I could be considered a shining example of an artist who has used the internet to make a start in photography and to get my work out there. Indeed, people do ask me for my tips on how to best use the internet to get noticed.

I started using Flickr in 2006 to showcase my self-portraits and then began to acquire physical exhibitions and print sales thereon. However, this was largely inadvertent, or subconscious, for me at first.

It continues to be a journey of discovery for me, of how to use social media to increase and maintain my profile as an artist.

I've been uploading my work to Flickr for four years and I still generally use my photostream (www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz) to display my new images.

Flickr

At the beginning, when I was an English student with lots of spare time, I simply created images because I enjoyed it. People's comments and responses encouraged me to keep creating. People became interested in interviewing me and recommending my work, and in the usual wildfire manner of the internet, my name became more familiar and my images appeared in countless blogs and articles, whether I liked it or not! The publicity online, along with interest from the media, led to a local exhibition a year later, then an exhibition in Madrid, and then opportunities from companies, and so on, to where I am today. I still create self-portraits, but I also dabble in commercial projects and my aim is to continue to pursue artistically-engaging photography projects, to write books and present workshops.

liveBooks

It became clear quite early on, within a few months of my Flickr-sharing experience, that I needed my own website. I decided to carry on my nickname, "Miss Aniela," as an artist name, so I grabbed "missaniela.com." It seemed the right step to have my own personal space where I could show a gallery of my photos and have a place to write information about myself, to which I could refer people who had questions about my photos. I also created a blog that I could update with news and thoughts.

I transitioned my website to liveBooks this year. I was considering alternatives to refresh the look of missaniela.com and I liked the look of their sleek, fast Flash sites.

Facebook

They appeared to be ideal for displaying my photography, so I shared my ideas with a designer, and saw it all come to fruition via a custom-built site. I also like being able to edit my site whenever I want, to edit text, and to add or remove pictures, which is easy enough in the editSuite that comes with every liveBooks site.

I also refreshed the look of my blog, (www.missanielablog.com) on a separate URL, keeping the graphic identity consistent with my liveBooks site, and decided to update the blog more frequently to keep it appealing to viewers.

Blog

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