Has anyone noticed the lessened quality in photography here?

First of all:

I never spoke of moderation, I only said (title of topic) that I seem to be picking up on a not as great body of photographers as I'd find on some other established website. I never mentioned anywhere in my posts that people's work should be moderated. That makes no sense.

This is a new website after all. It's to be expected that you see more bad than good.

Second of all:

If my posts were to terrify a younger person from wanting to post, that's dandy.

People should be aware of their mistakes, and if me appearing to be vicious about my criticism makes someone self-aware, that's nice. That -is- the whole point of criticism, you know.

Third of all:

Yeah, I'm being a hypocrite with photos. I'm sure the 5% of 'whatever' photos photos I take weigh that much more against everything else I took. Like I said, those only work less than 10% of the time. I didn't know it was considered 'high-and-mighty' to have an opinion.

I'm all for constructive critique, I just get a bit weary of these sort of 'everyone else is crap' threads because I really don't think they promote a healthy community, or a healthy environment for critique. I think for a community like this to be successful people need to feel comfortable that they will not be ridiculed, which is how these kind of threads usually go..
apologies for getting a bit personal - and like I said I wasn't trying to flame - I just reckon if you throw the first rock and all that

I really did, haha, no need to apologize. I could easily see how a thread like this could get pretty nasty!

Definitely wasn't my intention though, haha. It was pretty innocent enough to begin with I think, though critique was pretty far from my mind when I made this.

I've kinda refined my opinion since then.

no worries lol
are we still friends then?

I wouldn't say it is limited to photography... However we are an art community, and within a community we will see skill levels ranging from n00b to pro. As fellow neighbors in the community we are supposed to help those who are less skilled to become the artists they aspire to be.

I don't do photography much because I know I suck it at, but I like to think those who aren't all that great at any field of art here just need some constructive criticism (If they can take it as that and not some sort of insult like some folks do.) And practice. This site is great for both of those things because they can learn what they need to improve. I personally wish someone would give me some constructive criticism for my poetry because I know it's not great, but ah well

PPP

YESSS!

Yeah, I've noticed this too, and as a result I find myself not really browsing that much in the photography section. Which, I find somewhat unfortunate. It does strike me as being very similar to the kind of compositions one could easily find in abundance on dA, too. Now, I am no great photographer, not by a long shot. But, I also hold myself to strict standards for posting and make a sincere attempt to put only what I think of as my best up onto this page here. I don't post just anything up here, unless I'm most excited about it. However, that's just me, and I have no right to flame someone for posting what I think is subpar work, especially if they can easily just go to my page and hate all that they find there. After all, I'm not really all that 'artsy', so that would be quite hypocritical of me. I'd just not give it a closer look unless the thumbnail interests me in some way. But I do like how there isn't too many strict rules about posting on here, or moderators for content. I've had some stuff moved out of my portfolio on dA and into my scraps section because a moderator didn't like what they saw, and that miffed me. I guess this site just gives more free rein to the poster, and as thus, leaves it up to the viewers to scan their way to some things that they like.

I came from dA where a large majority of my submissions are photos, however, I'm not a "photographer." I explore abandoned places and take shots of remains I've found, which I consider to be interesting and unusual. I don't really expect any praise for quality or composition, but since urban decay isn't really recognized as an art-form by itself, I categorize my work as photography by default. The only response I could pass along to someone who doesn't like or appreciate what I submit is that it's probably not meant for them anyway.

Okay. To begin, one could say, at the beginning.

This thread is a little old, but necromancy never killed anyone.

I left dA a year, maybe two years ago because of the decline in quality, I felt, of the photography, and the ratio of art to mspaintcameraphonefakebloodandducttape garbage. (Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these things are garbage, but there was trash that had been created with these products all around). I stayed away entirely for a good time, then went back to a particular Photography chatroom I felt familiar with recently.

I made an account - today - on this site to try and fill the creative stew pot that I felt I was missing. I don't have photographer buddies, or those who are becoming interested have done so in the past month and are still picking up the basics. I need someone to look at something I've done, and while this may seem to be a bit egomaniacal, I just want to improve. Critique and the like, yeah yeah, that whole bit.

Now, when I look in the photography forum and see this already; I'm horror-struck. dA failed, flickr lacks personality and community, and this seemingly pure beacon itself is now corrupt?

To clarify; accuse me if you like of being a film-snob elitist motherfucker, because I am. I shoot film. I don't shoot digital (But for a little joke in the profile, it should be easy to spot) and I do love the analogue form of anything (Vinyl, typewriters, clockwork, etc), but I do understand the purpose and place of digital. I'm not one to whine about it's existence. Different strokes for different folks is a fitting phrase here. I'm also self taught, from trial and error and books at the library.

