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Gallery + Upping your personal photograpy ante?

Jun 25, 2010

    1. I guess I should have been more specific in what I was talking about. What I meant was: they could have said that they take a page and look at all the threads on it before moving to the next one and picking the best. If people had know they were actually looking at everything before making their selections then it would be a little harder to complain about that specifically.
       
    2. I don't know that the mods are playing favourites or not playing favourites, but I really doubt it. I would like to say that just because someone says they feel discouraged by, intimidated by, not impressed by, or simply not interested in this specific gallery is hardly the same thing as waving a torch and pitchfork.
       
    3. I hate how every time something new happens on the forum hordes of people get together and complain. Actually...I hate how every time something new and constructive happens in The World hordes of people get together and complain...

      What's with the negativist attitude nowadays?!

      I really love the idea of Gallery+ - I love seeing the beautiful pictures, I love when I recognize seeing and admiring some of them before, and I'm glad they made it there. I also love the tiny glimpse we get from the earlier times of DoA - not all pictures are there because they are so superior in photography...I've seen some 'big first' mods, hell, I've even found a thread that had a bit worse than mediocre photography, but it had the funniest mock-flame war I've ever read! I'm glad the mods take the time to hunt down these pictures, and I doubly appreciate what I've just learned from this thread - that they really intend to go through all the 2088 (and counting!) threads in the regular galleries! That's really a huge work...and the Gallery+ is still very new, so of course it's still small :)

      And to the original question - well, I was trying to improve my photography even before the Gallery+ came to existence...and actually I was inspired by many of the gallery threads that now reside in the new section. I won't give up honing my skills even if I lack a certain artistic way of thinking and will never get over that...the Gallery+ helps because I don't have to weed through tons of less inspiring pics to find something to admire. I am however acutely aware that numerous beautiful, deep, and overall gorgeous photoshoots are still out in the regular galleries and won't give up looking at them, too :)

      Overall - I love the Gallery+, I find it inspiring and while I was entertaining some thoughts about a 'suggestion box' (because there are some great shoots I'd love to see there) this thread opened my mind to the flaws of that idea...I guess nothing is perfect...but why should we bash it, if it's otherwise a great idea?
       
    4. I love what the g+ forum was supposed to be. However, when I look through there I dont see what it was intended for. Some of the stories/photos are the polar opposite of what the forum is meant for.

      I think that this forum (meaning the g+) should be given a second look. I know that the virtues and mods vote them in, but maybe all of you should give the go ahead before its moved into a forum meant for exceptional photography?

      I would love to be able to look in the g+ forums knowing that all I will be seeing is candy for the eyes.
       
    5. You'd be surprised how many of the really great photographs were shot by accident (or any art for that matter). It doesn't make the artist any less skilled, though. A good artist is able to see the quality in a picture, whether it was shot on purpose or not - and to be honest, that is the most important skill of all.
       
    6. My question -Do you see it as a challenge to improve your photography skills?
      No. I find my own feelings are that I want to improve my photography skills, not because of what may or may not be included in Gallery+.

      In fact I find that my friend Mau is my biggest photography inspiration to me.

      Some people have expensive equipment at there disposal, and some don't. Some people spend a great deal of time setting up shots, and some don't, so I don't see how anyone can compare themselves to others, as we all have different levels of what we can achieve. It's something more 'personal' I think. If YOU can improve on what you have done in the past, and are happier with it, then more power to you I say. To me that's what it's really all about, Isn't it?

      Personally I think it must be a total drag to have to trawl through hundreds of threads to make a choice, and as a Mod said it's subjective, and there are different reasons why a thread gets chosen, and not just because of amazing photography skills. It can be because a thread is humourous, or that there's just something a bit different about it.

      Also it's been mentioned to 'give it time', as there are still lots of threads to search through....I think people should just look at it as an added extra to the forum. After all everyone has a choice to take it or leave it, or post photo's on other Sites if they want. It just isn't as big a deal as people are trying to make of it I think.
       
    7. To answer the question first... No, not really.. Iv learned that even if I work on my skills, my skill level as an amature photographer will never meet the standards enough to be put into the gallery+.

      And to throw in my two cents. I do find it a popularity contest, and a show case of those who are "better" then everyone else. It doesnt seem like a fair thing at all to me, especially on a forum that supposedly speaks of equality. No one is supposed to be better or treated better then every one else. And yet here is this new gallery showing off pictures that are deemed better then everyone elses. People will feel left out, and dejected because of it.

