louis1

Sometimes you just get smacked in the face and all you can do is sit still, try

to recover and think "why".

I have just seen a film "The Rich have their own photographers". It was a smack

in the face.

WHY.

Why does one take photographs and what is their value to others and us?

This beautiful and moving film is about the life of a photographer who was

totally unknown to me. He is one of the greatest photographers ever but don?t

take my word for it judge for yourself. He continues to live in the USA. His

name is Milton Rogovin.

Whilst we photograph sunsets, flowers and travel, Milton photographs humanity

indeed he photographs our neighbours. He went back and tracked down people after

10 years and then again after 20 years, photographing them afresh each time. He

was invited to Chile, Mexico, the Yemen and many other countries.

He is now 97 and his dedication is awesome and inspiring. The film about him is

not a workman like record of events and images but the love story of a man, his

wife and the world about him.

So now the film is deservedly winning awards at film festivals around the world

(I saw it in Cork, Ireland). After being targeted as a public enemy in the USA

Milton Rogovin's entire collection is now housed by the Library of Congress.

His photographs are in many collections around the world: Bibliotheque

Nationale, Paris, France; Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm; George Eastman House,

New York; J. Paul Getty Museum, California; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New

York; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; Victoria and Albert Museum,

England and many more.

Now with this film you have a chance to see his work, hear how he worked and why

today's museum curators think he is so special. You can also visit his website

http://www.miltonrogovin.com/ and also the website of the film which gives

details of the next screenings in the Hollywood and soon in London and Lisbon

http://www.tellingimagefilms.com/index2.htm .

I hope I am the only one never to have heard of Milton.

I guess the current plans don't really prioritise the elements I would have expected. I had

thought that among the first priorities would have been some device to give better

exposure to the good images which have been here for many years and hopefully those

which are to come.

It is surprising that nothing has been done since the management changeover to revitalise

the search/display of images which has remained virtually unchanged for years.

I notice that the photos I posted this year have got views counted in tens when previously

it was thousands to 100's of thousands. Whether this is a legacy of Brian's programming I

don't know, maybe the site is just broken!

Thanks Bob that is quite a list.

It seems to be mostly about words and administration rather than images. Maybe Flickr

has now got such dominance photonet is headed to try and capture textual content .

Is there a recent note anywhere of the areas being changed in photonet or even any mention of specific

new features being added to the site.

Thank you.

1 Be prepared to take the shot.

2. Take the shot

3. Do not hide the fact that you are taking photographs, long lenses are not to be used.

4. If at first you don't succeed, hang around until you are ignored and shoot again.

5. Smile

Louis

Hi dave

Long time no speak.

I have the 1DS II and it is a big jump in image quality. I now have images coming out with

out usm which look so good that I don't think they need USM. They aren't ultra sharp they

just look great.

Another very subjective thing is that the colour out of the ds is more 'normal' than the 20D

and 10 D.

The other thing is that if you want to you can apply a huge amount of USM on a DS image

and it holds it.

I bought this time last year. If Canon bring out a new model DS they will price it high as it

will still be a big leap to MF digital.

I colour balance all shots and I have taken a 20D image to 72inches by 48 inches and it

was superb. I routinely print 20 x 30 " from the 20D and i have a 20" square image from

the 10D that people thought was MF.

I hope that helps.

Louis

PS I am now at Flickr if you search for me under respectphotography.

PPS I got banned by the moderators for saying they were heavy handed in deleting a

critique I made of an image (which I promise was neither even mildly offensive or off topic,

and no I don't know why they deleted it and i now don't care) so I decided to move on.

Your comments re rates etc is I think just a pointer as to the future here.

This wouldn't work!

Everyone else wood think you were wrong not gifted and rate you 3 3. I know it already

thats what happens with my photographs.

The design is poor, amateurish even which i would suggest is not the way to go unless you

are deliberately trying to have a retro look. It is bland and inoffensive and imo a step

backwards.

There is no strong visual branding of photonet using either the logo(poor) or the actual

layout. It should be unique but simple.

Putting ads in the middle cheapens the site (credibility is lowered) as well as being visually

crude. Ads will be placed if clickthroughs are high that is more a function of the ad design

and 'offer' of the ad than the place on the web page.

I think you need help on web design aesthetics.

It is disappointing that you are focusing on the web page layout as opposed to the actual

site workings/features.

I can only guess that other longer term members might agree with me that the web page

design is at the bottom of our wish list for improvements.

