Who's On Flickr?!

[250swb]

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I think some people have the wrong idea about Flickr.

 

Look at it this way, its like a giant print critique session. You throw your prints on the table (so to speak) and people have their say. Nothing is precious, its about finding what works, or where you disagree with other people, and reminds us that out of hundreds of photographs there are very few in a photographers repertoire that will make it to a book or exhibition. Take away the 'presentation' aspect of a posh web site which stifles debate, Flickr is the classroom, where your peers are looking at your work, not just your wife and mother saying how good it is.

 

In fact Flickr is the online equivalent of what goes on in artist communities and colleges and universities every day, discussion and experimentation and work. Its just that not everybody is still at university, or lives near a group of similarly minded artists, so Flickr is the debating chamber. No artist lives in a vacum, if you don't show work, and show it in an environment that draws comment, it doesn't exist. So forget comments that presentation on Flickr is a bit ropey compared to a high end web site, it is doing you a favour by putting your work on the very same level as anybody else, and by doing so lets the cream float to the surface. It is your permanently active print crit, where you can lay out your photographs and get an instant overview of where you are going, so long as there are enough to look at, and enough to cull out later.

 

Steve

[bybrett]

Steve, very well said this is exactly why I use flickr, cheers Brett

[Archiver]

I'm in. I've been posting to flickr before I came to Leica. I've shown my stream to a few friends who remark that they can see the development of my photography over the years. Certainly, what and how I shoot now is very different from how it used to be.

[fotolebrocq]

Now, I like Flickr, but there again I like Smugmug. But which is better? There's only one way to find out......FIGHT!

 

Flickr: fotolebrocq's' Photostream

 

fotolebrocq | SmugMug

 

Tony

[delander †]

I dunno, I've never really been into putting my photos on the internet. For me prints are the only end product and they cant be shown on the internet.

Jeff

[ddp]

I'm on it, but Andy & Ned (NB23) bring up some good points. Like anything else, it can get cliquish and almost worshipful. My main use of Flickr (and tumblr, blogspot, etc...) is two-fold really. One, to get my name out there a bit, and the other as a testing ground for "direction". I know how I like to shoot, but I'm open to critique and I don't want to stop learning or close my eyes to other possibilites. It does allow me to point people in a direction to see more current work as opposed to managing an older website.

 

That being said, I'm not really sure where this is all going - we (and I am painting with a very broad brush) are using the internet and photo sharing sites as a digital shoebox at times. I understand what Ned is saying about diluting one's work with spraying the web with images and at times I just wonder what exactly is the point of all this. Because everyone else does it? To feed an ego? I enjoy looking at the work of other photographers and learning how they achieved a particular result, but I am not so sure why I actually put things online myself. I realize this is deviatiing from the original question obviously...

[NB23]

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I think some people have the wrong idea about Flickr.

 

Look at it this way, its like a giant print critique session. You throw your prints on the table (so to speak) and people have their say. Nothing is precious, its about finding what works, or where you disagree with other people, and reminds us that out of hundreds of photographs there are very few in a photographers repertoire that will make it to a book or exhibition. Take away the 'presentation' aspect of a posh web site which stifles debate, Flickr is the classroom, where your peers are looking at your work, not just your wife and mother saying how good it is.

 

In fact Flickr is the online equivalent of what goes on in artist communities and colleges and universities every day, discussion and experimentation and work. Its just that not everybody is still at university, or lives near a group of similarly minded artists, so Flickr is the debating chamber. No artist lives in a vacum, if you don't show work, and show it in an environment that draws comment, it doesn't exist. So forget comments that presentation on Flickr is a bit ropey compared to a high end web site, it is doing you a favour by putting your work on the very same level as anybody else, and by doing so lets the cream float to the surface. It is your permanently active print crit, where you can lay out your photographs and get an instant overview of where you are going, so long as there are enough to look at, and enough to cull out later.

 

Steve

 

The thing is, I don't need critique. Especially not by the flickr crowd.

 

I don't quite understand the need for someone to have his "work" "out there" and wanting to have it critiqued by, let's face it, strangers that are in their living room, half-naked, while scratching their balls with their dirty fingers and giving their "valuable" glance at your virtual "gallery"... that they found while searching with key words as stupid as the equipment you used or with words like "bokeh" or micro-contrast".

 

It's insane.

 

And by the way, who wants to have his photos critiqued by other photographers? That too is illogical. You'll only get another (probably poorer) photographer's point of view and nothing more.

What you want is critique from a customer, from an editor, from a regular person whose soul you want to reach. You'll get much more accurate feedback from anyone but from another photographer.

[fotolebrocq]

The thing is, I don't need critique. Especially not by the flickr crowd.

 

I don't quite understand the need for someone to have his "work" "out there" and wanting to have it critiqued by, let's face it, strangers that are in their living room, half-naked, while scratching their balls with their dirty fingers and giving their "valuable" glance at your virtual "gallery"... that they found while searching with key words as stupid as the equipment you used or with words like "bokeh" or micro-contrast".

 

It's insane.

 

And by the way, who wants to have his photos critiqued by other photographers? That too is illogical. You'll only get another (probably poorer) photographer's point of view and nothing more.

What you want is critique from a customer, from an editor, from a regular person whose soul you want to reach. You'll get much more accurate feedback from anyone but from another photographer.