      Every member should have a gallery thread featured in the gallery+ just to make sure every one feels included, even if the images in the thread arent the greatest. What the mods and such should consider doing is making it a birthday feature. Those whos birthday it is in the current month, should have a gallery thread featured in the gallery+ plus for that whole month. Does that make sense? x.x I think it would be a good idea, and make all the members of the forum feel included and special. It could be a kind of birthday present.
       
    8. I'm sorry but I've got to disagree there, giving a bit of spotlight to someone's work that stands out, be it for excellent photography, a pretty ass doll/set up or some other aspect isn't about making other people feel bad about their doll or skills. It isn't being snobby or elitist to actually pick out a few choice threads that are the cream of the crop.

      DoA isn't a democracy, if the mods want to highlight what they consider to be excellent or noteworthy gallery threads then that's their prerogative. It's not about giving everyone the same pat on the ass and ego stroke because oh noes out of 10 thousand active members someone might feel butthurt because they weren't picked. Seriously, it's not an insult to anyone else that someone might have taken a shoot that a mod feels is worth keeping from sinking in the vast pit of fast moving blah that is the gallery.


      Okay I just have to say this because it bugs the hell out of me but I hate to break it to you but some people are more skilled than others at things. I know I can't hold a torch to so many people when it comes to face ups or making clothes but that doesn't mean I'm going to bawww over how unfair it is because their clothes or face ups get more attention than mine, I'm going to suck it up, put my big girl panties on and if I want that attention I'll bloody well work for it, not expect it to be handed to me in the name of 'not hurting anyone's feelings'.
       
    9. Yeah... this is very much how I've felt about it too. There are the 'obvious' stand-outs in there, dolls and artists that a very well known and deserve to be, and some less-known but deserving artists, then some that make me say 'err... why?'.

      Things get lost in the main gallery, and not every photo shoot that deserves it gets enough comments to be noticed, and it makes it hard for people just starting out to get any attention for work of equal quality, and that can be somewhat disheartening... tbh I prefer DeviantArt to gallery posting here.
       
    10. First the question. Do I find Gallery + inspiration? Yes and no. There are some amazing threads in there and some that just makes me question what is so special about it as its not my personal taste. But no doubt, all in a context has something special about them to the person who picked it. Does it inspire me to do better though, probably not much more than some threads in the gallery. There is a certain style and look and level I aspire to and there are a lot of people' dolls, photography and set up that I admire. Hopefully one day I can do something on that level, need not be as good but hey having aspiration is good. Gallery + does not include all those people that I do admire, but it does give me a chance to look at threads that I might have missed or not have looked at due to lack of interest in the first place.

      As for Gallery+ itself, I fail to see why there needs to be a voting system or member' contribution. To put it bluntly I see it as a 'favourites' page, like looking through someone' favourite' album and see what had at a moment in time struck a chord in them. I might not have the same view but I would not go to someone else' say Flikr favourites or Deviantart favourites and wonder why I can't have a say in their favourites so I wouldn't for the purpose of Gallery+. It was always meant to be subjective, as Gallery+ is only one aspect of views from a group of people I do not see it as popularity, its a form of favouriting certain threads. Don't like said thread or forum, then don't view it. The gallery have many awesome threads and other places have many awesome photos so why waste time on something you do not agree with?

      At the end of the day, its easier said and done for things like 'make another subforum' or 'have a voting process' because there is always going to be someone who would be butthurt over it. Every person thinks the world of their own dolls, it makes sense to. One man' garbage is another man' treasure, we all see things subjectively so we might feel that one thread is more deserving or not than another and vice versa. It doesn't make it any more 'fair' in the long term.
       
    11. I have to admit that every time we try to do something nice, people basically rip it apart and totally kill our enthusiasm for it. We've gotten fairly thick-skinned, but it is getting seriously tedious that people always assume that there is something incidious, elitist or just plain mean about things that we are trying to provide as fun extras.

      Just because an opening exists doesn't mean that people should immediately go for the jugular. Members complaining that moderators are favoritists or just judging beauty based on brand-consciousness is predictably hurtful... as are the comments that basically state (repeatedly throughout this thread) that some people's threads aren't good enough or don't deserve to be in featured. That isn't talking about one's own feelings about the subforum itself or about the desire to improve or not improve... it's getting personal and that isn't cool.

