When I signed up a couple months ago, I got the impression Flickr was just another F2F site (like Friendster, MySpace, Orkut, etc.) and lost interest because it seemed redundant for me.

I went back to visit this weekend because I've been checking out Heather's stream on her other page and have been having trouble tearing myself away -- I don't know if they repurposed or what, but it's all about photos now. You can post your own (through the site, by e-mail, or through a desktop app), but my favorite features are the friends and community-at-large photo pages, which show thumbnails of the latest additions.

You can also view photos by tag (keyword), if you're specifically intersted in, say, graffiti or dogs, and the site blog highlights members and themes. And there's commenting and messaging.

A couple questions if you're signed up:
1. What's your membername? (I wanna check you out.)
2. How are you using it for your own photos? (primary photoblog, camblog, snapshots that don't fit in at your blog for whatever reason, specific theme gallery, etc.)
3. Are you using the stream for your site?

Do you ever feel like you've exhausted your favorite shooting locations? How do you go about finding a new place to explore photographically?

One of my recent ideas is to find a junkyard and ask them if I could poke around with my camera for a couple of hours. They may think I'm a little strange, but it seems like there would be a lot of great photo opportunities there. I've also noticed that carnivals and fairs are a fun place to find inspiration.

What other kinds of interesting and possibly overlooked locations do you know about?

I recently interviewed Kristina Medhus from EightyFour.net, and something she said stirred up my mind as to what a photoblog is. She mentioned that you DON'T have to post everyday in order for you call your site a photoblog.

This got me thinking if there is a definition for a photoblog. Although this isn't 100% accurate, my definition is that they're a blog (logged post) that shows the world your life through photographs. I've noticed many sites out there that don't post a picture a day. I understand that this hard at times considering that sometimes there just isn't enough time in a day to do so. But there are some sites that don't post for weeks. Are these photoblogs, or photo portfolios?

I have some others as well. DUE NOTE that for the two below, I'm just trying to see what you think. I'm not saying you HAVE to believe this, as I don't even believe in it. Just trying to see your thoughts on it. Stop emailing me all of these nasty messages on the post. I'm not telling, I'm wondering...

Anyway, after checking out many sites and having some conversations with fellow photobloggers, I noticed that not everyone takes a photo a day, but rather takes a lot on one day, and builds up a backlog of blogworthy photos. They may only shoot once every week. Do you think photoblogs should be where you take a photo about something of your day, and you post it THAT day?

And finally, the last thing... these sites are suppose to document your life through photos right? Do you think photos of a cloud, a building's reflection, a puddle, etc., have to do with your daily life? I mean, as sad as this sounds, sometimes the most exciting part of my day is renting a movie, or getting a box of pizza. These are THE events that defined my day. But then again, a photo of a slice of pizza or the Blockbuster Video rental box ISN'T the most beautiful thing per se. So I go out, and take (or rather attempt to) photos of 'artsy' stuff... At times, I feel that this has NOTHING to do with my day, but it's 'blogworthy'.

So here are my three questions for you guys:

1. Do you have to post everyday (or at least very frequently) to call your site a photoblog? Or is it a photo portfolio instead?

2. Should you take a photo a day and post it that day to call your site a photoblog? Or is saving up photos and posting them in other future days alright?

3. Are photoblogs supposed to show your daily life, or is the aim to take a 'pretty' shot daily that doesn't generally have anything to do with your day?

I thought I'd point out to the other three or four film photographers in the world that Fuji just announced a brand new line called Fortia! It's a 50 ISO transparency film (in both 35mm and 120!) that's so ridiculously saturated it even surpasses Velvia, which is saying something. It definitely crosses over into the extreme; check out the examples on Fuji's site. No word when it will be available in the US, but it looks like later this month for Japan. So hey, film-haters, please take note that film isn't even close to dying any time soon. Fuji still has some new tricks up its sleeve.

That, actually, is not the question.

I enjoy receiving feedback (and think that's one of the great features of a community), but sometimes I wonder if just responding with a "thank you!" is really enough when people comment. . . or if perhaps the "thank you" is sort of implied by virtue of what we're doing and a response is not necessary? Okay not that a thank you isn't necessary, mind you, but I think you know what I mean. Or at least I hope you do.

So I suppose the question is, "What are your feelings about the whole "responding to comments" issue?"

