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Who's On Flickr?!


edmond_terakopian

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I think that people over rate their own work to a point of nonsense. Like uploading 100s of pictures to satisfy an audience that's simply not there. Oh yes, it's there, but it's merely a hedonistic practice of trading good words: If you like my picture, I'll like yours. And so the never-ending circus ends where every one needs his dose of ego-inflation for the day.

 

Like when you say "engage with people interested in your work". Who are they? I mean, other then the usual "likes" traded back and forth, how deeply are they truly interested in your work?

 

Yeah, sure, there are the Hundreds of thousands of clicks that satisfy one's ego but in reality even the click count is bizarrely accounted. Webbots and simple searches by key words will inflate the click count quite quickly. But this creates a new malady: People starting to think they are the next HCB, thanks to flickr. Haha!

 

I won't go further then this today but I could easily write a book about photography and the bloated ego in the modern age.

 

To put is mildly, in the past 5 years, I think I have seen not more then 5 striking photographs on all the forums I visit. Not more then FIVE. All the rest is simply a circus, a clownesque parade of consumable images flushed down the internet for all to "enjoy". It's quite pathetic. I enjoy analyzing the sickness, though. It's fun.

 

Splotching hundreds of photos on flickr is artistic suicide. The more one shows, the more his work is diluted. A tight edit and a good showcase will always beat an ocean of garbage.

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I agree up to a point - people often do overate their work. However, with photography in general being a singular activity, having the chance to share pictures and get feedback is a good thing as it can show if your images are actually working or not. Again, you have a point; if all the comments are made to be mutually beneficial and ego boosting, then people aren't getting the best from it, which is a shame.

As I pointed out in my last post, there is also a lot of really good work there. If in all the forums you visit you've only even seen five good pictures in the last five years, then either the world is full of terrible photographers or you have such amazing standards that no one can measure up to your heightened aesthetic abilities.

As to answer your question, I engage with corporate clients who want to see more than on my websites, photographers who go on and do my workshops and generally have a chit chat over photography with people who have an interest in images.

To completely slate Flickr I would say is a bit extreme; next we'll be saying the internet is a bad thing, or libraries are bad as we don't like all that we see there! It's all subjective but mass generalisations are never accurate!

 

Edmond

 

I think that people over rate their own work to a point of nonsense. Like uploading 100s of pictures to satisfy an audience that's simply not there. Oh yes, it's there, but it's merely a hedonistic practice of trading good words: If you like my picture, I'll like yours. And so the never-ending circus ends where every one needs his dose of ego-inflation for the day.

 

Like when you say "engage with people interested in your work". Who are they? I mean, other then the usual "likes" traded back and forth, how deeply are they truly interested in your work?

 

Yeah, sure, there are the Hundreds of thousands of clicks that satisfy one's ego but in reality even the click count is bizarrely accounted. Webbots and simple searches by key words will inflate the click count quite quickly. But this creates a new malady: People starting to think they are the next HCB, thanks to flickr. Haha!

 

I won't go further then this today but I could easily write a book about photography and the bloated ego in the modern age.

 

To put is mildly, in the past 5 years, I think I have seen not more then 5 striking photographs on all the forums I visit. Not more then FIVE. All the rest is simply a circus, a clownesque parade of consumable images flushed down the internet for all to "enjoy". It's quite pathetic. I enjoy analyzing the sickness, though. It's fun.

 

Splotching hundreds of photos on flickr is artistic suicide. The more one shows, the more his work is diluted. A tight edit and a good showcase will always beat an ocean of garbage.

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What really, really annoyed me about Flickr was the Group thing, where, if you joined the "right" group, you'd get dozens of people "liking" your stuff, with stupid graphics in the "copy and paste" comment. No decent proper comments at all, just the product of the "Post 1 - Comment on 14" system that they like there.

 

I once made the mistake of joining a Landscape "Post One - Comment on the immediately previous 2" groups. The shot immediately prior to mine was an HDR of such mind-blowing ineptitude that teh poster must have been on some bad acid trip. I told them that I didn't like HDR as I thought (and still do) that it looked completely un-natural if the hands of someone who doesn't know the word "subtlety". I was flamed all morning, such that I had to block the perosn and leave the Group.

 

Inane comments are there on 500px too, but, for now, people do seem to be a bit more sensible. You don't get the huge hit number sthat you can do on Flickr.

 

Or maybe it's just that my stuff isn't any good.

 

500px does seem to like Russian photographers who take photos of naked ladies.

 

I am pleased to see that my account has expired, but I have left just one photo there. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andybarton/

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Splotching hundreds of photos on flickr is artistic suicide. The more one shows, the more his work is diluted. A tight edit and a good showcase will always beat an ocean of garbage.