      Our hope is to eventually be able to have people feel this way about a LOT of companies as we sift through and move over threads! As the number of threads increase, the diversity will as well.

      It's an organic [haphazard]process. We started by moving over threads that we all remembered and thought were special. Currently, we're pulling both from daily threads we see, as well as considerably older threads that we come across while working on the massive dead-thread removal cleanup. Sometimes we also randomly pull a page from the middle and just go through every thread on the page.

      Each mod and virtue looks for something different; we don't really want to say what we each look for because then it might seem like criteria... and members would be going "Well, armeleia likes this so I'm going to do that" or "Hey, I thought St.James liked thread that were...."

      Can you even imagine what it would be like getting 20 people to vote (and agree!) on EVERY thread that gets moved in?

      There are 26,000 registered use on DoA... so if you break that down, that means there's average of over 2,000+ members having birthdays per month. Only half of those members are active, so let's say 1,000 members. So you're saying that 20 unpaid volunteers should go through ALL of the gallery posts for each of 1,000 members each month to find one subjectively chosen "best" thread to post that we all have to vote on.

      Sorry, but the forum is free and huge portion of members give nothing back to the community, just expect to be hugged and petted and told how great they are... without even taking the time to get to know anyone, be nice to other people, or even reciprocate. No one is entitled to a "birthday present" from the staff. The Gallery+ is about threads that are well-photographed, emotional, evocative, nostalgic, or heck, even just lucky combinations of situation and lighting.... not about giving people a pat on the back. Quite frankly, it would devalue the subforum and the work in it if inclusion was just pure tokenism.
       
    12. Blah.. Im sorry I opened my big mouth. -shuts and goes to bed.- x.x...
       
    13. Yes I totally agree here, and that is the crux of it for me. A "voting" system would be obnoxious at best (to me it would say here's what we think is good art) instead of exactly what it is, what Den of Angels (which is actually the Moderators of Den of Angels) choose to be a special place to view exceptional photographs. Voting IMO would be just mean. Personally I think the moderators should get some respect just for having to actually look at all the gallery posts. That = full time job.
      To me the hobby is about the artwork, but this isn't my forum, is it?

      Zion, my hat is off to you. That's all I'm saying.

      And just to get back to the original question, yes it does inspire me to do better. All great artwork does that for me. I'll tell you what does not inspire me is whining, and entitlement. Seems to me the marks of a generation that was told until they actually believe it that leveling the playing field is a good idea. It isn't. That just generates mediocrity. And promotes and perpetuates it.
       
    14. Foxxian: It's a discussion, I'm pretty sure that opens it up to replying to something you disagree with right?
      And I just have to wonder, how is it a 'good feeling' if it's just a token gesture that everyone would get anyway? Armeleia put it better than I can above...
       
    15. armeleia said
      "Just because an opening exists doesn't mean that people should immediately go for the jugular. Members complaining that moderators are favoritists or just judging beauty based on brand-consciousness is predictably hurtful... as are the comments that basically state (repeatedly throughout this thread) that some people's threads aren't good enough or don't deserve to be in featured. That isn't talking about one's own feelings about the subforum itself or about the desire to improve or not improve... it's getting personal and that isn't cool."

      Just to clarify, I personally did not make any accusations of elitisim or brand consciousness. My concern is that Gallery+ is presented as the "best" art on DOA, and yet that art is being chosen by a small percentage of the members. Again, art is one of those things that is intensely personal, and people want to choose for themselves what is good art, and what is not so good.

      In summary, I just think the G+ forum would work better, if members could have some input and make suggestions for threads that might be considered for placement there.
       
    16. in my opinion... it doesn't motivate me more than the usual gallery :p
      it's a personal feeling of wether the photos looks good or not :)
      to me, the gallery+ doesn't neccessarily be the best out of all the threads...
      there are so much threads each day and I personally don't believe the mods would have time to go through them all and discuss if each one should go into the gallery+...
      To me, it's just another place to find and appreciate other's work :)
      I still find lots of threads in the usual gallery which inspires me more than the ones in gallery+ !
       
    17. This thread feels as though it has run its course. armeleia pretty much succinctly summed up the feelings of those of us working on Gallery+. Its disheartening to hear so much negativity but there are also a ton of positive things we're hearing - so here's to great and moving photos and archiving wonderful memorable posts!

      If members are truly interested in improving their own photography or just talking shop, we've got the Photography Tips subforum which gets the lowest traffic on the board. See you there!