Mon, May 23rd, 2005 by Frank Lynch
John Wallis of thin sliced time has volunteered for a new effort here at blogs.photoblogs.org: promoting better photography through careful reviews of his work. With proper constructive criticism — specific examples to support points, and perhaps highlighting shots elsewhere which achieve greater success, we hope John can improve. And if others thnk hard about what's said, we should all be able to benefit.
John's site is here.
(John hereby wins free access to The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page...)
May 23rd, 2005 at 9:53 pm
I just wanted to let you know that something is wrong with the favourites, this text is everywhere...
"[Saturday, May 21st, 2005] Everyone's favorites are all anonymous now! Eventually this page will disappear completely, but it's still here to explain this change to everyone. If you want to know why this change took place, please read this blog post. If you don't want to read that mammoth blog post, then I can sum things up for you by saying that Photoblogs.org needs to be more about photography and less of a popularity contest. Several changes are in store. -Brandon"
I don't like people creating x users either but you just can accuse everyone.
May 23rd, 2005 at 9:55 pm
I meant you just "CANT" accuse everyone.
May 23rd, 2005 at 10:24 pm
I'll reiterate a comment made on the last thread - I don't think photoblogs.org is the proper venue for photocriticism. Nor do I think spotlighting a blog that has been in existance for one day is appropriate (no offense to John - in one day he's outdone six months of my best shots).
I think something to remember is that just by virtue of having a photoblog listed here, we don't automatically deserve visitors and we don't automatically deserve thirty minutes of constructive criticm from all 10,000 members.
Photoblogs.org is not a photographical babysitter to hold our hands and make us improve.
If I really want to be a better photographer, the responsibility to study, learn and improve is on my shoulders, not yours.
Respectfully,
May 24th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
I agree with David. I think that's better suited for a photography forum, or the special critiques section at http://www.photoblogsmagazine.org
Anyway, I've enjoyed John's site, and consider it worth visiting. Welcome John!
May 24th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Hello everyone, I feel I owe an apology to all of you who were members of this site and blogging away before I had any idea how to. It was certainly never my intention to jump the queue and believe me I was gob smacked and honoured at the same time when I checked the site this morning and saw my blog featured. I volunteered for this because I started blogging to share my work and at the same time hopefully meet a community of photographers online that I could exchange ideas with, be inspired by and learn from. That's my only goal and I hope that's what happens. John
May 25th, 2005 at 3:06 am
I admire John for jumping right in but my honest reaction is more in line with David's. Don't get me wrong-I love getting comments on my photos(and leaving a word or two when I am so moved) and have found it very enlightening to find that others often respond differently than I expect to a given picture. But I get this mild flare of irritation when I detect an eager request for "critique" from others. I'm not trying to slam anyone, just sharing my experience in a ruthless self honesty kind of way. There are so many photo sites with "critique/best of" elements and/or contests, and so much information available about the basic rules of photography it seems redundant and boring or something. Or like a request for "critique" is actually a disguised desire for simple attention. I think this is true for me: I don't care as much about what folks think as I do that they're looking.
As for you're pblog, John, I didn't spend a whole lot of time there but I got the impression that you're having fun more than trying to create really stunning photographs. A good image is one that gives you the feeling that you had when you were there and moved to press the button, and you're the only one that can know if those two things line up.
May 25th, 2005 at 10:29 am
I think we're beating John too hard. I believe in his apologies and in not knowing the "uses and customs" in practice here at Photoblogs.org, in any case the responsiblity goes to his mentor / presenter. As for "having fun more than trying to create really stunning photographs", as Rob says, don't see anything bad in that, we'll all have differents paths and approaches, and I think that's what art is all about.
Respectfully,
May 25th, 2005 at 1:22 pm
I feel so guilty.
May 26th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
"As for you're pblog, John, I didn't spend a whole lot of time there but I got the impression that you're having fun more than trying to create really stunning photographs. A good image is one that gives you the feeling that you had when you were there and moved to press the button, and you're the only one that can know if those two things line up."http://lightbone.my-expressions.com/
In Reply:
They do conjure the moment for me and it's fun and you are correct I don't try to "create really stunning images" I would never push the shutter release if that was my goal. My goal is to explore what's possible with a free program like picasa as opposed to say CS2 because I believe that the digital revolution in photography is going to liberate a lot of people who would previously have been shut out of this art form economically. I signed up for this because I would like to get some comments from fellow photographers that aren't so damned polite. If all we are going to say here is "Wow what a great shot." to everything what's the point in commenting? Because by and large it's other photographers who view this site. Now as to the notion that I'm just having fun I would refer everyone here http://my-expressions.com/up_media/1936/pblog/1916/1113372061_Resize%20of%20P41215951.jpg
Quote;"I look at a lot of photoblogs(ya'll rock) and spend some time on photography forums and I have decided this spring not to post any pictures of flowers or ducks or my children. I mean, this is serious photography here, right? Enough with the kiddie kandids already. And then I end up at the park this evening with my two children, no wife in sight, a loaf of bread, a lake, waterfowl, the warmest, sweetest air and longest light of so far this spring and an epic forty five minutes ensue, a golden memory forms. And so, suffering through yet another bout of excruciating cognitive dissonance, I give you this token of my day, this goose."
I like geese they are fun. John