Elephant Seals,Piedras Blancas
“One of my greatest fears is not being able to change, to be caught in a never-ending cycle sameness. Growth is so important” Matt Dilon
I sad to report the demise of Photosig, a site that I have recommended for a decade. I have watched numerous students’ photos improve dramatically as they developed a photographer’s eye. The idea was simple;
- Someone post a photo of theirs.
- Others would write critiques of the photo. And this is where the learning takes place.
- And if still others found the critiques to be useful they were rate with thumbs up. The critique writes then earned points that allowed them to post photos.
Learning to give a useful critique is important in several ways. First, you have to learn to articulate what works and doesn’t work with a photo. This requires engaging the photo and finding words to your reactions and figuring out what caused it. This is critical to becoming a good photographer. Second, because it was someone else’s photo, there is much more detachment than if it were your own photo. We tend to be our own worst critic; either too harsh or too lenient. Third, because the critique has to be useful.
Photosig provided the structure that led us to learning. I am sad with the demise of Photosig.
The King is Dead, Long Live the King. A toast to the cycle of kings. Can we do no less? Who is the new king? 500px seems to be the new king. If you haven’t already looked at 500px you should check it out.
In my opinion, the quality of the images is better at 500px than it was at photosig, both from a clarity perspective, and from composition. Critiques though are less structured and don’t lead people to grow as much as photosig did. If you can learn to figure out why you like an image, then 500px has more good images to look at and learn from.