Like any travel blog, Steinhardt freshman Amelia Chu’s Tumblr features photos of sightseeing adventures: the places she sees and people she meets. But every picture on Chu’s blog, Ewey’s Expeditions , also features her favorite stuffed animal, a lamb named Ewey.
The California native has photographed her travels in the United States and abroad with Ewey, which she has taken along on vacations since she was young, across the United States and abroad. Chu takes photos with Ewey as she sees new places, roams new cities and tries new food.
Chu had many stuffed animals as a child, but has always favored Ewey.
“Around 2003 … I decided that Ewey would be the one animal to go everywhere with me,” Chu said.
Chu created Ewey’s Expeditions last year as a way to organize her large collection of photos with her stuffed lamb and document her trips.
Since starting school at NYU this fall, Chu has become a very active blogger. She now posts every week after visiting new places in the city with Ewey, which include essential tourist spots and lesser-known areas.
Blogging has opened up many opportunities for Chu. She recently attended an official Tumblr event in Madison Square Park to meet and network with other bloggers in the New York City area.
Chu learned that Tumblr is not just a social networking site, but also a platform for graphics designers, professional photographers and YouTube users making careers out of their blogs. The event inspired her to continue photography and graphic design and possibly even pursue these fields as a career.
Although she is considering the idea of turning blogging into a career, Chu only maintains her blog for fun.
“All of these professional bloggers are earning money from their blogs, but they’re just happy with what they’re doing,” Chu said. “I want to be like that.”
Chu encourages other students who want to start their own blog not to be shy and not to worry about having experience or flashy technology skills. When she started Ewey’s Expeditions, she had no background in photography, and she still uses a basic, low-tech digital camera.
“The most important thing is to just start,” Chu said. “I know it’s a cliché, but the first step is the hardest. As soon as you gain followers and people post that they like your blog, it’s so rewarding. I feel so proud, and I just want to keep adding more content.”
Steinhardt freshman Emily Sujka loves Ewey’s Expeditions for its unique idea to incorporate Ewey into her travel blog.
“The doll is her signature … and the experience as her own,” Sujka said. “You can take a million pictures of a place, but what’s its significance personally? Most photo albums are marked by smiling family members’ faces or quirky friend poses, hers just happen to be strung together by this lamb.”
Chu and Ewey continue to plan adventures around the city and beyond.
“Next up, I think Ewey and I will check out Brooklyn,” Chu said. “And we’ll be back in San Francisco during January break.”
Alyssa Santiago is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].
