Site Changes New Posting Group Suggestions

[Trailblazer]

We presently have five regular posting groups, modeled after some of the more popular ones on PhotoNet. They are:

• Words/No Words Group
• Critique My Image
• Monochrome Monday Group
• Wide Angle Wednesday Group
• Post-Process Challenge Group

I would like to add three more in the very near future, and want your suggestions for these new groups!

 

[William Michael]

I think to keep within (what I believe are) the foundations of fotofora, it would be wise to avoid groups based on tools.
That is to say let's not have the Canon weekly and the Nikon weekly, etc.

On that note - I kind of like "Wide Angle Wednesday", it's not manufacture restrictive, however I wouldn't cry if it went away.

I am inclined toward broadly defined with not many restrictions. I think two base concepts here are to share, and to grow; for example I personally wouldn't get my knickers in twist if there were a group 'wildlife' and there appeared a man-made element in the shot. Simple 'rules' are the best rules, I think.

My two suggestions for the expansion of Groups are:

> "Our Physical World" Group - that means loosely any 'landscape form' including seascape, cityscape, skyscape, architecture, cave-drawings . . .

> "People in our World" Group - that comprises and 'people shot' - street, posed portraiture, candid portraiture, sport . . .

(Obviously), many photos would overlap those two groups, however the main subject would dictate into what group an image was placed: I think a key element in the communication of an image's meaning, is, that what is the main subject, is essentially, obvious.
WW

"Our Physical World" -

North Cronulla Beach - Winter, Fuji X100s, Hoya R72
©AlexJordanGroupWMW

​

 

[Papa Tango]

Thanks Dr. W for that great read! I am adding these two to a list of potential candidates.

I fully agree that the specific brand image groups are a bit problematic. I saw this for years as an issue on PN--many people simply do not know what is buried and nested somewhere--or what a limited view and group surrounds such. It works for those it works for...

In following your thoughts, I have tried to keep the sticky intro rules for each board simple as possible. This is one reason that W/NW groups are a single entity. All things within reason, yes?

Who's next to suggest something???

 

[InOneEye]

Conceptual…. going beyond the thing photographed ie objects, people and places. PN has abstracts which sometimes overlaps but not often. Perhaps it would offer an outlet for photographers that would be refreshing and even challenging.? It covers a surprising amount territory outside of object driven photography.

 

[Papa Tango]

OK, what sort of short definition would we give to a "Conceptual" group--and would that also serve well as the title of the group?

 

[William Michael]

Conceptual…. going beyond the thing photographed ie objects, people and places.

Would such a forum require and/or benefit from the contributors providing and Artist's Statement, or at the least, a Brief of the Concept?

WW

 

[InOneEye]

Simply put it Illustrates a concept or idea. As for an introduction I bow to better writers.

It is not about documenting a scene or object in front of the camera. It is taking a concept from within the photographers mind and giving it life.
There are many simple definitions and explanations to be found on the web.

Would such a forum require and/or benefit from the contributors providing and Artist's Statement, or at the least, a Brief of the Concept?

I think it would for many.
Also. When titled it often suggests the intent but I would hesitate to require that it has to be explained. Many like to leave it open ended. But one could ask if it is not a nw forum.

 

[Papa Tango]

Would such a forum require and/or benefit from the contributors providing and Artist's Statement, or at the least, a Brief of the Concept?

WW

THAT right there is one of the key concepts I had when creating FotoFora!

There are lots of sites that let us post images. A sticking point for me is that in many, no one bothers to reveal how or why they created an image. Obviously, if it is a fairly straightforward street shot or somesuch, most of the explanation is built into the image. Learning the location and tech specs is always welcome, but often lacking.

FF was never envisioned as somewhere to dump a ginormous number of your favorite photos a week and see where that leads. We already know how that works out... Rather, a normal flow of "dueling images" in things like "W/NW" or the other groups was seen to serve as a "show me yours and I will show you mine" exchange. Even then, some discussion is warranted for certain images by their exceptional or unusual merit.

The first two suggestions for groups have been implemented! I am very interested in the concept that InOneEye has discussed--it seems to me that this speaks to the "recontextualization" of the subject matter. Can we see an example or two somewhere of what you are thinking?

 

[Papa Tango]

One of my obsessions is to find a "thing" somewhere in the fabric of the world, and "re-imagine" it. My collection 'A Glass Menagerie' is one such endeavor.

The concept uses objects made from glass, and changes them in a way that steers the original intent or presentation to what I have imagined. Below is one such image. It is actually a ceramic plate that has a small light focused on it:

Is this a branch of the kind of thing we are discussing for the creative group? There are 6 different treatments of this in the series--and they are what I imagined when I saw the object. Granted, this started with an object and not a thought--that came from my reaction to the thing.

Or is the group containing 'concocted' imagery that never existed?

 

[InOneEye]

Or is the group containing 'concocted' imagery that never existed?

to my way of thinking it is not an either or... may be it existed, may be not. or it might have a mix. The concept is paramount, the focus.

 

[InOneEye]

Here is one definition scraped from the web
“the bucket in which certain “art” falls into when no one can make sense of it.”

 

[InOneEye]

simple examples
there are many other ways to approach concept photography…. using photographs as objects themselves, manipulating in post to express a concept as the subject, montages, adding graphics or text, ai creations, etc. all to illustrate an idea or concept that reach beyond an object.

 

[Mark Keefer]

Thanks Dr. W for that great read! I am adding these two to a list of potential candidates.

I fully agree that the specific brand image groups are a bit problematic. I saw this for years as an issue on PN--many people simply do not know what is buried and nested somewhere--or what a limited view and group surrounds such. It works for those it works for...

