ABOUT

According to a leading website for people who make websites, the About page exists to

  • provide visitors with essential facts they need to interact with your company,
  • give visitors context for the information they find elsewhere on the site,
  • differentiate your organization from others like it, and
  • give visitors a reason (several reasons, ideally) for doing whatever it is you want them to do: contact a sales lead, join a campaign, send money, buy a widget.

I had initially thought about outsourcing the creation of this ‘About’ page because I’ve always found it a bit awkward to write about myself, and I figure someone else could do the job better, especially if I paid them!

But, a quick look through the ol’ ledger reveals zero dollars for such outsourcing (the Outsourcing line item usually goes for things like Equipment or Food, things I can’t produce easily at home!), so I’ll have to give it my best shot:

Essential Facts

Easy enough- I am a photographer. This means I am fairly proficient at aiming a little black box and some pieces of glass at people and objects and having it make a “clicky” sound. So, if you’re needing some clicky sounds made near important people or events, I can do that for you. I am also almost 30 year old, and make of that what you will. I am happily married to a beautiful, inspiring woman who is also (I think) happily married to me. We have no kids, no pets, and a new Jetta.

I was born in the United States, but was relocated to South Africa very early on in my career by Family, Inc. Due to that move, I have intimate knowledge of apartheid and Afrikaans cuisine (which is basically “meat” and “dessert”). I hopped aboard a tramp steamer (or maybe it was a 747, the details are fuzzy), and enrolled in college in America, where I proceeded to obtain about 2 years worth of education in four years. Three years of graduate studies followed that, and somewhere along the line, in the midst of trips to locales so exotic I shall not name them for fear of driving you away full of envy and wrath*, I picked up a camera and started thinking about changing the world with it.

I currently live in Abilene, Texas (land at DFW and drive West until everything looks dry and brown and boring), and can be reached by email and cellular phone and even the U.S. Postal Service. You can email me at greg [dot] kendallball {@} gmail [dot] com and I will provide you with the secret codes necessary to contact me via those other methods.

* I figure if you’ve read this far, you won’t leave in a hurry, so I’ll just say I’ve been to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, almost Congo, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, the Bahamas and the Canada!


Proof that I was in Uganda, and that I have a gorgeous wife. You’ll have to take my word for it that the other stuff is true…

Context for the Information You Find Elsewhere on the Site

Er, I am a photographer, and I like to post pictures and articles and links that relate, even if only tangentially, to that pursuit. I am currently working as a stringer (”freelancer” for those of you not familiar with the lingo ["lingo" means insider language, for those of you who...nevermind]) for the Abilene Reporter-News. This 30,000+ daily circulating newspaper is THE paper to read in Abilene. I have done assignments for a variety of news and feature articles, and really enjoy learning all I can about news photography. Sometimes, you’ll find posts here that include images that were published in the paper- this is an exercise in both self-promotion (which all freelancers have to do) and a pitiful cry for affirmation.

In addition to the work I’ve done for the paper, I have done pro-bono work for a number of non-profit organizations including The Innocence Project of Texas, Eternal Threads and Invisible Children.

Does that about cover context? I hope so…


Proof that I work for the Reporter-News sometimes. See, I’m not making this stuff up!

Differentiate your Organization from Others like It

Well, how many other almost 30-year-old, world-traveling, Afrikaans-speaking, seminary-educated, slightly-balding, Jetta-driving, coffee-drinking freelance photojournalists are there?

Oh, like six or seven?

Well, I’m the one named Greg Kendall-Ball. That should clear up any differences.

Give Visitors a Reason for Doing Whatever it is you want Them to Do:

Hmmm.

READ THIS BLOG, because I find my sense of self-worth is directly related to the number of visitors and comments I receive.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS, especially those in other countries, because I love logging in and seeing how many different countries are represented in the stats.

HAVE FUN, because that’s a big part of why I do this. It would be a shame if I were the only one having any fun with this.

That’s about all…I don’t have any widgets to sell, or leads to contact. Thanks for sticking around this far…see you later.