learn too but I appreciate your compliment. :)
I love this post and can definitely sympathize with your identity crisis. I do think it’s totally possible to walk the line between food blogger and healthy living blogger. I like the way Emily from Daily Garnish does it – sometimes she posts more about food, sometimes more about fitness or motherhood, just depending on what she’s spending time in her real life doing. As long as you’re being true to your interests, I don’t think you can go wrong!
I have more than a few photo’s that were rejected for “poor lighting” or “tight composition” myself! Even though I’ve been accepted half a dozen times, I know I can still improve my photos! Thanks for the great giveaway! :)
I am really behind on blogs (darn you, Google Reader, for going away!) so I’m just catching up, but I relate to this post SO much. I love photography and I love sharing recipes, but I soon realized after starting my blog that all the photos and props and recipe testing that “food blogging” requires was probably not in the cards for me. I love that you decided you don’t have to be one or the other. I totally agree :)
For what it’s worth I’ve only had 4 pictures that made it onto foodgawker over the past year, and they are totally my pride and joy!
Yeah, I’ve come pretty close to throwing in the towel a few times on “food blogging”, mostly after trying to bake gluten-free. I fail at that almost every time! But then I tell myself to get over it and keep on truckin’!
Thanks for the reassurance that Food Gawker really is as big of a pain as I find them to be! :)
I love your blog and your pictures! I think you should write about whatever the heck you want to because you’re very good at it! :) I mainly post about health and fitness topics on my site but I do a couple of recipes per month mostly for my clients (my pictures are terrible but I don’t have time to learn photography lol)
Thank you for such a sweet comment Rebecca! :)