PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR MR BENSON

I Met this young man from around and about, actually i think our mutual friend Colin introduced us at a party or something. Then outta the blue one day Matt mailed me about helping him put on a party or something. I got the impression he was in a bit of a dilemma as he wanted to do something with his photography, friends and interest in music and was not sure where to channel all his interests (I am sure we all know how this feels) Matt mailed me during the time I was doing Checkinit and I was organising parties and exhibitions right left and centre. I was obviously super busy as i did not get back to him, uummhh sorry about that Matt.

Anyways next time i bumped into Matt (a year or so later) he seemed happy having to have found a way of focusing all his interests into his blog betterneverthanlate.blogspot.com which he writes with a select few of his mates, it is pretty diverse and very funny! (It is not many blogs i can actually say this about, and bloody hell there are alot of blogs out there) With all sorts of random stuff on it. One of the interesting parts of the blog is reading the comments which in some cases reaches 50 or more! Matt also keeps his diverse style of photography seperate which he posts on downtownlowranking.blogspot.com. I have to say one thing that i do like about Matts photography is the various subjects that he photographs. From rude boys smoking weed on council estates to swans elegantly swimming in ponds!!! See boys it's nothing wrong with being in touch with your feminine side ;)

Anyways enough of me, check out what he has to say for himself...





WHO ARE YOU?

Matthew Schnickens of www.bntl.co.uk - betterneverthanlate.b logspot.com

WHAT DO YOU DO?

I'm a freelance photographer.

WHY DO YOU WRITE A BLOG?

I started it as a joke diary kind of thing, but then added a few friends and updates became a bit more regular/varied and interesting, so we got a readership that has grown and grown.. and now it's become more structured and as a result, more read-able.

DO YOU THINK THAT BLOGGING HAS MADE YOU A "COOLER" DESIRABLE PERSON?

Well I don't think it's changed me, but yeah it has definitely changed peoples perception of me, mostly people that don't know me, can now see more or less everything I do, bit creepy when put like that.





WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FOR YOUR BLOG POSTS?

Mostly I just post my photos from nights out, shoots and jams.. so it's more based on my inspiration for photos. And sometimes I do see certain pictures that I think would work well on the blog, and stuff people would like to see.




WHAT BLOGS DO YOU LOOK AT AND WHY?

No ego, but I only really check BNTL regularly, since it's my thing and I'm interested by the varied content my contributors/minions bring, haha. Like Tan brings the best grafiti pictures and events info due to his work at Kung Fu. Ollie and Loren bring alot of trends and fashion content - as well as store features etc etc, Aaron brings alot of music and art content, Witts does his club photography, me and Greg do more general photography and Misterlego brings the jokes, and we form like Power Rangers. It's alot.




WHAT MAKES A BLOG INTERESTING?

For me, good photography.. I don't really look at blogs for anything else, all the trend forecasting stuff is dead to me because I don't especially care.. all the new drops stuff is a bit boring too, because everyone does that. I like good writing and good photos.. something unique.. I don't see many art work blogs, but that would be good, oh and illustrators/designers blogs like Jimi Crayon and Teck - I love looking at their blogs. I also like grafiti blogs.. like the RT one and ATG's.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND LOOKING
AT BLOGS EACH DAY?

Probably about 30 minutes max.




HOW WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR TIME IF YOU
WERE NOT CHECKING OUT BLOGS?

I would be wasting that spare 30 minutes on MSN and Facebook chat, of course.





DO YOU THINK SOCIAL NETWORKING AND BLOGS
HAVE MADE YOU LESS CONTENT WITH YOUR OWN LIFE,
OR HAS IT MADE IT MORE EXCITING?

Hasn't impacted it greatly.. the biggest difference is the awkward conversations in the street with people I kind of do and don't know, if that makes sense, people I 'know' from myspace/facebook whatever, but don't know enough about them to form a meaningful conversation. I used social networking in an ultimately positive way to connect with like minded individuals, aside from the occasional awkward conversations I did end up making some genuinely good friends from it.





WHAT EFFCTS DO YOU THINK BLOGS AND SOCIAL NETWORKING HAVE ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH?

Me personally, I don't think it does at all. I can see how someone could get too wrapped up in it though and it would effect their mental health by basing their life on the internet, rather than in real life.. creating a kind of split personality disorder.




DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE AS MANY "FRIENDS" IF THE INTERNET SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED?

Well it would act as a good filter, obviously my real friends have other means of communicating with me, so I wouldn't lose any friends.. but yeah facebook numbers aren't representative of how many friends I have, because I don't consider many people to be my friend anyway, and I'd still see the so called "friends" out and about at nights and things. Some peoples lives would be over if the internet disapapeared though.




WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING AND HOW ARE YOU GONNA BE PART OF IT?

We are the future of blogging, and that's how we're going to be part of it. No, I dunno.. I'll continue to do what I'm doing, and hopefully shoot more and more interesting things/people/places. I think blogging doesn't have a long future because voyuerism is a novelty at the moment, people will eventually get bored of obsessing over other peoples lives and start realising they've created no kind of life for themselves and future generations. Maybe they won't though, haha.

Blogs could realistically go on forever though, as it's freedom of speech for everyone, and you can easily promote them and get a readership.