With Facebook.com, Blogspot.com and other social Web services becoming ever more popular, publishing thoughts and ideas online has become increasingly easy and common. But for Tufts junior and blogger Shane Lavalette, who began writing a personal blog several years ago, blogging has become a true passion - and with a little luck, it could win him $10,000.
Lavalette, a studio art major, was one of 20 college bloggers nationwide chosen to compete for a $10,000 scholarship through CollegeScholarships.com. An online vote, which closes Sunday, will determine the winner.
If he wins, it will be the culmination of the past several years, which he has spent studying, writing about and critiquing contemporary photography on his blog, Shanelavalette.com. When he began the blog, he said, it was one of a select few that existed in its genre.
"A few years ago there weren't many blogs devoted to fine art photography," Lavalette said. "There's a number of them now, but I think partly because I started at a time when there wasn't very many, and partly because I've been consistently posting, I have one of the top numbers of readers within that niche."
On the site, which began as a way for him to post his own work, Lavalette said he writes about exhibits, critiques others' work, and keeps abreast of the contemporary photography world.
"It started a way for me to post my own work - it was really just an archive of what I was doing," he said. "And then it just sort of turned around on itself and became more focused on what other people are doing in the contemporary fine art photography world."
Now, the site focuses on the work of other emerging and established photographers, whose work Lavalette will react to or review. And that formula - his personal thoughts on the work of others - has been successful.
"The readership is actually a lot more people than I expected," Lavalette said. "I have readers that are anywhere from people I know, and students and friends, to photographers across the world, or teachers, and gallerists."
"I've made many connections through that community," he added.
As an old-timer in the relatively young field of blogging, Lavalette said he has seen the blogosphere evolve since he began writing.
"In general, I've seen it become easier and easier to have a blog," he said. "Originally it started as a few different platforms created by independent people, and they were all open-source so you could take them and put them on your server and start your own blog."
Now, he said, the technology has become accessible to even casual Internet users.
"In the past few years a few different blogging companies have sprung up, and it makes it a lot easier to get started. It changes the whole scene; if you look at blogging as publishing, it's really easy for people to publish themselves online, and over the past few years it's just become easier," he said.
But while personal blogging may be easy, and practically free aside from the costs of a computer with Internet access, it is not a great way to make money - which is where the scholarship comes in.
Lavalette said the money would help keep him afloat as he continues to write his blog and learn about art.
"I think [the money] would go towards my general education," Lavalette said. "I'm thousands of dollars in debt, so it would be a little relief off of that."
The money could also help Lavalette make a crucial - and impending - decision about whether to go abroad. He applied and was accepted to a program in Berlin run by New York University, and a $10,000 scholarship would make the trip much more affordable.
"I'm in a situation now where I'm trying to go, and it's based on about that much money," he said. "As of now I don't think I'm going to go because I don't have enough money to do it."
Lavalette said that, regardless of whether he wins, his experience with blogging has taught him a lot.
"I think it's definitely a crucial part to my education right now," he said.
When he graduates, he hopes to bring that experience with him as he pursues other opportunities.
"I see myself probably putting my time and energy into something else once I'm out of school; maybe something more tangible, like a magazine," he said.
And Lavalette said he won't forget his roots.
"I think blogging is one of the most accessible ways to engage people. So as long as it stays that way, I'll probably at least stay involved with the blogging community," he said.
Lavalette urged students to consider reading his blog and to vote for it if they think it's worthwhile. He said a link to the vote page is available on the blog.
"Anyone who hasn't taken the time to read my blog before, I hope they'll take the time to read it," he said. "I think they'd see that I'm passionate about what I write about."
