bob bennett

A Question for Female Members of Photo.net

How does it make you feel that John Peri is the 'most interesting' photographer at Photo.net?

http://www.photo.net/photos/johnperi

Peace,

Bob

At present,in the default view of the Top Rated Photos, this image is number one.

http://www.photo.net/photo/6020818

If you change the 'By' field to Average, this image is number one:

http://www.photo.net/photo/6022102

Which do you feel best represents the Art of Photography?

Most of the women in my life don?t like pornography, but sometimes do like Nude Art. I've discovered a way to tell the difference between the two. At least, it works for me.

Nudes rated highly by anonymous raters tend to be pornography, and nudes rated highly by named raters, tend to be Art.

I suspect the purpose of the anonymous rating system is to keep pornographic images high in the Top Rated Photos. This gets more ad clicks and makes photo.net more money.

On the top rated photos page, change the 'By' field from 'Rate Recent Avg', to 'Average' and see what happens. The quality of the images takes a rather startling jump, and most of the pornography drops away.

I find it appalling that new visitors have to select 'Average' to see the best we have to offer in any genre.

I've stopped telling my friends about photo.net; I'm embarrassed by all the badly done nudes.

I've got an idea for a photo.net slogan.

Porno without Passwords!

Peace,

Bob

Are you a member of any Women's photography groups?

Would you be willing to show this image to them?

Feel free to use my comments, and it would be most helpful if you could add comments of your own.

Only do this if it speaks to you.

Your only responsibility, in any lifetime, is to be true to yourself.

(Quote by Richard Bach)

Peace,

Bob

The world needs more people who 'see' beauty the way you do.

However, I would like to request you look at something not so beautiful:

http://www.photo.net/photo/5021347

My critique of this image follows:

She is striving for Beauty. She is bombarded with magazine covers, billboards, and television ads telling her how she is supposed to look. She knows if she doesn't look as she is supposed to look, she will be ignored. What you see here, is a desperate quest for Love.

We ,as photographers, created those magazine covers, billboards, and television ads.

We have played a major role in getting her where she is.

This is the most profound image I've ever seen.

Will we learn its lessons?

Peace,

Bob

...I've come to understand what you're saying.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=5021347

7/7

Peace,

Bob

aesthetic : adjective

Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.

However, my understanding of dictionaries is that they 'define' words by how they are popularly used.

Peace,

Bob

..what a great discussion!

Thanks to all of you for your responses.

Peace,

Bob

Which do you see as beautiful? The photo or the subject?

Peace,

Bob

Photography, at it's core, is about seeing.

Talented photographers see beauty of light and form where others do not. Seeing

must be learned.

For example, this is an image of a remarkably beautiful woman.

http://www.photo.net/photo/10054484

But countless magazine covers, billboards, and television ads tell her differently.

As a photographer, could you learn to see her beauty?

Could you then use your mastery of light and form to show it to her?

Peace,

Bob

..I agree that it's best to create your own. It's your image after all, and you should decide how it will be framed.

I'm thinking that an automated framing system would teach beginners the power of the frame. Hopefully, they would eventually learn to create their own.

Peace,

Bob

I don't like the ads I see here, but I also recognize that a website of the

enormous complexity of photo.net needs money to operate. I would like to

suggest some alternative means of generating revenue.

If you look at my page, you will see I have my business logo as my portrait. It

might be possible for photo.net to make the 'portraits' clickable links to the

photographer's business site. An additional fee could be charged for the service.

I've noticed that many of the images in the TRP could benefit from a frame. It

might be possible to automate the framing of images within photo.net. An option

could be included to add a logo, as I've done here:

http://www.photo.net/photo/10052924

This logo could also be clickable.

I have no idea if this would work. It's just a suggestion.

Peace,

Bob

I'm getting the impression many of the photographers here don't understand that

the web clips tonality from their images.

Maybe a prominent link to a "Save for Web" tutorial could be posted.

Peace,

Bob

Wow...what a great idea!

Thanks to the Elves for coming up with it.

Peace,

Bob

Some of the images on photo.net are the best I've ever seen.

And they're much easier to find when I click 'Average'.

Interesting, eh?

Peace,

Bob

These also recieved threes:

http://www.photo.net/photo/4950332

http://www.photo.net/photo/4928358

http://www.photo.net/photo/4928950

http://www.photo.net/photo/4843099

http://www.photo.net/photo/4887399

http://www.photo.net/photo/4753186

http://www.photo.net/photo/4783657

All of the '3' ratings were anonymous.

I believe artists who create nudes are hurt most by the anonymous system. Hormones artifically elevate bad work and prudishness lowers the rankings of good work.

Peace,

Bob

I believe all we have to do is remove the ability to rate images anonymously. If members knew their names would appear with their ratings, they would put more thought into them.

It might also be beneficial to do away with negative ratings. Rather than suffer the tedium of deciding on a rating for poor work, we could just rate images we feel should be included in the rankings. My suggestion would be to eliminate ratings of 1 through 4. If an image is unrated; it is not included.

I believe we should trade quantity for quality.

But these are just my opinions. I could be wrong.

Peace,

Bob Bennett