 

maybe for a pro selling fine art

 

but its a great way for us mere mortals to see lots of work and technique

and also get feedback on our style

some of that is self-serving but so what, its nice to have a compliment on a rainy day !

 

If you look at sites like photo.net and other personal galleries posted on the net, pretty much the most awesome pics are posted. I would not expect to see any better in a gallery

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No decent proper comments at all,

 

which site or forum do you reckon is the best for good feedback ?

 

FYI I think the quality that most people on this forum is so far above average that most "non-photographers" would comment favourably, even though we would nit-pit

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What really, really annoyed me about Flickr was the Group thing, where, if you joined the "right" group, you'd get dozens of people "liking" your stuff, with stupid graphics in the "copy and paste" comment. No decent proper comments at all, just the product of the "Post 1 - Comment on 14" system that they like there.

 

I once made the mistake of joining a Landscape "Post One - Comment on the immediately previous 2" groups. The shot immediately prior to mine was an HDR of such mind-blowing ineptitude that teh poster must have been on some bad acid trip. I told them that I didn't like HDR as I thought (and still do) that it looked completely un-natural if the hands of someone who doesn't know the word "subtlety". I was flamed all morning, such that I had to block the perosn and leave the Group.

 

Inane comments are there on 500px too, but, for now, people do seem to be a bit more sensible. You don't get the huge hit number sthat you can do on Flickr.

 

Or maybe it's just that my stuff isn't any good.

 

500px does seem to like Russian photographers who take photos of naked ladies.

 

I am pleased to see that my account has expired, but I have left just one photo there. Flickr: andybarton's Photostream

 

I agree - I really dislike these stupid graphics and some of these groups are ridiculous!

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...

 

.. To put is mildly, in the past 5 years, I think I have seen not more then 5 striking photographs on all the forums I visit. Not more then FIVE. All the rest is simply a circus, a clownesque parade .....

 

 

... of which, 2 were yours. ...

 

 

Just adding some spice. ... :D

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Guest Holy Moly
... of which, 2 were yours. ...

 

 

Just adding some spice. ... :D

 

hehe, Azzo, another one from you and me, but who is the 5th?:rolleyes: HCB??????

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So far, there has been no mention of security. (Flickr and other similar sites have agreements with agencies for free use of exposed pictures. I have stopped using PhotoBucket for that reason).

 

For many posters, image theft is not an important issue. However, for the OP and other professional contributors, I would have thought that the fewer sample pictures made freely available to the world through these sites the better. Just my opinion.

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So far, there has been no mention of security. (Flickr and other similar sites have agreements with agencies for free use of exposed pictures. I have stopped using PhotoBucket for that reason).

 

For many posters, image theft is not an important issue. However, for the OP and other professional contributors, I would have thought that the fewer sample pictures made freely available to the world through these sites the better. Just my opinion.

 

You can opt in for Getty to sell your work from Flickr and do a split with you. You can also choose what level of usage you allow, including, none. Naturally, just like the rest of the web, someone can steal an image by capturing the screen. That's my reason for the watermark, which whilst not 100% effective, will stop most usage.

 

Edmond

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I'm still on Flickr (Pro), but I won't pay for an additional year (So I guess only the last couple of photos will survive in the Free version. I moved to SmugMug at this point. Mainly because of the customization (and domain name stuff) options. Pricing isn't that different from a Flickr Pro account (considering the possibilities).

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The more one shows, the more his work is diluted. A tight edit and a good showcase will always beat an ocean of garbage.

 

Well you do practice what you preach. As far as I can see you have only posted twelve images to the LUF Photo Forum! That is either super concentrated commitment, or not much to say, but which is it?:D

 

Steve

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Originally Posted by NB23

The more one shows, the more his work is diluted. A tight edit and a good showcase will always beat an ocean of garbage.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Well you do practice what you preach. As far as I can see you have only posted twelve images to the LUF Photo Forum! That is either super concentrated commitment, or not much to say, but which is it?:D

 

Steve

 

Ha! ....... :)

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Well you do practice what you preach. As far as I can see you have only posted twelve images to the LUF Photo Forum! That is either super concentrated commitment, or not much to say, but which is it?:D

 

Steve

 

In my case it's pure laziness.

 

It's been almost one year since I finished my Kodachrome projects and I haven't even thrown a serious look at the slides. I'll probably scan them somewhere in 2015-2016, right when I'm finished printing my 2011 negatives. Right now I'm still in my 2007 negatives.

 

I have a good 5' high of superb 11x14 FB prints but I'm not ready to start scanning them yet. Who's crazy to do that?

 

Somewhere in 2020 I shall be ready to finally flood the world with my images. But half of my extra tiny audience will be either dead or into a new hobby such as playing Golf or Bowling. All in all, I'm hopeless. This whole photo thing is hopeless. But it's fun.

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