[wstruth]

And unfortunately I think both of you (AND THE REST OF US) lost out on that transaction.
There are long term members of this group who have remained totally disengaged, and that's OK. Generally speaking though, the cut and thrust of the exchange of ideas is what makes it worthwhile.

The cut and thrust is what keeps bringing me back. I've grown a lot as a photographer because of the comments here, and appreciate them. Every once in a while I don't but hey that is life. For me this challenge is about having fun and that includes learning and growing in my hobby.

I was able to post most days and really enjoyed using the 28-105. I ended putting it on the K-S2 because with my usually overloaded briefcase the weight was getting to me with the K-1. It played well with the K-S2 so I wasn't disappointed either. I got a lot of mileage out of shooting it wide open and I felt I didn't make good use of it stopped down so you'll probably see it again early next year.

A few of my favorite images from the month:

[Topsy]

I have been growing uncomfortable with the atmosphere of objective scrutiny of photos - both mine and everyone else's. I've long thought of photography, and every other artistic endeavor, as simply expression: a way of communicating certain feelings or thoughts to (or, what the hell, firing certain neurons in) the viewer; and I'm afraid I think that telling others how they should have composed or processed differently is usually unhelpful, or worse, indicates that the critic by invoking statements of photographic conformity/correctness reveals they doesn't really understand a photo. When a photographer has a grasp of the rules but violates them, whether consciously or not, that should first be considered communication, part of the work, and not automatically a mistake. I've found myself apologizing for my posts in advance just because of anticipation of others' comments, even when I'm actually happy with the output. That's a poor headspace to do photography in. I have no basis for complaint here, since the challenge rules explicitly say "your personal reactions to photographs are as valid as anyone else’s" and so encourage everyone to fire away. Best I just step away until I can feel differently about the enterprise.

In my opinion I'd rather receive some criticism than a heartless "cool" that is the norm on most platforms.
If someone takes their time to point something out, be it a "better" composition or way processing it at least shows that they looked at your photo.
I'm happy if someone points something out to me as by taking a photo every day it's easy to take photos with less care, or edit them with less care, or simply select the one to upload with less care.
I haven't seen anyone 'accusing' someone of making a mistake though, but I suppose everyone will take the comment aboard differently.

I specifically try to say something about the photo, be it a random comment, a bit of criticism or a question, if I have given you or someone else the feeling that I'm telling them that they're doing something wrong I'm sorry, it's quite surely not what I've been trying to do.

[Rondec]

I enjoyed it. The comments don't bother me -- they often point out when I slapped something up without taking enough time with it -- either in the pre-shooting phase or the post processing part. I'll see if I can keep on track next month. It'll be a little tougher -- 55mm is really a pretty long focal length and I prefer lenses in the wide angle category more.







The whole album here: Single In September | Flickr