I recently developed my own blog called
“Fun Fun” as a medium for centralizing my work by connecting my different
photography pages onto one location as a platform to showcase all my work and
editorials that I produce. My theme is “Observations Of Life”, which is the way
I document the world. I will make an observation of a scenario and show it as
truthfully as possible, whether it is a vast landscape or a portrait. To
broadcast my work I use social media platforms such as Flickr, Tumblr, Blogspot
and Instagram to target different audiences and get feedback and other commentary
on my photographs. I have linked all
these blogs together so that if anyone does research into any three of them,
they will find more links to my work.
Portraits are very interesting to shoot. When I take a picture of a person I try not
only to take that picture of a face, but I also like to include the landscape
that we are in together if it works for the particular photograph. When I take portraits I have to get fairly
close to the subject as I use a 35mm lens, which does not zoom. I have to be very careful about placing the
subject, lighting and have to make sure my aperture is correct and my shutter
speed will give me the right amount of brightness or darkness that I am looking
to get out of it. When taking a photograph with it so that it requires very
little editing, if at all, when I publish it.
I mainly use this lens to shoot people, animals and still life. I also use a 18mm-105mm lens that I use mostly
for the wide angle (18mm) when I take landscapes.
My main goal is to take a photo of the
situation as truthful as possible. I
take into account all the elements of composition and natural lighting to make
the photo as perfect as possible. I
don’t have a specific subject matter that I photograph. I
photograph anything that interests me. Mostly,
I photograph landscape for it takes me outdoors. Landscape photography is interesting because
landscape is different all around the world, it is interesting to compare
landscape from the west midlands of England to the south coast of England, even
Austria and Cayman, where I come from. Being cooped up inside is not how I like to
spend my day.
I photograph my friends and people who
look interesting to me for I will always want to remember them. Since I am a
skateboarder I shoot a lot of skateboarders and bmxers doing tricks. Each different rider I photograph has their
own style whether it is fashion, what they ride, how they look, what obstacle
they approach and how they approach it. Because
of this, I have to think creatively how to make this picture match the excitement
of riding and my shot is to represent what it’s like to ride.
What I write about for my blog is whatever
I think about the event when I post my photos. They say a picture is worth 1000 words. I feel that a few words talking about the
photo helps bring the photo to life. The text makes it seem more authentic. My website is photojournalism, not as intense
as CNN reports of war and revolution, just an observation of life.
Flickr is a very good social media site
for photographers because many professionals showcase their work on Flickr and
amateur photographers like me are exposed to professional photos. Every type of photography can be found on
Flickr making it extremely easy to find inspiration for future shots and to
improve my craft. It is also easy to
find the sort of photos you are looking for by allowing you to submit work to particular
groups. For example, if you wanted to
experiment with black and white portraits, you can look in the group through
all the submissions giving you examples of different ways to approach black and
white portraits.
Flickr is also a good website to identify
better camera gear you may wish to purchase. This is possible because there are
groups who only allow submissions by people who have the same camera or
lens. By seeing what other people have
done with the gear, you can decide if this gear is right for you. Flickr makes it easy to organize your photos
by putting the work into sets. If you do
portraits, landscape and wildlife, it is easy to make a set for each category
so that when people are looking through your profile your photos are easy to
find. When you upload photos you can include tags, which are keywords that
people type in the search engine to find photos.
Many magazines have submission pools on
Flickr where users can submit their work. If these photos are what the magazine is
looking for then they will use your photos in their next publication, magazine
or website. Flickr also publishes the top 500 photos of the day. This provides amazing exposure for the user
whose picture is chosen for many Flickr users check the daily 500 to see what
photos have been submitted. Flickr also
has a daily article that they write featuring photos that fit the article. For
example, when the day 12-12-12 came along, I made a photo celebrating that day
and it was used in Flickr’s article about that day which then led to my photo
being featured in an online gallery by Yahoo.
