Formation of a "useful communities of photographers doing street photography" ?

[george_mc_keon]

May I present an unusual request for the photography community. We have been involved in the GHQ.com

project for some 18 months. The project is now up and running on the limited area of "Weddings", a first

step that was necessary to prove that the technology works.

We would now like to expand the project into a "useful communities of photographers doing street

photography" on a common theme of of human life and events. Would any photographers in the photo.net

community like to become involved and contribute content to the project. Any profits made by the project

will be shared among the participants and the community.

Regards

George

[Uhooru]

What do you mean by "useful"?

[neilambrose]

<p>Street photography has a long history of people forming groups. But typically, these

are groups that are characterised by artistic purpose. There are already several groups of

note which anyone may join if their work meets a certain standard. I don't think a

'directory' of street photographers would add anything of value. Or anything that doesn't

already exist, with sites like lightstalkers, etc, or even within this site.</p>

 

<p>No disrespect intended to GHQ, but I also see an obvious problem with your use of

advertising on the site. As an example, your current display of TV listings adjacent to news

alerts from recent wedding photographer posts presents some confusing (and poor taste)

juxtapositions. For example, there is a post of a newly enaged couple with a sideline of

'Ugly Betty' (generated by the advertisement, I assume). And one of a new birth, with a

sideline of 'The Departed'. It's particularly a problem since the style of your site doesn't

make it clear that these are adverts. I'm surprised you haven't had complaints yet :-)</p>

 

<p>I understand you have to get revenue where you find it, but this is one reason why I'd

never join GHQ - either as a commercial photographer, or as a street photographer. It's

rather antithetical to the entire point of street photography as artistic expression.</p>

[h._p.]

What does 'GHQ' stand for? From the pictures, it might be 'God Hawful Quality'.

[george_mc_keon]

Neil: Thank you for your reply and the question regarding artistic expression.

"Art is a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human

senses as well as the human mind; thus art is an action, an object, or a collection of

actions and objects created with the intention of transmitting emotions and/or

ideas." (Wikipedia)

 

Michelangelo's David went on display in a public square juxpositioned with real

commercial life. What is the point of generating "art" if nobody sees it to appreciate it ? .

The point of GHQ is to communicate the art of living shown through photographs.

Communication to the widest public and not just to special interest groups. Art is created

with the intention of transmitting emotions or ideas. GHQ wishes to communicate /

transmit street and other photography. That is central to the entire point of street

photography as an artistic expression.

 

What appears of "advertisements" is actually a random choice from a carousel of items of

current interest. (Nobody pays for them). They help add interest for the browser to the

site. They will evolve and improve over time. Revenue is not the purpose of the site,

communication is.

[mike dixon]

<i>What appears of "advertisements" is actually a random choice from a carousel of items of current interest. (Nobody pays for them). They help add interest for the browser to the site. </i><P>

I'm reminded of my days in (alternative) college radio when one of the new DJs suggested we add more mainstream music to get more people interested in the station. The music director explained that people who wanted to hear top-40/mainstream rock had a choice of several stations in town that would play that kind of music without sticking in alternative crap they didn't want to hear; our station was the only one in town that actually offered an alternative to that--people didn't tune us in order to hear mainstream hits.<P>

I'd suggest that people who want to know what's on TV tonight already have much better means of finding out than having it pop up randomly on a photo website. You're not adding interest--you're diluting your message.

[neilambrose]

<p>George - yes, you're right that art and commerce and not exclusive of each other. And

there's a long tradition of fine art depending on commerce for patronage - I agree with

your point.</p>

 

<p>But, that said, I'm not sure how well GHQ would support the street photography

genre. Your primary problem is one of credibility since SP is at heart a guerilla activity,

rarely pursued for commercial purposes. There are a number of sites that serve as a focus

of SP, each of which takes new members whose work is deemed good enough -- see

public-life.org and in-public.com, for example. The fundamental philosophy is one of

peer recognition, and it's this which is the most important kind of patronage. In this

respect I'm reminded of Groucho Marx's observation that a club without barriers to entry

isn't worth joining.</p>

 

<p>And, if I read your site correctly, it seems the primary purpose is to be a directory. If

that's the case then I think another form of directory would be of limited value, especially

when you're competing against the likes of flickr and blogger that are already well

established. More importanly, they're content led, where the best examples of the genre

float to the top. And your site isn't really content led; it's a content aggregator, which is

quite different.</p>

 

<p>And, as Mike points out, it's one that seems to have some confused positioning since

you're mixing photographic content with other random sources such as TV listings. Far

from adding interest to the viewer, it actually diminishes their interest. Which doesn't do

your credibility any favours.</p>

 

<p>Just my observations. Please feel free to ignore if you don't agree.</p>

[george_mc_keon]

Neil and Mike - Thank you for your point regarding the content on the carousel (the items

on the left hand side). We can and will change that to content more in line with actual

postings so that there is no confusing positioning of the site.

 

Neil - The primary purpose is not to be a directory but to have the ability for people to

browse by location or by event or by location and event for current human activity

portrayed in photography. The fact that photographers are listed is to provide a means of

crediting them with the content they contribute (if they so wish)

 

in-public.com and public-life.org concentrates on displays by a few select photographers.

flickr and blogger do not allow for the type of specific geo-location / event search

available on GHQ. (admittedly their content is hugh) and have no standards for entry.

 

GHQ looks to be somewhere between the two extremes above. Registration as a

photographer to not as high a standard as in-public.com and public-life.org but still to a

certain base standard. This can easily be seen by reference to work on photo.net. This and

the ability for specific searches for the browsers area of interest is what sets the site apart

from the mega sites like flickr and blogger.

 

I agree with your observation that at heart SP is a guerilla activity. Maybe GHQ could stand

for guerilla head quarters. A big billboard for street photographers. I do not think that we

need the big names to succeed, just good content by good photographers, as in the

photo.net community. Thank you for your comments they are very welcome. I know that I

have a major problem in trying to convey what we are trying to be about.

[robert_m_johnson]

"Formation of a "useful communities of photographers doing street photography" "

 

And what we are doing here is? :-)

[george_mc_keon]

Thanks for the feedback on the site from the community at photo.net .

 

The feedback recommended that we increased the value to the photographer.

 

Firstly by increasing the visibility and credit to the photographer for each announcement.

Secondly by eliminating the "ads" beside the announcements. Thirdly by simplifying the site

and eliminating confusion as to what it is about.

 

We will implement all those changes this week. Many thanks for your contributions.