In following your thoughts, I have tried to keep the sticky intro rules for each board simple as possible. This is one reason that W/NW groups are a single entity. All things within reason, yes?

Who's next to suggest something???

I am open to changing Canon Photo Thursday to just Photo Thursday, opening up the thread to all tools. It would be easier for me also, as Canon cameras are not the only tool in my bag and in a pinch I could use an A7R3 image or even one from my Samsung s24 Ultra.

 

[Papa Tango]

FotoFora, or for that matter any website community needs to embrace change to remain interesting and dynamic. As you recall, I created this venue initially as a 'stopgap' to provide an exit for a failing PhotoNet--which I had "fixed" as well as possible given the ownership constraints there. HOWEVER, it was never intended to be a frangible replacement for that venue, nor used in the same way.

The 'named forum' game was meant to provide some familiarity to members migrating from PN. As @William W and yourself point out, this is limiting and swaps out a Big Mac for a Whopper. What to do here so we do not end up with a Dave's Jr. Cheesebooger Deluxe...

I too struggle with distinctively Canon shots. Everything I have in A-1 or AE-1P film is nearly 20 years old and mainly not scanned. My XTi stuff is over 8 years old. I have to dig to post... I think that others feel the same. What to do, and give us a nice Chick-fil-A sammie? Just a general "Photo Thursday' is redundant, as one might as well post it to No Words or somesuch. What's special about Thursday, except to remind me what must be finished by Friday...

Once upon a time (before the 2016 debacle), PN had contests. Not whether one 'liked' a particular image--but how it stacked up against other images. When launched, FotoFora had many features--some turned off later and some never deployed. As FF is now a full subscription model, all major functions are back on and available by membership level. One thing that never came out of the box was contests. I have several add-on methods to make this happen.

How about we not just rename this thing--but turn it into something interesting like a contest?

Suggestions for naming and simple rules anyone?

PS: Sorry about all the Smilies--I just installed a new post editor manager and am hunting for bugs...

 

[Mark Keefer]

True enough, nothing special about Thursday, was a carry over from a past tradition on PN. And I agree with limits of brand, with so many Canon shooters that switched to other brands, it shuts them out. A contest forum...I loved the old contests back in the old PN, the later versions were awful to navigate made it to hard to view all submissions in my opinion. If a photographer was a late submission, their image would not be seen...I liked the photo of the day and the week. The elves. LOL. Photo of the week contest? Wait Wait Don't tell me...it's a photo contest...the winner gets Pat's voice left on their home answering machine.(NPR reference) Lol....so the contest deserves some thought. What are thinking

 

[Gerald Cafferty]

Thursday is special! I need to produce a photo for Mark's thread.
Maybe I lack imagination but having an ordered criterior is a help for me.

 

[Mark Keefer]

, posting to the weekly thread can be Thursday of any day that week till the next weekly thread. That is useful if you are busy Thursday and just missed Thursday. No points are deducted if late. Only criteria is please post something. Your image this week was great . Thanks.

 

[Papa Tango]

Yeah. I like waking up in an ordered world--not radically different from the one I went to sleep in. I have lived the alternative too many times. And no, not because I did not take my meds.

Change is good as long as it is gradual and non-disruptive, right? Sounds good but I think I am running short of coil--so what the hell! And if someone else made it happen, they can be blamed any existential crises that may leap up out of the abyss...

Fotofora believes in recognizing talent. Let's thank Mark Keefer for seizing this bulls bollocks and leading us forward to a brave new world. BTW, my wife thinks that I ought to be on some kind of meds...

So Mark and I have been brainstorming on this for a bit. Things are moving along at a measured pace, mostly due to cleanup of the detritus from the brainstorm. The matter of the "real" title name is still floating about. The Thursday tie is significant, otherwise, it's Words/No Words with a different title. Well, it will be anyway albeit on Thursdays... The Canon Thursday King is dead, long live the Prince...

I diverge. So we need a new node title with Thursday in it. The first thought I had was 'Turpitude Thursday' but turpitude flows better with Tuesday, as in "Tuesday Turpitude." After some reflection, I decided that neither one was a terribly good idea, and sauntered off for a cup of coffee. This can result in some flash of inspiration; most often it leads getting sucked down some series of unrelated rabbit holes. THAT is the danger of sauntering about unsupervised. My family once bought me a Tee shirt that says "In my defense, I was unsupervised." That pretty well captures it.

To conclude and expand further on the subject, my favorite cat gave me some insight. Bear you see, is not an average orange cat. I sometimes think he is smarter than I am, but I don't spread that information around a lot. Frankly, he is smarter than quite a few people I know. I spread that around even less...

Ready for it? I was feeding (spoiling) him at his feeding station and said, "This is quite the cat cafe you have here, buddy." Then of course some old TV commercial for cat food, 'Cat Cafe' started playing in my head and I could see the cute dancing cats. This was yesterday, a Thursday (cosmic serendipity, right?), and suddenly it all made perfect sense!

Thursday Cafe

Please consider it if you will--without the dancing cats, of course. They are no longer germane to our process. If something else more catchy occurs to you, shout it out. Creative process is such an uneven struggle.

Now, I am going to call the wife and see what sort of meds she was thinking about.

 

[Gerald Cafferty]

Thursday Cafe sounds good to me, the actual name is not critical. I just feel some sort of order is required and posting into named forums is a suitable form of order. Because just posting into galleries is to random and not something I need. I keep taking photos and need somewhere and something to do with the few that have merit, wall space is limitted.
My little missives due being a slow typer and an even slower thinker take an age, is there a way to turn on spell Checker.
My Meds this evening have been Chianti

 

[Mark Keefer]

So I suppose "Foto Thunder Dome, two photographers enter......" is out. No Tina Turner singing either...Mad Mark is so disappointed... joking around here...