Blogspot is a good
site to either make your website or just to have as a blog. I use mine as a blog to post all my B-roll
images. The layout is very simple and can be customized to suit your style. However,
there is very little style selection to choose from. It is a lot harder to be found on Blogspot
than any other platform because people cannot find your blog from the main Blogspot
site; they have to already know the link. I have Blogspot as an alternative option for
people to look at. I have put a fair bit
of work on there but I will discontinue using it because of its limitations. My last post said that I would be using my Tumblr
page more often.
Tumblr offers more variety for layouts
than Blogspot and is easier to customize. Tumblr allows one to follow other blogs, or to
be followed. Because I have followers, I
know that ever piece of work I upload will be seen even though there may be no
response from anyone. On Tumblr, you can either like a photo which gets stored
in your private folder of likes which only you can see, or you can re-blog the
photo which means you take it from one blog to your blog. I prefer re-blogs to likes because when I
re-blogs something, my followers will then see it, giving me more exposure. A good majority of Tumblr is photography, mixed
with a few articles, videos and music. Tumblr offers something for everyone making it
a universal blog for people to become exposed to different elements of our
world. Though I post editorials, they do
not get a big response. So for a guaranteed
response, I post photos that will generate a response. Usually it is an element of pop-culture since
a good majority of Tumblr users are teenagers who consume pop-culture. I have found that people find me for the work
I submit which shows that I am on the right path to getting more subscribers. I follow people that I get inspiration from. When
they post material I will see it on my homepage.
People show personal
aspects of their lives by documenting it in the social media. We like to share
our views and feelings because it helps have a better understanding of
ourselves. To get someone’s opinion about a photo you have created can give you
a better understanding of how others see it. It can also show something about your
personality. Tumblr subscribers can collect photos that represent their views
and interests. For example a young girl
from suburbia could be a big fan of the punk scene but cannot see it in her
regular life. Through Tumblr, she can
research the punk scene and make a collection of items she has found and can put
them on her blog for everyone to see, which will show the world her interests.
It is a good aspect of our social lives through
social media to show different people around the world what we see and what our
views and opinions are. It is all about
how much information you share. If you share your opinions on any matter, it is
just your opinion. If you share stories about
your life, then it gets personal. Once you put it on the Internet, it is in the
public domain. The negative aspect is if you put too much personal information
out there you set yourself up for scandal, ridicule, and possibly theft. Because of this I will never post photos of
my private life, family photos or me at social outings. I know how easy it is to steal photos off of
the Internet and I don’t want anyone with a photo of my family or me without my
knowledge.
I have had my work stolen a couple times and
the thieves passed them off as their own.
I’m not too sure how I feel about it though. On the one hand, I feel good that people think
my work is worth stealing, but it’s unfair at the same time. People will steal your photos if you do not
watermark them because anyone can upload it and claim it is theirs. Tumblr has over 1billion dollars worth of
stolen material on it causing photographers uncertainty that their work can be
safe from theft. It is as easy as right
clicking an image and saving it. While
on Flickr your photos are automatically copyright protected making it very difficult
to steal.
Since Yahoo (who owns Flickr) bought
Tumblr, the layout of Flickr has now changed and the Pro Account feature has
now been abandoned allowing unlimited uploads with an endless scrolling page.
Yahoo wanted to make Flickr the same as Tumblr where people can upload anything
and everything. However, it seems to me
that Flickr’s purpose is to be a place for photographers A-list photos instead
of everyday photos. As Newton Gimmick
said, “Yahoo’s
new vision of Flickr is to try and be a cool site like Tumblr and Instagram. Yahoo is furious that Instagram has so much of
the market share. What Yahoo failed to realize is that Flickr doesn’t share the
same market with Instagram. Flickr
wasn’t ever about posting the latest photos from your iPhone.” Says Blogger
Mathew Ingram because Flickr went from a social media platform that photographers
submit their best work instead of posting everyday photos like every other social
media platform. Flickr had meaning and now it doesn’t matter because Yahoo want’s
Flickr to be accessible to anyone with a camera instead of photographers.
- Philipp Richter
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References:
Ingram, Mathew . (2013). Has Yahoo's relaunch
of Flickr revitalised the photo service - or ruined it?. Available:
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/27/has-yahoos-relaunch-of-flickr-revitalized-the-photo-service-or-ruined-it/.
Last accessed 9th June 2013.
