Thoughts on Flickr Explore

<b>Disclaimer:</b> <i>I feel I need to start this post off by mentioning that there are honestly no words for just how much I appreciate every single follow, like, favourite and comment on my work, wherever they may be. Continued support and feedback means everything to me, and helps me and cheers me up no end when I feel uninspired or unsure of myself, so a giant thank you to everyone who has helped me out in this way! This article might not be to everybody's taste but I am trying to approach this topic in the most objective way possible and let some steam off about something that's been winding me up for a while.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dismantlerepair/6937861819/" title="Untitled by Cat Lane Photographer, on Flickr"><img alt="" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6937861819_da3acf123b_o.jpg" width="650" /></a><br /><br />Today I woke up to find my most recent image upload, the levitation above, had reached Flickr Explore. For those of you unfamiliar with the idea, Flickr Explore is a list of what Flickr consider to be the most "interesting" content on the site at any given day. This is worked out by an algorithm as opposed to content being picked by staff and nobody truly knows how it picks the images, but according to a few websites out there, it's calculated by using the view count, favourites, comments and things like who in particular has viewed your images, to create a value of "interestingness" which is what I assume the images are ranked by on a day-to-day basis.<br /><br />After doing a little bit of research I've found that the main criticism of Explore seems to be the images it picks out. I'll admit they're certainly not all to my taste but that's not what I wish to moan about - we all have different ideas of what we find interesting and Explore can't cater for us all unfortunately.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"It's not about photography. It turns art into a competition" - <a href="http://kittygallannaugh.com/" target="_blank">Kitty Gallannaugh</a></i></div><br />The thing that saddens me is this culture Explore has created of meaningless image feedback and competitiveness. If you google <i>"How to get into Flickr Explore" </i>or similar,<i> </i>a lot of articles will say that by commenting on images that have reached Explore, it will increase the likelihood of the owners of the images looking at your own stream, and thus increasing the interestingness of your own images. This is all very well - I really appreciate comments on my stream and will make an effort to look at the streams of people who have left feedback!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"It really gives you a lot of views, and often contacts, but often enough also those stupid automatic</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>'N I C E P H O T O! Check out my stream!' comments" - <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/velvettears/" target="_blank">Noukka Signe</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"I think there is an active push for people to try and game the system" - <a href="http://www.smread.com/" target="_blank">Steve Read</a></i></div><br />There's no denying the exposure it gives a person's stream, but once something reaches Explore, the meaningless comments come in. The automatic bot-driven comments with a giant picture from somebody's stream which is an advertisement for their own work as opposed to feedback left by somebody genuinely interested in the image at hand. And this is why I think Explore is one of the main reasons Flickr is going downhill. None of these people seem to care about anything other than personal gain and boosting their own views and that's not the right way to go about it.<br /><br />I love looking at others work, whether it's discovering new photographers myself or by people sending me links. But don't try and disguise a blatant advertisement for your work with a comment you've not put any thought into, on a picture you don't care about. <b>It doesn't work that way.</b><br /><b><i><br /></i></b><br /><b><i>What are YOUR thoughts on the matter?</i></b><br /><br /><iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fdismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.co.uk%2F2012%2F02%2Fthoughts-on-flickr-explore.html&send=false&layout=standard&width=450&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=35&appId=112365025537572" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:35px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Thoughts on Flickr Explore

Disclaimer: I feel I need to start this post off by mentioning that there are honestly no words for just how much I appreciate every single...

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Snow 2012

I'm pretty much regarding all of these pictures as a bit of a miracle right now - not just because we rarely get snow, but because as luck would have it, I found out the afternoon before that my remote had stopped working and was able to fit in an emergency trip to Jessops to get a replacement in time for the forecasted snowfall!<br /><br />Determined to get pictures whilst the snow was all still untouched and fresh, I got up at 6.30am to make sure I was out of the door at sunrise, and headed off into the beautiful new world the snow created.<br /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_1131.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_1459b.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_1359b.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_1141-1.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br />And a few little behind-the-scenes type pictures, me exhausted after 3 hours trekking through the snow and my cat helping me retouch the pictures this morning, haha!<br /><br /><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/418572_379767698706516_100000198685111_1741670_1577896257_n.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_1552.jpg" width="650"><br /><br /><iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fdismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.co.uk%2F2012%2F02%2Fsnow-2012.html&send=false&layout=standard&width=450&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=35&appId=112365025537572" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:35px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Snow 2012

I'm pretty much regarding all of these pictures as a bit of a miracle right now - not just because we rarely get snow, but because as lu...

