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Discovering Blogging

Chris Halton
Sep 21, 2016
3 min read

This is my first ever attempt at writing a blog! I have recently come to the conclusion that it is necessary to ensure you have a number or avenues to venture down in the future...especially when that doomsday is fast approaching. I have often thought about the benefits of blogging, Twitter, Instagram and the many other ways of being able to express yourself in this modern world of social media. Some of the questions that come to mind are 'What apps are best to use?' or 'What area should you focus on?'. But the biggest question I find keeps cropping up is 'Will anybody actually follow me?!'

In 2011 I embarked on trying to pursue one of my passions which is flying. 'Was I good enough to turn flying into a career?' By following this dream I would be turning my back on my love of photography (well for a while anyway) so that I could put all my focus and effort on my flying training. For almost a year I had to undertake aptitude tests, medical tests, a flying grading process and interviews. It was during my flying grading that I decided to keep a blog of how the weeks progressed. I didn't really see it as blogging at the time. It was merely a way of keeping friends and family updated on how I was getting on through Facebook. However, it proved to be quite an interesting read to some and I wanted to keep it going after I had successfully passed the selection phase and began a long 3 year slog to become a fully qualified Army pilot. Sadly this was not to be due to my tiny brain getting bogged down with studying and planning. So after 5 years from the time I wrote my first blog, will I be good enough to write to the masses and keep their interest in what I am doing?

The aim of me writing this introductory blog, is to test the system I will be using for any kinks, and to inform you of what I would like to achieve, or write about from this moment on. Some of what I write about might be from the past but the majority will be from the present. Those of you who know me will know that before I became a pilot I was a professional photographer. Needless to say that will all my focus and concentration being spent on my new flying career that I have become somewhat rusty when it comes to using my camera. The passion might not be as strong but it is still there and it is fighting to get out. Over the last few months I have made more of an effort to take my camera with me when travelling around, whether that be on a yacht sailing the open seas, or climbing a mountain in the Isle of Skye. I want to be be able to connect with you (my audience) and show you things that you want to see. I want to take you on my next journey with me. Hopefully over the next few months you will get a flavour of what I like to photograph and how I want to improve my overall photography.

So whats next?...Well in November I will be heading back in the flying training pipeline as I convert from flying helicopters back on to aeroplanes. In my short career as a pilot I have loved flying the Lynx helicopter and even I was saddened to watch the last four remaining aircraft depart from North Yorkshire earlier this year as it slowly comes to the end of its service life. So, on to bigger and better things they say! I am looking forward to beginning my new journey and sharing it with you all. In the meantime please take the time to view my images (both old and new) on my website (which is still a work in progress) and look out for other ways to follow me as I create them. Feel free to message me if you have any questions and I will try my best to answer them for you. But the biggest thing I ask is that you bear with me as I try to integrate myself more with social media.