Hmmm...i've read this thread 3 times. i commented once...last night. I don't see it. sigh ok... here i go again.

Here's the thing...it's all about potatoes. give me a sec and I'll explain.

i take photographs. sometimes i do heavy manipulation on my photos as a way to express myself artistically. Does this mean my photo is no longer a photo?

most of u say no. that's no a photo because it doesn't LOOK like one.

well, with respect to each of you, i say it is STILL my photo despite its manipulation.

is a potato still not a potato even if it doesn't look like how it is straight from the garden? is it still a potato if it's mashed? doesn't look anything like the original potato, but in my eyes, it's still a potato nonetheless.

when i first joined RR, i talked to Michelle about this subject. basically it says we should use our own judgment about where to post if the image is heavily postworked. she said my stuff is fine here as long as it's my photograph...regardless of the postwork.

if ya'all feel like we need to discuss changing that, that's cool.

all this sounds like a boundary issue. What are the boundaries of this photography gallery. Ya'all are thinking the boundaries may need to be tightened. some think maybe not.

I see things differently than most of you. I've ALWAYS been on the fringes. I know there are some of u in here that can relate...some who are even more on the fringes than i am.

photography is an exploration. that's how i see it. it's a process. it's a means of self-expression for me...sometimes WITH postwork, sometimes WITHOUT.

i see things differently than many of you. i like to take photography to the edge sometimes. I have SO much to learn. That's why I'm here. I want my work critiqued by other photographers.

I agree with a lot of what TomDart said:

I do not want purists on ivory towers telling me that what I do must be the kind of work they dolest it not be real photography. I want to see the images of 3dguy, Cynlee, Tedz(!!), logiloglu..Lostpatrol..ah the many others. There in is diversity and from a personal point of view, I need diversity to grow. I do not need an ivory tower of specific criteria to decide if my image(good or bad as it might be) is a photograph IN ESSENCE.

I LOVE the diversity here!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me end by saluting all of you for sharing your thoughts and feelings.

And I salute those of you "pure" photographers whose brilliance I cannot come close to. I want to learn from you, but i learn slowly.

I salute those of you who travel a different road and show me how to take my photography to the edge...and back again.

I just want to learn and grow. i suppose i can do that in any gallery. i just like to be here, but above anything else, whatever ya'all may think of my work, it IS photography to ME...

sometimes it just looks like mashed potatoes!

Love ya'all...so happy to have a place to express myself...here and in my gallery...a place i can be me.
Hugggzzzz! sheila

Message edited on: 10/27/2004 14:30