Gallery + Upping your personal photograpy ante?

I personally am a huge fan of the gallery +.
I enjoy having a section of the gallery where I can go where I know I can easily find something inspirational. I am working hard to improve my own photography and it is helpful to have a place I can go to remind me why I am working so hard.

This is maybe a little silly but it is also very helpful when I am introducing someone to bjd's and they say something about how creepy or weird they are, I can quickly find a particularly beautiful gallery thread to show them so that they can understand how beautiful bjd's can be!

 

To be honest I don't always think the gallery+ has all the best photos. Perhaps some galleries have really creative ideas or even pictures of interesting mods but a somewhat average (maybe half) number of them have the quality or perspective I'm most inspired by. I already feel inspired by photographic communities like the ones found in flickr. I feel another gallery unnecessarily adds to the amount of tabs I open on my browser, lol. In the regular gallery I already look through most pages each day even though I know there's another "better" gallery. My main point, though is that I like finding new things, not surfing through older or substantially aged ones (a couple weeks old) that I've probably already seen.

 

I actually feel better about posting my pictures in the gallery now--because the kind of people who only want to see amazing photography are probably browsing gallery+ instead! It takes the pressure off. The gallery now seems like a more laid-back place where you can post things for fun, without worrying whether they're gallery-worthy.

 

I have never been nuts about the Gallery, in my long time here. Sure, it's exciting to sometimes get a few comments on a thread, but I find in all of the doll photos I've taken, I prefer to share them in different venues and just to enjoy them privately. I share with those who I know care, have them up in a public but not advertised gallery, and saved to my personal computer. I took (and will continue to take) pictures of my dolls so that I can enjoy them alone - there are photos I have that are just another doll photo in the big picture but mean a lot to me and draw out my emotions.

Gallery + is a fine idea. I don't love it, I don't hate it, it's just another thing there. It isn't surprising to hear discontent and complaints regarding it.. you can't ever make something nice or do something good without someone wagging their finger and going, "If it isn't perfect for me, it's not worth the time!" At most, I can appreciate G+ as a nice place to send someone interested in the hobby. Instead of having to sift through the Gallery for the rare gem, I can just go to the G+, pick out a familiar, beautiful shoot, and use that as an example of top photography in the hobby. At worst, I can call it a waste of time - bumping old threads over and over with, "How cute! I love the photos!" can't be that great on the server, plus as others have brought up, some members feel threatened, challenged, or discouraged by the forum. Overall though? It's just like looking through someone's favorites on Flickr or something. With art, you cannot always please everyone, and that the Mods had the balls to decide that no matter the reaction they would compile their top picks is commendable.

 

I'd think that something that was more open to 'public voting' would end up more of a popularity contest than this is. It would only seem more democratic, in the end, and probably lead to more politicking and weirdness and a flood of PMs from relative strangers to please won't you just come look at my thread and please vote for BoBoo the WonderDoll of Wonderful, pretty please? But only if you want to... It just wouldn't be polite to say that it loud when it was obviously happening in that case, and I dunno, but I'd call that a substantially more tense and less pleasant environment in the long run. I haven't really seen the mods do anything here that would engender my personal distrust anyway, and I'm pretty paranoid. (And that is the polite way to put that, trust me. *eyetwitch*)

* Apologies to anyone who actually owns a BoBoo, or... well, that 'no resemblance intended to persons living or dead' disclaimer at the end of movies applies, yeah?

 

Hrm, while I answered no to the OP, I don't feel that the thread itself is harmful to me. It just doesn't affect my photography at this time. When I say I get no comments, I mean that I take that as nobody's interested, so obviously it's not a thread that's going to get moved anyways. It's discouraging when you've put a lot of effort into a shoot and even feel personally that you've improved your skills, but get no interest; many people say that they don't post for comments, etc., but if you go to the trouble of posting something on the Internet, I don't think it's out of line to enjoy getting some kind of reaction.