Okay, that's done. You've got an image of my mentality.

I suppose the purpose of this comment, this overly long and quite possible badly worded statement, is that people looking for real connections in their practice of photography of art should in some way band together and make this thing work. Without a really viable option how does one really expect to garner critique, become more skilled, take inspiration, or even communicate with those who share a passion.

The accessibility of the internet has both made this possible, and painful. It lets the veteran large-format wonder and phenomenally talented street shooters in with those who have a mirror, electrical tape, and poor control over their emotional well being.

So, if the location itself is flawed in design, incapable of discerning myspace from gallery-wall or magazine cover, the practitioners themselves must take it as their burden to go above and beyond the existing structures and create a community within a community.

I don't know how to do this, I'm new here, I'm not the best photographer, and I'm one person.

Would it be possible for the lovers of the photographic arts to create something beautiful socially here?

Tips, advice, rotten vegetables, have at it.

I actually agree wholeheartedly with that entire thing, haha.

and don't take this as a negative thing for the community if you're new here. I really was addressing the entirety of any website that allows people to put up photos they took, and everywhere isn't going to have a perfect community.

People really have to take into account that due to the accessibility of the internet, there will now and forever be countless less-than-talented people putting things up we don't wanna see.

I imagine even if you there were a site where you had to prove you were a graduate from an artschool (which I am not), you'd still see some standard myspaceish crap. Even sites that are invite-only don't work, because it just takes one person who wants to invite his or her friend onto the site, and the next thing you know, friends-of-friends-of-friends have tapped you into the highschool network.

I've just skimmed this thread I admit ... But I feel the frustration as I browse the drawings. As an active scout, I try to find pieces that have lots of thought put into them, and originality. And it seems like over half of the drawing submission are manga drawings from schoolkids that all look the same to me. Or I also see drawings or digital paintings that are obviously copies of photos, which really rubs me the wrong way. I can see them as something fun to do, or there may perhaps be some study merit to them, but it is not original art that I would ever put in my "portfolio"

Artician tries its best to portray itself as a professional site, something to be respected and shown to potential employers. But kids, non-professionals, amateurs, and hobbyists love to give their images whatever exposure they can. I just hope that one day they will wake up and learn more about the art they are trying to be a part of, when something will snap in their head and they realize what good art really is.

I do really look forward to the groups being completed within artician though. I want to get into an illustrator's group. And those kids can have their manga group. And the professional manga artists can likewise have their group, because I know it is a legitimate art.

Groups would be a good option, if only, and again, this is me being an asshole, it allows some degree of distinction and -- frankly -- discrimination.

Discrimination, despite its stigma, is not a four letter word. You, the reader, for example are discriminatory with your money, what you eat, where you sit in the park, or do anything. It's simply choosing one thing over another.

Likewise, choosing a particular caliber of art, or artist, is not a bad thing, but merely another option within an open community to create a "Society" of those with focus, or at least vested interest.

Naw, I agree with you. It looks like there are 3 group options ... Public, Invite-only, and private. Perhaps with Private, members are only accepted upon the creator or moderator's approval.

But as far as this whole community-within-community goes, isn't that just communication? Isn't that what we're doing now? Even amateurs or people who are not photographers (me! hi!) can have something meaningful to say, or, even better, learn from what the professionals are saying.

The nice thing about Artician (so far) is that the forum is not overrun by spamming children. It seems like the most serious-minded artists troll the forums, and if the vibe stays that way, the people who don't want to learn will stay out.

I can understand, however, if you want to have contests and hold to that caliber. Then, being a part of a group of people who are professional keeps the contest standards high enough for you to challenge yourself, and not have to sift through amateur work. On the other hand, if the group is big enough (Like Artician as it is now) the sifting will happen on its own, and the amateurs can push themselves and learn through this process what makes good artwork.

My concern, I guess, is that the sifting is all too easily undone, my sample for the claim being DeviantArt, where the more skilled artists seem to distance themselves from the community.

Honestly, I don't quite know exactly what I want to happen now. I just kind of felt like something was important and needed doing, but I don't figure something as complex as an open social dynamic is going to be solved with a group system, or even a burning fever of interest and passion.

Things will sort themselves out, yes. But I'm still worried that the groups will be full of people spamming their work trying to be noticed and garner attention for attention's sake. That's the trouble Flickr seems to have.