Is it time we all gave up

Just a poor photograph (out of focus, surroundings, composition) that can get on Explore and receive 92,500 views in a week
 
not sure what your asking when the link goes to s snapshot of dogs playing. would hardly say its a work of art or making a statement .
as a snapshot for the dog owners its fine. as a photograph that you expect to get some feedback in terms of quality. its sorry to say pretty average. plug socket, door frame, cushion, oof , nothing creative or inspiring tbh. problem is flickr is full ove a million photos like this. and i dont see flickr as anything more than a place to showcase pics ( good or bad ) and not somewhere to take photography seriously.
 
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It's an image sharing site at the end of the day not just a photography enthusiasts site. I don't see the problem with it getting an explore as it's obviously of interest to some people even if it's not technically good.

For what it's worth I get something out of your Flickr feed, in fact your Flickr posts on Facebook are probably a good 50% of the reason I got into photography.
 
Harriers9 said:
Is it time we all gave up trying to create a work of art or to make a statement in an image? I know I'm beginning to wonder why I bother with Flickr and get nothing back from it:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldad75/18710617822
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It's time to realise that Flickr is sh*t, and that any old sh*t can get explored, yes... I agree with you. Should you give up trying to make art or make a statement? I've no idea, but there's nothing on your Flickr page that suggests you've even tried - just loads of snapshots of dogs... so what were you expecting?

What were you expecting "back" from Flickr?
 
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Pookeyhead said:
It's time to realise that Flickr is sh*t, and that any old sh*t can get explored, yes... I agree with you. Should you give up trying to make art or make a statement? I've no idea, but there's nothing on your Flickr page that suggests you've even tried - just loads of snapshots of dogs... so what were you expecting?

What were you expecting "back" from Flickr?
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That's not his Flickr page.
 
Laudrup said:
That's not his Flickr page.
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(shrug).. point still stands. That sums up Flickr though. It's pointless as a means of measuring your work because there's no rhyme or reason as to what people like. It fails as a means of promotion because unless you do something fantastically noticeable, it's lost in a sea of mediocrity. No one actually uses it to scout "talent". It's just a social network where people say stuff like "Cool shot".

My advice, is stay away. I've no idea why people see Flickr as so important, or the only way to promote yourself. It has 1TB of storage.. that's nice though.

[edit]

Question is still valid though. What does the OP expect "back" from Flickr?
 
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Harriers9 said:
Is it time we all gave up trying to create a work of art or to make a statement in an image? I know I'm beginning to wonder why I bother with Flickr and get nothing back from it:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldad75/18710617822
Click to expand...

Point A ... We ???

Point B .. Not everyone uses or would even consider posting a picture on a cheap picture hoarding website called flicker


Just the snob in me coming out :)
 
KIPAX said:
Point A ... We ???
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Quite.

KIPAX said:
Point B .. Not everyone uses or would even consider posting a picture on a cheap picture hoarding website called flicker
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I do. What else would I do with the torrent of rubbish I churn out?

It never occurred to me to expect something back from an image hosting platform though.
 
Harriers9 said:
Is it time we all gave up trying to create a work of art or to make a statement in an image? I know I'm beginning to wonder why I bother with Flickr and get nothing back from it:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldad75/18710617822
Click to expand...


What has the author of that image actually got back though? The fact that 92K people have seen it? Can he spend that? Not only financially, but culturally? The only reason so many have seen it is because the Flickr algorithm decided it was to be put in explore. A page of inane comments saying "great capture"... whatever that means.... is that all you want? What would happen to you if one of yours were explored? Would it change your life in any way whatsoever? You would be able to post on Facebook, or in here that you have had an image "explored" and people may say "well done". Well done for what? Posting something on Flickr? Your post already proves that being explored is on no way any measure of whether the work is good or not, so why do you want that?

Just use it as an image dump so you can link stuff to your friends that they may find interesting. Pretty much all I do with it these days. I've had far more attention given to my work through networking with people and getting it exhibited in actual galleries. I'd rather 10 influential people see my work than a hundred thousand anonymous strangers on the web.
 
there's too many folk with a camera thinking they're artists full stop. Take photos that please you and b*****ks to what everyone else thinks.
 
Flickr explore is based on an algorithm. If your image has related data that suits the equation, it might get in explore. It then gets more exposure, changing that data, which in turn affects how it relates to the algorithm. By no means expect only "great" photography to show up in Explore, or understand how sub-par images can make it to the top.

If you are posting to flickr to get into explore, get lots of people to see it and get lots of comments/likes then spend some time researching how the algorithm works to optimise your chances of getting into explore in the first place. It doesn't really matter what your image is.

If you are wanting to get more people to view your images to make an artisitc statement, then I think you should re-evaluate Flickr as the mechanism to get your message across. You should probably find an alternate way to target a more appreciative audience.
 
I think that what I could be trying to say is that all (most) of us on here have spent a substantial sum of money on quality equipment, taken time to understand the basics of photography, spent an almost similar amount on Photoshop etc to process the results of all this expenditure then posted it to ANY photosharing site to await a few nice, constructive comments.

That is what I would like from Flickr, or any similar site. Just a hundred people to look at it and ask how it was done, where was the location. What was your inspiration etc.

To then see Flickr ignore all the creativity and skill involved in taking a photograph in favour of three out of focus dogs, but an in focus cushion, is disappointing when they could, used to be, a vehicle for promoting our raison d'etre
 
 
You need to define what a 'work of art' is for you personally and then restrict your question to yourself.

