It’s not about the platform, silly!

Ever since I started photography, I have wanted a place to showcase my work to the wider audience. This is all pre Instagram and Facebook days, when WordPress and Blogger used to be the only options available. And they too were limited, especially Blogger. And if you went down the WordPress route, it meant getting familiar with the LAMP stack. WordPress.com wasn’t yet available. 

So I started with a self hosted WordPress site, on my domain ketanpandit.com, and started fiddling and figuring out things. But something always felt missing. 

Sometimes it was the wrong theme. Other times, hosting issues. Often a plugin that wouldn’t cooperate. It had to be perfect. Every bloody time.

So over the next few years. I went hunting for the perfect platform – SmugMug, Wix, Format, Squarespace, Adobe Portfolio.

I was like a junkie looking for the perfect fix. 

And I kept platform jumping. And you know what? I never got around to doing the thing that mattered the most – taking pictures and just putting them out there. I went into week long spirals trying to get the “right” platform. But like the mythical unicorn, it wasn’t to be found. 

Over time I had over 30000 photos, and nowhere to share them. All of them on Lightroom, waiting to see light of day. 

Until finally one fine day, I turned to Claude to help me build the perfect navigation, and theme for my site – yet again. And yet again the conversation veered around choosing the right platform, this time between WordPress and Squarespace, and that is when I realized that the problem wasn’t with the platform. It was me. 

It had been me all along, and platform hopping was just another form of procrastination without me even realising it. There is no such thing as “perfect“. The graveyard is full of perfect ideas that never shipped.

I turned to Claude for help cutting through the noise. Now when I stray into platform research, I get called out. Everytime I ask a platform related question, I get a virtual rap on the knuckles. Frankly, I’ve accomplished more in one evening with Claude, than I could have over months. 

Three photo essays. One gallery page. All in one evening. Not perfect, but real. www.ketanpandit.com is alive and kicking.

Choose whichever platform that catches your fancy, and just start. It needs to exist first, before you can make it perfect. So start. Just start. Be consistent and keep putting out your work. 

It took me 15 years to realise this. I hope it takes you only 15 min. 

Good luck and keep clicking.