UPDATE (most recent) Sat July 10th 1800hrs (Eastern Australia Standard Time) - I have removed the url "masking" from the www.photoblogring.org domain forwarding service, so that url will be down for a little while (hopefully not TOO long, but the server support says this can take up to 48hrs) whilst the changes take place. The main site can still be accessed here however! Also all the web ring links on individual member's pages still work to drive traffic around the sites however. Thanks!

(Older update that is no longer that relevant because the blogroll is working again *cheesy grin*)
Hi all, I thought I would just update those who are interested on the status of the new webring...
the good news is that in just a couple of days photoblogring.org has 54 active members and 17 sites awaiting approval in the queue. The bad news is that tonight it seems blogrolling (which is the service that I use to randomly display all the sites in the web ring in the side bar of the photoblogring home pages) has suffered some kind of meltdown. When I have gone to add new sites to the blogroll tonight I get this message:

A fatal error has occured
I'm sorry but your request has encountered a Fatal Error. Blogrolling support has been notified and all pertinent information to the error has been transmitted.

So no links are showing there at the moment. Back to some other good news, the ring is still functional and sites are still ahving traffic driven to and through them by using the random link in the code. (or the next, previous etc, if anyone has included those in their webring code on their sites) Speaking of code, if anyone is having trouble with inserting it into their sites, and these examples don't do it for you, please feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help.
I'm hoping the blogroll problem is only transient (and that the meltdown hasn't scrambled the blogroll list I've built up so far!)
Keep snapping all!
Cam :-)>

I just recently noticed that when you go to Google and do a search for "photoblog", Google will no longer ask you if you meant "photo blog". (This used to be the case.)

And furthermore, if you do a search for "photo blog", Google will ask you if you meant "photoblog".

Seems like "photoblog" is becoming a real word. Hot damn!

Recently I was able to gain access to a photo pass for the concerts at Muskegon Summer Celebration Things went quite well and I was able to get some amazing shots. Word got around that I was publishing them to my site, which eventually made it back to the Summer Celebration board members. I have recently received an email from someone on the board stating that I need to take down the photo's or run the risk of legal action. According to him "A photo pass allows you to shoot for the event itself or for a real media publication. The pass does not allow you to shoot and post to a website for others to view and download. By doing so you are opening yourself and SC "Summer Celebration" up to legal action."

Now, as I see it, wouldn't a photoblog constitute a publication? They are usually updated daily or weekly, just like the printed media. Webster defines it as "1. The act of publishing or making known; notification to the people at large, either by words, writing, or printing; proclamation; divulgation; promulgation. The unidentified board member's response to the Photoblog vs. Newspaper was that the newspaper photo's were protected by copyright while my website is not since people can freely download any of the images. As I see it, your images are protected by copyright as soon as you capture the image, in addition to that, I also have a creative commons license restricting commercial use. So where should this issue stand?Can a newspaper publish images to the public, and yet I can't, just because my form of publication is a website?

Images were taken of mainstream bands like Nickelback, Live, Melissa Etheridge, Isaac Hayes, Sponge, ZZ Top. I had credentials to shoot the images, and they were all shot in Michigan.

I recently started using this amazing piece of software called DxO Optics Pro and I thought you might find it interesting. It's the perfect and a must have tool for serious DSLR serious and fixes distortion and chroma aberation of your photos according to the body/lens combination you use.

I shoot mostly with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55mm lens and they support this combination, and I have to admit the results are unbelievable. It makes my photos look like they are taken with a sharper much more expensive glass.

they have trial versions too, check it out, and make sure they have the body/lens combination module of your ineterst.

Unfortunately there is no RAW support at this time but apparently they'll be relasing that very soon, but it does an amazing job with JPEGs out of the camera.

UPDATE:

Examples:
These are straight out of the camera and then the Optix Pro versions. Optics Pro has no settings, it figures everything out with a press of a button!. I recommend downloading them and flipping back and forth with your image viewer:

Example one - The Door:
Before
After

Example two - The Corridor:
Before
After

I'm going to remove these in a few weeks for saving bandwidth.

So you're getting ready to go on a photographic safari.
What do you take with you?

Or put another way, if we were to open up your camera bag while you're out taking photos,
what would we find inside?

Inquiring minds would love to know. =)