For those of you who missed what Rebourne said- pretty much what I said- but better.

I think ReBorneUK has put it the best here. It's not the quality of the photo people are looking at, rating, and even commenting on. It's moreso the subject & WHO posted it.

I post on other galleries & like the fact that I get HONEST critiques & how to improve upon them. Do that on here with some of the people & look out.... While here, I get such comments as "nice shot." I appreciate the fact that those people took the time to comment- dont get me wrong, but I'd like to know why they found it to be a nice shot.

RR could save themselves a lot of server space by doing a couple things. One is to drop how many viewings a photo has. I look today and there is a photo of a cats paws that has more comments (and about 4 times as many viewings)than mine has viewings and although it doesnt bother me too much- I just wonder what the hell a lot of people on here consider art? Also they can save space for the ratings by just leaving the "excellent" rating available. Why not? Thats all any image ever seems to get on here anyways. I still receive about 1 or 2 IM's or e-mails A DAY that comment on my opinions here where the artist is getting discouraged cause of this crap.

I feel just leave the comments on here and have a rating system as if they (the comments) are helpful or unhelpful. Do away with the ratings & the number of views.

DUDE!!!
Palm trees..... and it's going to ~!@#$%^&* snow here again. Good shot!! As for the distortion from the wide angle lens- it kinda works the right way with this photo!

Dude...... Hope it's insured well!

I tend to crop then make the matting to go with the photo. I have recently started rolling... er- I mean cutting my own and getting better with each mat. It takes patience & practice but it looks better having maybe an 8x8 image- one thats not "standard size" in a frame. But also- a mediocre image can be made much better by cropping effectively.

Zack.... I use a Fuji Finepix S7000. 6.3 mpix- good enough for a 15x20 print.... if you ever do one that size. I do 11x14 at my largest & have a couple 13x17 (ready for printing) that look quite crisp too. But mostly I do 8x10 which prove to be quite excellent. I like it cause it doesnt use a "proprietary" battery- uses AA (I use the NiMH rechargeables). It also has 2 slots for storage- one XD & another CF so you can switch between the 2). It seems to be still available (the S20 is NOT replacing it as of now it's a different camera). But I've been pleased with it & when I got mine last June- it was less than $600 from a retailer. You can ck it out on www.fujifilm.com

Heck- you wouldnt even need a hard drive on a separate computer or server. You can add a secondary hard drive on the existing computer for your images at a lot less cost or a lot more storage. If you dedicate that drive for your photos, the chances of viruses to damage the files would be minimal unless you saved an image that contained a virus. Also for backups, usually 2 on a different media (CD, DVD, Zip) are typically enough. The main thing to remember is to keep them at different locations. These media could always be copied if one (the other) was damaged.

Politics, & Art....... what a combination......

Uhmmmmmmmm... I wasnt intending on being freudian when I said "self satisfaction." I was wondering how it got interpreted that way. My meaning of that was actually similar to a self praise, boasting, pride.... etc...... A feeling of grabndeur. I would hope that the majority took it the way I intended.

Pim- I have looked at your work- it is quite good. But as artists, aren't we always looking for ways to expand & improve our works? That's what an online community should be. NOT who can get the most "brownie points" by being in the "most popu;ar... er- I mean hot 20." I think some of these people in here should take a look at other galleries (especially "PHOTOSIG"), the vast majority of these would either be ignored or have harsh CRITIQUES written on them. I have started to post more in there. Why? Because I want to improve as a photographer and "cool shot" sometimes doesn't cut it as to what I would do to improve. It's a shame that there are many great artists on here that can get discouraged because of lack of recognition while mediocrity passes them by.

To be the "leader?" Of what? My point is that some people seem to think this is imprtant to what their "peers" think. But what does it get them? Another pat on the back. It's not like being in the hot 20 so many months in a row would get them anything in life except self satisfaction.

What's the big deal about getting a photo in the "hot 20" anyways??? What does it really get us?

Good Point. But what I'm saying is that this really has to turn into less of a popularity contest- too many good artists are getting discouraged while mediocrity is getting the praise.

Sorry about the typos- but it wont let me correct/edit my posting.... pooahs should be POOBAHS, and red should be READ. (I need sleep badly......)

Message edited on: 02/22/2005 22:12

Okay- Ive tried to voice my opinion here twice & it never posts....... why is that?

I'll try again....
What Lost is saying is very true and makes a lot of sense. Voting should be taken away from the members and let the people who are unbiased and know how to critique the artwork do the judging. This seems to be a lot more "Reciprocity" as opposed to "Renderosity" where people have admitted that they comment on images because the others comment on theirs. Members voting here would be like (the 12-16 yesr old age group) voting for "American Idol" where they will vote for their favorite(s) as opposed to the best performance.

Another thing to even the playing field might be to drop this from every month to maybe 4 times a year so the people judging wont go insane (or more insane). The AOM for Photography is really the AOY (artist of the YEAR). Give all trhe different mediums & the artists a better & more even chance.

One last suggestion I have is to not base anything on the number of viewings. Heck- don't even post now many viewings on teh page. A lot of members get real discouraged when their good work that something really went into itgets 1/8 the views of a snapshot. I have that quote by fellow member "RYNO" on my page- and I have received a lot of IM's from members who are ready to just give up but they see his quote- its true.

I understand that this would probably take some undoing & doing by the pooahs near the top of the rosity food chain. I'm just hoping someone will read this who has some say & gets an idea. GFor those who red it and disagree- I'll be waiting for the cannonballs to come flying over my bow.

Message edited on: 02/22/2005 22:05