I think this would be more of a popularity contest if the mods were taking suggestions. Also, the mods and virtues do have lives, and going through lists and lists of suggestions would be time-consuming.

 

I don't feel that it is a big deal one way or the other. I don't think it is a negative addition to the forum. But personally I had always been trying to top myself before the new forum section turned up anyway.

 

I quite enjoy the Gallery + because I have a limited amount of time to spend browsing around and I like the idea that if I click on something in Gallery + it's far less likely to be blurry flash photography of a doll sprawled on a linty carpet that immediately makes me hit the back button. For someone with serious carpal tunnel, saving those extra clicks is valuable!
Much of the work I find in Gallery + is inspirational, some of it is thought provoking, and some of it is of no interest to me. One of my own veeery old threads was moved there because audience participation was a new concept at the time, but I'm sure it mostly inspires WTF? now.
The responses to this thread are surprising. Photography is one of the primary modes of communication for our global collecting community, but seems like the standards for really excellent creative photography usually fall by the wayside. Often the primary concern is, "Does the photo show the doll's color and sculpt accurately? Will it look the same in person if I buy it?" This leads to a lot of repetitive standardized images. I don't understand the point of getting bent out of shape over A) the existence of Gallery+ B) the perceived oversight of one's own work c) the amorphously defined criteria. If this were a photography forum, I could see that being more important, but this is a doll forum. Some people are going to bring skills to this forum that don't directly relate to purchasing and owning dolls (which is really the only "skill" all we have in common), and one of those skills (photography) happens to be appreciated because it's a standard mode of communication on the internet. If we have a subforum wherein we highlighted particularly perceptive and well written essays about doll collection that would be great too, but the now-defunct Atziluth forum tried that and failed for lack of content.
As muisje said above, if you are interested in using Gallery + as a learning tool for self-improvement, great. If not, you can enjoy it as concentrated eye-candy or just leave it alone entirely.

 

Some people regularly post photos in the Gallery. It seems like every week they're posting some sort of photos. Generally these people post exceptionally wonderful photos. Not only is the photography professional looking, but the themes are usually well thought out and interesting. They get page after page of comments, mostly deservingly so. Sometimes however, their posts are not that interesting or well done, yet they still get page after page of comments. In that respect, the Gallery is like a popularity contest. Certain people are favored above others, whether their posts are exceptional or not.

I've only looked at Gallery + once. The photos I saw deserved to be in there. What I'm hoping doesn't happen is that posts by the same people will regularly be added.

I think for the most part the photos posted in the Gallery are taken by average people who have limited ability with a camera and are taking photos 'from the heart' and will never be talented enough to take professional looking photos. I know it's discouraging to have no comments on your posts after working so hard to take the best photos you can, but most of us can't compete with people who have taken classes or are serious about learning photography or have the time to devote it it. That's just the way it is.

I don't think that Gallery + is a negative thing. It is what it is, a place you can go to see above average photos. It can be an inspiration to some and intimidating to others. If your goal is to have some of your photos posted there, then you have something to work toward. If you don't care if your photos are ever included, then it's of no concern to you.

All in all, it's just another thread on DOA. If it interests you, look at if, if not ignore it.

 

I see it as a double edged sword tbh. Does in inspire or push me, well, no, not in the slightest and nearly all of the very few things within it that would interest me I'd already seen on DA and faved there, but then I don't post my photographs here and haven't done for years, so I don't suppose it was aimed at those of us who aren't interested in the eternal game of comment hunting here.

I also don't see it as a showcase of photography talent, because it isn't. The mods have freely admitted it's their choice picked from the thronging masses of largely ignored threads that are all made with love and varying degrees of talent on the basis of finding things that are emotive or impressive. Well, that's always going to be hugely subjective and dependant on the alliances and personal tastes of the people choosing isn't it, so it inevitably boils down to the fact that it'll always look like a competition and that will affect those people for whom such things are a big deal.

