Words/No words?

[mikel r.]

I have been viewing the Leica thread, (I know, shame on me) and I am

curious to see if anyone is interested in starting/participating in

a w/nw threads on this forum. These are just threads with photos

taken along a theme. I thought it would be very interesting to see

some themed photos taken with vintage cameras and posted here. It

seems to foster a sort of comraderie there with some friendly banter

moving beyond, "what camera is this," types of questions. Some

examples of these threads are, w/nw Religious People, w/nw Horses,

w/nw your photo of the week, etc. I thought this might liven up the

forum a bit and keep people posting photos, which I love, what do

you think?

[jerevan]

I don't wanna rain on your parade man, but there are actually a few Word/No words threads here, if you take a look at the older threads. Post a few W/NW and see what gives, Mikel. I'd love to see more of'em too. :)

[furcafe]

Shouldn't be a problem. Heck, most of the pictures posted in the Leica Forum weren't taken w/Leicas, anyway (I know, I've been known to sneak a Contax shot or 2 into those threads myself!).

[rich815]

No, please no. W/NW threads are usually just a string of mediocre images most of which are a thin stretch to conform to the theme. Someone posts: W/NW - Demonstrations, for example, and the next thing you know a whole slew of images are posted that have ANYTHING to do with a demonstration, even if they are boring images of poor technical quality or artistic merit, just so they can participate. It'd be one thing if people had some kind of control to post images that are more than snaps, or have some kind of real merit but that's not usually the case. I can just see someone seeing a W/NW thread and then digging into their image files finding any image that *might* somehow fit, good or bad and posting it anyway. What's the point in a string of boring snaps? IMO, W/NW threads are the karaoke bars of this web site: no one listens to who's singing at the time, they are just waiting for their own turn, and in the end it's just a bunch of bad singing! Besides, isn't there a W/NW forums just for this kind if stuff? Sorry to sound so against them but I think most of the time they are downright awful. It's one thing to post a few choice images that relate directly to some interesting classic camera to show it's potential, another to encourage some excuse just to post images. We have galleries for that.

[dan_long]

Thank you Richard for reminding me why I have not, and likely will not ever post a photo here.

[gib]

post what you like....just be sure to employ the more and more rare item in today's society and photo.net, common sense.

[furcafe]

While Richard's correct that there is plenty of bad or mediocre photography in W/NW threads (as there is throughout photo.net), nobody's forced to look @ any thread, including W/NW postings, just like no one is forced to go into karaoke bars. As WJ Gibson points out, a little common sense goes a long way. I think the only requirement should be that "W/NW" actually appear in the subject line as a warning to those w/sensitive eyes.

[__stu_evans]

Just say no.

[randyjay]

Who taught the first photographer how to take a picture? I just take pictures. I'm grouchy.

[mikel r.]

Actually I enjoy looking at everyones photos, good or bad. If we were to wait for people to post only good photos, none would get posted. Even the best photos here are, at times, critiqued rather harshly. I do not claim to be even a good photographer, but I do enjoy looking at photos. I enjoy taking photos. That is why I am posting to the website, because it is a community. In my mind anything that fosters that community spirit of sharing and learning is good. So post away. It seems that some disagree with me, for whatever reason. Any concensus here? I think I will just start a couple and see where it goes. Let the grumbling begin. For those who prefer only the best photos, don't look.

[rich815]

These are the discussion forums, not image galleries. Yes, it an image website. There are galleries, critique image areas, rating areas, etc. And there are forum areas where discussions are posted. This is the latter. The occasional image within these discussions is appropriate, but IMO, we should not transform the forum discussion areas into strings of images. Yes, I guess like karaoke bars one can choose not to go into them but it does not mean you will happily sit by while your neighborhood fills with karaoke bars. There's ample places for images on this website, and ample places to comment upon those images within their own critique areas. And, as mentioned, there's even a W/NW forum specifically for this. Why are we trying to turn the forum areas into image gallery areas too? <p>Well, just my opinion and although I may feel strongly about it in the end it's just my opinion. I respect others opinions as I hope others do mine...

[jorn ake]

I think specifically with classic cameras, some amount of sample photography is required, especially since this seems to be a user forum and not just a camera collecting forum. If most of the people were just sealing these things in plastic and putting them on the shelf, no photos might be an alright idea as they would not be the focus of the fetish. But seeing as many people here get these cameras to actually go out and take photographs, as well as use vintage cameras for the look that they produce photographically, sample photos are an important part of figuring out which tools create which type of image. Plus, you can hardly blame someone who has spent a few days hunched over a work bench tinkering with a Swiss watch's worth of parts for wanting to show a few photos that came from the camera once they got the thing stuck back together. I think photos then are material to the whole process here.

[randy_skopar]

I'm more curious to see shots taken with old equipment than shots taken with recent stuff, film or digital. I'd look over any W/NW threads with great interest.

[jessica_ulm3]

Richard - here's a ready made aneurism - <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/nw-fetch-msg?msg_id=009kNr" target="_blank">http://www.photo.net/bboard/nw-fetch-msg?msg_id=009kNr</a>

<br><br>

Don't take life so seriously. Nobody gets out alive, anyway. The point of those threads is to build community, not display works of art. In fact, it even says on the W/NW discription that it is not a place to show off. They're not good, they're interesting (if done right). I mean, my 'Jim Bob's Chicken Fingers" photo in the above threat is of terrible quality, taken with, I believe, my 2nd roll of film (excluding my $20 p'n's from elementary school). But unless you have been to Opelika Alabama, I think it's kind of interesting. Shared experiences come up in those threads, like the fact that Beau Hooker has a photo from ever single alt-landmark on Route 11 in Virginia between my house and my parents'.

<br><br>

Dan, if the majority of the folks at pnet minded mediocre images, I would?ve been booted my first day. Ignore the masses, love the friends.

<br><br>I would love to see one, though all of the cameras I have a glut of pictures from are of the 1970s Japanese and modern digicam variety, not classic. Wait until I run a few more rolls through the Retina and Canonet.