Dialog

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About Dialog

Can photographs ever really communicate, or are they just too inherently ambiguous?

Can two people hold a conversation through images alone, or is text essential to getting your message across?

What kind of things can people 'talk' about when limited to images?

I'm doing an MA in Photography and these are some of the questions that I'm researching.

Photographs have traditionally been presented in static formats - books, magazines, galleries and so on. The artist releases their work into the world and... not much comes back.

The web however is a new medium. Here in Flickr we have the opportunity to make photographs interactive through comments, tags and favs. In this new space we have the chance to engage with our audience on a 1:1 basis. Here we can make friends, fall in love, show off our newborns or new cars, show people our world, or show them our souls.

But are we just posting photos on a virtual notice board, or can we really talk to each other?

The idea of this group is to hold dialogs with photos. Want to try talking in images? Then start a new thread or join one that's just been started. If two people have already got going then don't be a buttinsky - start another thread! You can shoot new images for the thread, but that may make the conversation very slow so images from your archives are definitely allowed. And the 'quality' of the images is not important for the same reason. All that counts is that you give an honest response to your conversation partner's latest picture. And remember, the pool is not where it's at... it's about the threads.

So let's experiment and see if we can find some answers to those questions. Any questions or suggestions are most welcome - pm them to me or post them in a thread.

And, most important of all, have fun! : )

-w7