martinp2009's photostream  

I got into photography (again) a few years ago after buying a Nikon D80 and haven't looked back since. Prior to that I was an occasional photographer, but have been taking photo's on and off since I was in my 20s (when I bought my first Minolta film SLR).

Buying that first digital SLR really opened the door, and I've learned so much more about photography in the last few years than I did in the 20 or so before that.

I've been on Flickr for a couple of years now but have never made Explore (perhaps I'm not good enough, or just not sociable enough!). I think Flickr is a great concept and I really enjoy using it, but it has its high and low points. The high points for me are the great people that you meet and the range of truly great photographers and artists that you can find on Flickr - I've learned so much about photography just from other people's work that I've seen on this site.

The low points are the prevelance of groups on Flick that encourage turning comments on your photo's into a kind of currency. You know the kind - post 1 award 6 type groups. Each to their own I guess, but I'd prefer that someone comment on my photo's because they have really looked at them and have something to say about them.

At the extremes I've seen people on Flickr posting a single photo to 40-50 of these "post 1 award 5" type groups. That means that in response, following the rules of those groups, they then have to make up to 250 comments against other people's photo's (for just one of theirs). Now you can't tell me that they spend any kind of quality time looking at those photo's - it just disolves into a series of animated award symbols.

Granted they probably get several hundred comments back in return on each single photo that they post, but how many actually say/mean anything? The comments then become a form of currency which is bartered - not IMO in the spirit of Flickr.

Of course commenting is the life and soul of Flickr, so if you comment on my photo's I'll return the compliment, but only on those that make a connection with me. Likewise, if I post to a group I always try to look through the group photo's and comment on any that I like. When I comment I try to say something meaningful - either in the form of critique or what makes the image good for me.

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. Suffice to say that these days I don't post my photo's into groups with strict post 1 award "n" type rules (although I have done in the past), and if my photo's are invited into such a group I rarely accept. No offence, but that's just my point of view. As I said above, each to their own...

Thanks for taking a look at my profile, and at my stream. A few examples of my work below from Flickriver - the gear that I use is listed at the bottom.






Gear
Nikon D300
Nikkor 18-200VR f/3.5-f/5.6
Nikkor 50mm 1.8D
Tokina ATX 11-16 Pro f/2.8
Nikkor Micro 105 f/2.8
Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VRII
Nikkor TC1.7
Nikon SB-600
Manfrotto 055XPROB + 410 Junior Geared Head
Spyder3Pro (screen calibration)

Software
Lightroom 3.3
Photoshop CS
Photomatix Pro
Noiseware Pro
Capture NX2

iPhone Apps (for Photography)
TPE (The Photographer's Ephemeris)
Geotag Photos
Focalware
Field Tools
My Shot Lists