This is popping up everywhere.

http://www.amaena.com/securityworm81/?

p=3&ax=1&ex=1&h=10&mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]&aid=areweill

I got a new page saying I had a virus and saying go now to a site where I could download a

program to combat the virus/infection. Sorry i can't remember the company it was

promoting.

I have been reminded yet again why I avoid posting here, people who confuse an opinion

with a useful contribution. END

Larry.

I presumed it was your opinion!

Standard Photonet Negativity is to take any suggestion and say it is no good.

A more positive approach would be to comment on any good aspects of the suggestion

and finally how you would improve the suggestion.

Like so many others here you had nothing positive to offer by way of comment, if you have

please do, if not please don't.

I would prefer boring up to date info and techniques rather than entertaining out of date

reviews.

I thought this idea would be generate a lot more response than Larry's standard photonet

negatives.

The concept of having vastly improved abuse and content control is surely what we need

to keep the site expanding and improving in quality and content.

So many complaints and the suggested solutions require moderators or very complex algorithms to try

to modify member behaviour.

Philip could you implement a system based on WIKI or is that too revolutionary/resource hungry?

Wikipedia has addressed a lot of issues. The software is free as I understand it.

Is this not the way this site could truly become the de facto photo site.

A site with authoritative articles on Kit, techniques, genres etc etc edited by everyone and kept current

unlike the one off articles currently on the photonet site, not a criticism just a reality.

Here is a quote from the WIKIPEDIA FAQ

"Handling disputes and abuse of process

Main articles: Wikipedia:Vandalism, Wikipedia:Dispute resolution, Wikipedia:Consensus, Wikipedia:Sock

puppet

Wikipedia has a rich span of methods to handle most abuses which commonly arise, which are well

tested and should be relied upon.

Intentional vandalism can be reported and corrected by anyone.

Unresolved disputes between editors, whether based upon behavior, editorial approach or validity of

content, can be addressed through the talk page of an article, through requesting comments from

other editors or through Wikipedia's comprehensive dispute resolution process.

Abuse of user accounts, such as the creation of Internet sock puppets or solicitation of friends and

other parties to enforce a non-neutral viewpoint or inappropriate consensus within a discussion, or to

disrupt other Wikipedia processes in an annoying manner, are addressed through the sock puppet

policy.

In addition, brand new users (until they have established themselves a bit) may at the start find that

their votes are given less weight by editors in some informal polls, in order to prevent abuse of single

purpose accounts."

You will go nuts trying to understand how this is programmed. It is best to ignore it at

present. Not good news but this is one of the reasons why so many comments have been

made about the rating system.

if a genre is unpopular in the TRP there is no point in putting it in there, people will not

change preference because of the inclusion of less popular genres.

You can always search by genres in the trp.

The main focus in photonet should be to now create sub communities of people interested

in particular genres or styles. With 100's of thousands of images and 10's of thousands of

photographers funnelling all images into one channel to compete for visibility is not too

smart.

It is vanity (and a road to unhappiness) to think that any image will cross over and be

highly regarded by everyone.

If I volunteer to comment on an image the ONE person I expect to want to continue the

conversation is the owner of the image.

Carl I don't believe all that reciprocal voodoo. I tend to comment as I see fit. The numbers

of people here hopefully even things out.

However if I get a comment I do look at the persons portfolio and maybe mark them as

interesting and then they will be in the loop for comments longterm but only on the basis

of me being interested in their style/subjects etc.

I meant when the comment is NOT replied to.

Sorry

When I have made an effort to comment and that comment is replied to, I would like the

option to tag that person as someone to ignore in future.

Please don't think that I am looking for an acknowledgement but a critique/comment is a

start of a conversation maybe only 2 comments long but it is rude to ignore someone who

has spoken to you and it really influences me as to whether I comment or not.

There is a possibility that the majority of comments tend to be made by those who have

recently joined the site. Their comments will probably be more anodyne then others

because they are feeling their way as to what is appropriate and to avoid attacks.

More established members' comments probably tail off over time as they will have seen

too

many similar images.

Their enthusiasm will reduce, maybe because the site is currently

just one big ratings race. There is no other way for a member to become noticed, the

dissatisfaction with ratings system is translated into dissatisfaction/lack of enthusiasm for

the site. I do not believe there is any solution to this in any major or minor rejigging of the

ratings system.

Members will remain and be active if the site dynamics are changed. Many amazingly

superb portfolios are totally overlooked. When the site is organised around the best

photography (in each genre) then maybe it will gain a new lease of life.

That means not just the best photos posted this week but the best ever must be

constantly (easily) visible.

2 tabs the same is not the best.

It also seems odd that SHARING is used instead of GALLERIES<div></div>