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Photo day with Elly Lucas

Just over two weeks ago I travelled up to Derby to meet the wonderful Elly Lucas for a photo day - my first shoot of 2012 too! Armed with bags full of clothes (and excitement!), we drove up to a location full of beautiful heather and scenery and spent hours nerding out and taking pictures. I can't thank her enough for not only driving us all that way but also for modelling bare footed in the freezing cold at my request also!<br /><div><br /></div><div>I absolutely cannot wait to pass my driving test and get out there and discover more locations like this - it really was amazing fun and I could have been there for days capturing everything I wanted to shoot.<br /><br /></div><div><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_0168.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/up3.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/up2.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/up1-1.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_0361b.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br />And finally here are my favourite pictures she took of me! To see the rest of her pictures from the day and to read her thoughts on it, head on over to her lovely blog post <a href="http://ellylucas.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-day-on-the-moors/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><img src="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/012/b/8/red_hair__red_rock__by_ellylucas-d4m4ycq.jpg" width="323" /> <img height="472" src="http://ellylucas.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/c-6-s.jpg?w=614&h=922" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/012/8/c/winter_heather_by_ellylucas-d4m4yab.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br />Want to see more of Elly's wonderful work? Head on over to the links below - you won't regret it! ♥<br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.ellylucas.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.ellylucas.co.uk</a></div><div><a href="http://ellylucas.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">ellylucas.wordpress.com</a></div><br /><iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fdismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.co.uk%2F2012%2F01%2Fphoto-day-with-elly-lucas.html&send=false&layout=standard&width=450&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=35&appId=112365025537572" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:35px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Photo day with Elly Lucas

Just over two weeks ago I travelled up to Derby to meet the wonderful Elly Lucas for a photo day - my first shoot of 2012 too! Armed with ba...

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Yogamaya

So finally here we have it - the first part of my crazy freezing cold two-shoot day back at the beginning of December (part one <a href="http://dismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.com/2012/01/jessie.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>) The two shoots thing came about after I found out that this shoot would have to be cut short by an hour or two, so I figured I'd make the most of my train ticket and organise another shoot to go to afterwards. Frantic but ever so much fun, as always!<br /><br /><b>Model:</b> Yogamaya<br /><b>Make up:</b> Siobhan Drew<br /><b>Styling:</b> Myself<br /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_8985.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9006crop.jpg" width="323" /> <img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_8981.jpg" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9043.jpg" width="323" /> <img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9068.jpg" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9054.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_8991.jpg" width="650"><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9032.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br />And finally, because a shoot blog isn't a shoot blog without a little bit of behind the scenes stuff.. here we go!<br /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/389973_261454720575068_135068259880382_682682_1168397291_n.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/photo.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br /><iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fdismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.co.uk%2F2012%2F01%2Fyogamaya.html&send=false&layout=standard&width=450&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=35&appId=112365025537572" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:35px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Yogamaya

So finally here we have it - the first part of my crazy freezing cold two-shoot day back at the beginning of December (part one HERE ) The t...

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Jean

My last shoot of last year.. but not the last to come yet! I'm currently under a bit of a self-imposed ban on organising shoots until I've gotten through my retouch pile, but luckily I've managed to whittle it down to one shoot and one photo day left to finish, so I'll soon be back in the swing of things (especially now I've been treating myself to a bit of prop-buying, eek!)<br /><br /><b>Model:</b> Jean @ Leni's<br /><b>Make up:</b> Siobhan Drew<br /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9596.jpg" width="650" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9615.jpg" width="323" /> <img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9735.jpg" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9483.jpg" width="323" /> <img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9488.jpg" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9606.jpg" width="323" /> <img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9682.jpg" width="323" /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9623.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br />And of course, a behind the scenes shot of lovely lady Siobhan perfecting Jean's make up!<br /><br /><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z338/dismantlerepair_storage2/_MG_9460.jpg" width="650" /><br /><br /><iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fdismantlerepair-photo.blogspot.co.uk%2F2012%2F01%2Fjean.html&send=false&layout=standard&width=450&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=35&appId=112365025537572" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:35px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Jean

My last shoot of last year.. but not the last to come yet! I'm currently under a bit of a self-imposed ban on organising shoots until I...

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