I guess it seems like another rung on the ladder. Those members who care about being a "name" and have some modicum of talent with a camera/photoshop will probably be willing to pimp their threads hard enough to get noticed just as they already had been in the normal gallery, but now they have an extra step to compete over too in attempting to impress a mod. Some of them'll find it inspiring and perhaps they will up their game in order to get the implied kudos a gallery + thread gives, the majority of them will never get chosen and quietly breed resentment elsewhere. That's the nature of a competitive environment.

As a slightly OT aside, DoA has never been about the talent of it's members with a camera, the photography forum is LITERALLY the lowest of the low on the list here, so I'm kinda curious why it is that people are cheering this on as a great way to introduce non-doll people to the best of BJD photography when a five second wander through DA's "dolls and figures section" on "most popular" will instantly provide you with a ream of shots that are of a standard you won't see here. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

Ooh, well, I would like to improve my photography. Now that we ((non-doll collector) brother, sister, and I) have a sort of jury-rigged photo box (white mdf and cardboard, and a couple small lamps with translucent plastic diffusing the light) it's easier to get good shots of things without a real backdrop... but I also want to be able to experiment with better photos in less controlled environs.

=^__^=
Anneko

 

I am in the "double edged sword" camp on Gallery+. My feelings echo others who are in that camp and have expressed their views here. My biggest problem with it is that all art is subjective, so there really can't be a standard by which photos are chosen to be Gallery+ threads. Since it's the Mods and Virtues who decide what goes in there, it's their subjective artistic viewpoint that is represented, rather than the artistic view of the membership. I have a little issue with that, as it can create feelings of competition and favoritism among members.

On the other hand, it IS nice to see some really high quality photo work that is grouped together in one place. It can be inspiring and exhilarating.

For myself, I am a fairly crap photographer and don't work at it really hard. Occasionally I get a good shot, but not good enough that I ever expect to land in the Gallery+ section. I mostly take pics for my own records, and primarily of the costuming and face-ups I create. I don't get alot of comments, and I am OK with that. So personally, I am not in competition to be included in the Gallery+ section.

 

On one hand the Gallery + presents the cream of the crop.

On the other hand the "regular" Gallery espouses the concept of community.

It is more inspiring to be among peers who are in the same struggle you are. We all want to strive to show better vision with our dolls and our photographs. We can already see those who show more aptitude for photographic art but those judged inept or worse uninteresting are basically left behind, virtually underfoot and jammed in to the netherpages.

Due to the number of fresh posts being made in the Gallery every day there is no doubt that many beautiful, tasteful, inventive images will be overlooked while those that have already earned their praises will keep being bumped to the top. Whether we have a Gallery + and a Gallery this fact is the same for both of them. Nothing has changed.

For me - since I keep seeing the same handful of images at the top in both galleries after a couple of weeks those images lose their power to inspire awe. I almost pointedly ignore both galleries for this reason.

~*~

I will not deny the occational peek in to either gallery and finding something nice to look at but for me the real inspiration is in the Workshop threads and the marketplace. There we see people reinventing their dolls in a way those with finished dolls, a good eye for composition and a good camera can never do. That is the essence of what thrills me in this hobby. Watching people's first stumbling steps in to face-up art, their shaky experimentation with modification, the spoils of their exploits showing up in the marketplace - the doll invented, the doll consumed, the doll bought and reinvented. Art in motion.

That is why I stay in the hobby.

So no...the Gallery + is not a source of inspiration for me so much as a place to watch talented people rest on their laurels.

 

Good point. But photography that evokes emotion is a very personal thing. What Person A finds inspirational will be completely boring to Person B. Like art, it's completely subjective. What specific attributes do Gallery X photos possess? And are they cutesy? Glamour shots? Naked shots? Younger dolls? Older dolls? How are the different attributes of the hobby presented? Moreover, what are the attributes of the hobby?

And sometimes, the pictures that people seem to enjoy sometimes are often taken with more expensive cameras. So, now, not only is there those people who feel "left out" because they don't have the "right dolls" due to financial limitations there are also those that don't have the right camera equipment... backdrops, professional lighting, photo-editting tools, lenses etc. This is where the "competition" comes in and the inferiority complexes begin.