Bloody daft post
 
fabs said:
So, from what I can gather, to get your photo on Explore, you need milky water or angry skies.
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You need to capture people's attention from the thumbnail view, yes... so IMPACT!... for no real reason... but IMPACT... BIG SHOUTY COLOURFUL IMAGES FOR THE IDIOTS.

You also need to like lots of other's work, and comment on others a lot too.. that's part of the algorithm... playing the game.


It's all bol***s. Personally if any of that crowd liked my work by saying "cool capture" I'd be insulted.
 
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Harriers9 said:
I think that what I could be trying to say is that all (most) of us on here have spent a substantial sum of money on quality equipment, taken time to understand the basics of photography, spent an almost similar amount on Photoshop etc to process the results of all this expenditure then posted it to ANY photosharing site to await a few nice, constructive comments.

That is what I would like from Flickr, or any similar site. Just a hundred people to look at it and ask how it was done, where was the location. What was your inspiration etc.

To then see Flickr ignore all the creativity and skill involved in taking a photograph in favour of three out of focus dogs, but an in focus cushion, is disappointing when they could, used to be, a vehicle for promoting our raison d'etre
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I think you are approaching this all wrong. I'm assuming you are a hobbyist photographer, like myself, and have no pressing, professional need to be getting visibility. The main questions you should be asking are:

Did you enjoy playing with the camera, learning how it works and using it to take pictures?
Did you enjoy learning how to use photoshop and processing your images?
Are you happy with the result of all your expenditure and time spent learning these things?

If the answer is no to these questions then you should probably stop and move on to something else. Alternatively keep working at it until you are happy with the results you are getting in order to make all the time, money and effort you are spending worthwhile.

Getting people to look and appreciate your work should not be the target. That should (and will) only come as a happy consequence of what you are doing, and in my experience it seems to be a result of genuine enjoyment and enthusiasm for it. You should be a photographer because you love photography and all that involves, not to get acceptance or appreciation of your work from the wider population.

Note: If you are after helpful critique to improve, then again Flickr isn't where it's at. It can be, there are some very helpful people on there, but the useful advice is sporadic at best. That's where you can benefit from forums such as this one.
 
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TimmyG said:
I think you are approaching this all wrong. I'm assuming you are a hobbyist photographer, like myself, and have no pressing, professional need to be getting visibility. The main questions you should be asking are:

Did you enjoy playing with the camera, learning how it works and using it to take pictures?
Did you enjoy learning how to use photoshop and processing your images?
Are you happy with the result of all your expenditure and time spent learning these things?

If the answer is no to these questions then you should probably stop and move on to something else. Alternatively keep working at it until you are happy with the results you are getting in order to make all the time, money and effort you are spending worthwhile.

Getting people to look and appreciate your work should not be the target. That should (and will) only come as a happy consequence of what you are doing, and in my experience it seems to be a result of genuine enjoyment and enthusiasm for it. You should be a photographer because you love photography and all that involves, not to get acceptance or appreciation of your work from the wider population.

Note: If you are after helpful critique to help improve, then again Flickr isn't where it's at. It can be, there are some very helpful people on there, but the useful advice is sporadic at best. That's where you can benefit from forums such as this one.
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Not these days. It's all about the "likes". LOL Get with the programme dude!... you you don't get 20K likes per image you're s**t... didn't you know that?? Sheesh... what an amateur :)
 
Cute dogs. Probably not everybody who takes a photo and puts it on flickr thinks they're an artist. At least I hope so. Thinking you're an artist is a very overvalued thing.
 
Reading on other threads, some people on TP appear to be obsessed with a high number of strangers they'll never meet looking at their pictures. It seems it's about adding the picture to lots of groups and adding tags and other tricks you can do. It seems odd to me, but if it makes you happy, that's fine. But if it makes you sad, that other people are better at pimping the statistics than you, then please excuse us if we have a little chuckle about it. Nice puppies though.
 
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So it begs the question, are you taking pics for your own satisfaction, to make money or to get complete strangers to blow smoke up yer chocolate wiz way via likes etc?
 
Harriers9 said:
Just a poor photograph (out of focus, surroundings, composition) that can get on Explore and receive 92,500 views in a week
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They have a Youtube channel with 620,804 subscribers and 185,457,381 views. Looks like some dog rescue charity, can't begrudge them getting noticed if it brings in some donations.
 
I see. But that knowledge exactly shows the sort of detail people will go to, to pimp their pictures.

They are clearly under Flikr's spell.
 
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I'm not on social media, no flicker, no facebook, etc... nada. None of them. Maybe I'm the only one who couldn't give a flying.
 
Oh you can use Flikr quite well to dump your pictures online and ignore it all.
It's just some people have a particular need to feel loved by strangers and get involved and "like" those people and network with them.

I seem to remember this very forum offers trophies for various things. Like we're US school children. "way da go!"

Sadly you thought you might be the only person not to get sucked into all that nonsense. You're not. Loads of people are capable of staying rational. The rich networks dupe their members into believing that "everyone" is on Facebook or something. They are wrong. But you will have been "nagged" by the duped.
I'm not actually against social networking. But I've yet to see it done properly and without the bullying by distant businessmen.
 
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Can I ask what the Op wants from A) flikr ? B) photography ?
 
They're an animal rescue society with millions of followers on social media. This is a post on social media marking the organisation's birthday. It has absolutely nothing to with art.

Similarly, Flickr is just another social media platform, and has nothing to do with art.

If you're going to "give up your art" because some people want to support an animal rescue society, I'm not sure anyone here can help you.
 
I hope you find somewhere to share your photos where you receive the requisite response.
 
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