 

Good heavens

[andybarton]

The thing is, I don't need critique.

 

Of course not. You are the ultimate photographer.

[d2mini]

It seems that some of you have forgotten that taking photos is fun.

[NB23]

Of course not. You are the ultimate photographer.

 

 

Absolutely not, of course.

 

As an artist, you must have your own style that blends with yourself, your vision and that flows like water.

Once you reach that personal level, even if it's crap, other people's opinions become just that: opinions.

 

 

My motto in life: Not everyone on the planet appreciated Elvis. If he didn't care, why would I?

[NB23]

It seems that some of you have forgotten that taking photos is fun.

 

The most fun activity in my life!

Surfing flickr is not fun, though.

[Rolo]

I'm on Flickr with two Pro accounts, plus an ordinary account and I enjoy being there.

 

One Pro account has samples of my personal work to share with like minded people. I'm slowly building up a Portfolio of work in Sets, that illustrate what I shoot. I find it far more useful than the Photo Sections here, where every bodies images are consigned to history within 36 hours.

 

The second Pro account has many thousands of wedding images in Sets dedicated to a particular wedding & venue. This enables family and friends to view images from the day or prospective B&Gs to view my approach, or a range of venues . It's not in my name, its not 'public', nor promoted and it has no contacts and any comments are deleted.

 

The ordinary account is where I might upload pictures from a party, or family event. I posted 50 images taken at my grandson's 1st birthday party in Dublin so the parents could share. I've also posted lens comparisons there. As the account takes no more than 200 images, it's always being cleaned out.

 

I thoroughly enjoy the Group system and I join very specific Groups that share information I'm interested in. For example, this week I joined the Rodinal Group and the Hasselblad 110mm f2.0 group. I'm in Noctilux, Leica B&W, Rolleiflex, SWC etc. Very specific interests and I've no idea of any other forum that has such an extensive selection of niche interests.

 

I don't join any Groups that demand post one, comment five and I never join any with flashing, throbbing logos. I immediately delete any that come through.

 

The 'contacts' system is excellent allowing to track friends inputs and photographers whose work I enjoy. Many members from this site are included in my list. I add contacts from Groups and from commenters on my Contacts work. I rarely come across crap work, or the work of people who are not interested in photography.

 

I'm delighted if people comment on my work and 'I Like it' is welcomed as a sign of appreciation. There are many photographers, some here, who know when I write that I mean it sincerely and I know some value it. Azzo for one, Jeff Plomley, Virgil, Ben, all know that I mean what I say.

 

I wrote to Brooks Jensen, of Lenswork, disagreeing with his views on Trolling for Compliments Podcast. Why he, and some here with similar views, think that "I like it, that's nice," is worthless, I don't know. Do people expect to receive a full critique every time they post an image ? It's just a sign of appreciation, not an education I'm offering and all I'd like in return. :)

[250swb]

The thing is, I don't need critique. Especially not by the flickr crowd.

 

What you want is critique from a customer, from an editor, from a regular person whose soul you want to reach. You'll get much more accurate feedback from anyone but from another photographer.

 

And your customers say what?

 

You would be surprised at how many really very good photographers are on Flickr. People who publish books, and who have customers, and who have exhibitions, and who all appear on Flickr because it cuts the bullshit out of them. If you can't take a critique from your peers (and I say that lightly if you can't demean yourself to acknowledge them), then you are only taking a critique from the people sucking up to you. But then that is maybe all you need. So your customers say what, your publishers say what, your regular people say what? I know my mum loves my photographs, but I wouldn't trust her for a second to critique them.

 

Steve

[andybarton]

As I have said before, what I objected to, in part, was the "cut and paste" comments, encouraged by the Group system.

[nhabedi]

FWIW, I'm also on Flickr. See my signature.

[Clive Murray-White]

Yes I do have a Flickr account but I only use it as a conduit to post pictures in forums etc, no one sees it and the Flickr layout etc has no bearing on my use of it,

 

I also use Smugmug

 

Clive Murray-White Australian Sculptor | SmugMug.

 

This grew out of needing to be able to display larger sized pictures of my sculpture via a link from my website. We have since dropped the stand alone website and doctored the "blog" format to become a very effective way of communicating all our activities, this is aided by email newsletters and links to facebook.

 

Our Smugmug pictures don't really fall into the category of fine art photography, the pictures are essentially a communication tool and I think this is where the major problem occurs with all these photo gallery sites, all sorts of people are using them for very different reasons but a large number of enthusiasts (particularly) just assume that almost all are people's attempts at "photography", probably should have been spelled with a capital P.

 

We also found we had to expand the Smugmug from just my sculpture to things like our small community's activites giving people an easy way to acquire pics of themselves etc.

 

And this is how it works Cowwarr Art Space

[Guest ***]

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[Nicolai.]

Flickr: Nicolai Schneider's Photostream

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[azzo]

The thing is, I don't need critique. Especially not by the flickr crowd.

 

I don't quite understand the need for someone to have his "work" "out there" and wanting to have it critiqued by, let's face it, strangers that are in their living room, half-naked, while scratching their balls with their dirty fingers and giving their "valuable" glance at your virtual "gallery"...

 

It's insane.

 

 

 

............................................................... :D