What Makes a Post Freshly Press-able? Los Rodriguez Life

• By Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Every day, 19 WordPressers are featured on the Freshly Pressed section of WordPress.com. And every day, many more wonder, “What do I have to do to get Freshly Pressed?”

Well, it’s time to reveal what the folks who push the launch button are thinking. Each week, a member of our editorial team will do a close-up on one post and why we thought it was Press-worthy. We hope we can provide insight into the process and give you tips and tools to make your blog the best it can be.
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Bloggers on WordPress.com publish various types of photography posts: from black-and-white to color, from digital to film, from Instagram to Lomo to Polaroid, from a single photo to a series of images. We love the variety and don’t prefer one approach over another.

Last week, we featured Visiting South Park City, a photo essay on Los Rodríguez Life. Husband-and-wife team Javier and Leslie started this blog to stay in touch with their families (Javier’s family lives in Chile; Leslie’s family lives in Nashville). Here, they explore everything: travel, food, and life. Images are an integral part of their blog.

On the Daily Post, we’ll highlight different kinds of photography posts promoted to Freshly Pressed. Here’s why this particular post made the cut:

They brought an unfamiliar location to life.

I’d never heard of South Park City before reading this post (and I don’t know much about this region of Colorado), but that didn’t matter. Javier and Leslie make this abandoned 19th-century mining town look and sound intriguing. The photos of an old saloon, schoolhouse, pharmacy, train, and more appeal to readers interested in an array of topics other than photography, from history and restoration to industrialization and transportation.

In other words, you don’t have to photograph iconic landmarks or exotic locations to wow us. We do love your shots of picture-perfect places and far-flung locales, but we want to emphasize that any subject or location—even your backyard or a random street corner—can be Press-worthy if you pique our interest.

The assortment of shots is outstanding.

This post has 45 images! It’s worth noting that more does not automatically make a set of photos better. In this case, we were impressed by the variety of angles and compositions in these images: Wide, establishing shots of a mining town versus close-ups of rusty antiques. Exterior versus interior. Still life versus people. Together, the images transport us there. Javier and Leslie insert descriptions to clarify what we’re looking at, but they are sparse and only include necessary details. Words come second to images here; the story of South Park City truly unfolds in the photographs.

In your own photo essay, create a narrative. Or think bigger: create a world for your readers. This may require taking photos of the same subject from above or underneath, from up close or far away. Shoot a city with different rolls of film, or filters, or cameras. Lie on the ground, or climb a tree, or look out over a rooftop to document a neighborhood. Experiment with angles and points of view to bring a place or thing to life, which will provide the visuals to tell your story.

The presentation was professional and effective.

Posts on Los Rodríguez Life are written in both English (on the left) and Spanish (on the right). This photo essay is presented in Javier and Leslie’s standard post format: two columns of text, side by side, which make it easy for readers of either language to follow. We like how these images are displayed; as you scroll down and view each large-sized image, it feels like you’re flipping through the pages of a print magazine. (For more on this blog’s design, check out the Modern News theme.) Finally, the order in which the photos are laid out is intentional—Javier and Leslie’s adventure is presented from start to finish.

Telling a story with text and images is different from telling a story simply with words. For photo-centric posts, consider how best to lay out and display your content. For example, you can create a gallery, display a slideshow, or insert images directly into your post. You should also consider at what size you’d like to display your images, and where to insert them in your post so they complement your text.

So, tell us: did you enjoy this Freshly Pressed pick?

For more inspiration, take a peek at our photography themes in the Theme Showcase. While you can publish photography-focused posts on any WordPress.com theme, our photography themes are great places to showcase your images.

For more on our Freshly Pressed content, check out last week’s Freshly Press-able post, read our roundup of Editors’ Picks for August, or read So You Want to Be Freshly Pressed.