I know this is not what the Gallery X is supposed to present. It's supposed to be a celebration of BJDs. I'd really love for that to be true, but everyone collects for different reasons and is attracted to different dolls. I think everyone's heart was in the right place with the Gallery X, but the reality? The authority figures of this group are deciding which photography is good and what photography isn't. Moreover, they are deciding what styles, what types of dolls and what kind of photography is "best" based on their personal perceptions.

I don't participate in the Gallery section - I think there are better places to see photos - but I do applaud the efforts to make it more interesting. May I, however, suggest a new idea? How about dividing the gallery into categories? Fantasy dolls, for example, or tiny dolls under twenty centimeters or (my personal favorite) Cute and Sweet pictures... flowing hair, beautiful dresses and lots of pink, sigh. My favorite.

 

Now this idea is BRILLIANT, and a far better one than Gallery+

 

While I actually love the G+ subform, I do really have to disagree with this. What some of the mods and virtues have considered to be "strong photographic skill" would leave a lot of people with a basic grasp of photography, composition and the like head scratching for days; where as some of the threads are absolutely gorgeous and completely understandable.

That said, for me personally I look as the G+ subforum as an second chance to sneak a peek at threads I very likely missed in an overrun gallery. And I confess to a little bit of delight when a friend's photos of our dolls together ended up there. For me personally it was this nice, surprise reminder of a really awesome trip and three weeks with one of my best friends. Not to mention I'm always happy to see my friends get some love and recognition.

I choose to look at G+ as a nice bit of recognition to photographers on the site and an easier, more selective view of SOME of the better threads on DoA's gallery; cause let's be honest, there are so many threads that just get lost between the cracks. If people choose to look at it as negative or a competition, I figure that's kind of their own issue.

 

To me the Gallery+ is like one big popularity contest. Not of users, per-say, but of companies and specific doll sculpts. I have looked in it a few times, and all I see are a lot of the same doll molds repeated over and over again in often-bland photos that do nothing but make me go 'Next please'. Or I see a page full of the same company, and generally one I don't care for the dolls from, such as Volks and Soom.

I'd rather have the normal gallery cleaned up a bit and organized better, so that you can find photos that you'd actually LIKE to see, of specific doll types, or themes of photos. Something that would make more sense than a small, select group of people picking their favourites, and seeing a lot of the same thing.

 

Many of the threads in the Gallery + are amazing and inspiring. At first, I thought, 'hey, it isn't fair to single people out this way,' but then I saw that there were actually a lot of fantastic things collected together, so that one could go to the gallery + and be assured that all the posts there were held to a certain standard.

However, after going there with more frequency, it did start to seem more like a popularity contest. All the things in the gallery + first have to be noticed by a mod, and sometimes it seems like the threads that are noticed are the ones which already attract attention; perhaps because the photographer or doll sculpt is already well-liked, or perhaps because the thread earned many comments in the regular gallery.

I maintain that all the threads there are still high-quality and that some of them are truly inspirational and utterly dazzle me with their brilliance-- but in my own subjective opinion, not all of the work there is A+, and some posts that seem just as good never make it there. Still, the regular gallery is so huge and fast-paced that I do feel the gallery + plays a useful role on site.

 

I am not a photographer. I am a painter, but I do paint from my photographs. Although I do appreciate the fact that taking photos of my dolls has made me a much better photographer, I don't aspire to Ansel Adams greatness, but I do like the thrill of having taken a cool photo. I love the Gallery plus thing, it's a place for me to appreciate amazing work by other folk.
At Dolpa I took Pat Henry's class, it was really fun and gave me many ideas and ways to improve my photographs.
When I look back at my old photos, and the ones I have taken more recently, change is good.
I also have been inspired to try to work on my LJ, as I would like a place to put stuff as I go on, besides the dumping ground of Photobucket.