Companies slowly abondoning photographers?

[Roger Hicks]

Something occurs to me about "Photoshop was intended for graphic designers and not photographers". Hold on a minute: how many graphic designers are there, and how many photographers? And, among those professional photographers whose pics will end up in print (advertising, news, feature...), colour spaces are important. For making your own prints, colour management is important too. I've been using Photoshop since 1996 or 1997, and I still think that Photoshop 4 is the easiest and best version. If I could install it on my current computer, I would.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I like it because it's a convenient place to store my pics at full res, so I can have a backup. . . .

Thanks. And nice pictures. But doesn't that make them eminently thievable?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Contarama]

Dear Damien,

Well, seriously, who is it for? You're quite right: it's not for me. But I'd be interested in hearing someone tell me why it is for them.

Cheers,

R.

I have my flickr account so I can communicate with a handful of other photographers. I have contacts like TCS, Shinya Arimoto, Bellamy, Tom A, etc. (although they mostly have their own sites) I am interested in seeing what they are up to. Plus several amateur folks too.

 

[Aristophanes]

Put a decent camera in a phone and have a relatively powerful (and fun) editing feature in a a $1.99 app and you have a photographic market shake-up registering very high on the Richter scale (and for video, too).

 

[Lauffray]

Put a decent camera in a phone and have a relatively powerful (and fun) editing feature in a a $1.99 app and you have a photographic market shake-up registering very high on the Richter scale (and for video, too).

You mean Instragram ? 😀

 

[Aristophanes]

'Serious'? What are the advantages of Flickr to a 'serious' photographer?

# of potential viewers. Only Facebook compares for # of visitors.

Serious is subjective and, yes, can be measured in the quantity of eyeballs based on whomever's metrics.

 

[Aristophanes]

You mean Instragram ? 😀

You mean Facebook? 😛

There's a whole continuum of sharing vectors.

 

[Lauffray]

Serious is subjective and, yes, can be measured in the quantity of eyeballs based on whomever's metrics.

Right, but visitors or viewers alone are a little abstract and not so useful for a professional photographer, great if a million people saw my picture, but how did this help me professionally in any way ? did they feel more inclined to buy some prints ? do they want to donate some money to help my next documentary ? etc

 

[Roger Hicks]

I have my flickr account so I can communicate with a handful of other photographers. I have contacts like TCS, Shinya Arimoto, Bellamy, Tom A, etc. (although they mostly have their own sites) I am interested in seeing what they are up to. Plus several amateur folks too.

Again, thanks. I am genuinely interested in why people use Flickr, so I am grateful for your response.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Aristophanes]

A definable segment of photographers are leaving photography. Those who used to carry a Canon ELPH (or the equivalent from other marques) now are happy with their smart phones.

Therefore they are not leaving photography. Changing equipment does not mean one is leaving.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Right, but visitors or viewers alone are a little abstract and not so useful for a professional photographer, great if a million people saw my picture, but how did this help me professionally in any way ? did they feel more inclined to buy some prints ? do they want to donate some money to help my next documentary ? etc

This is my feeling too.

Cheers,

R.

 

[ped]

Thanks. And nice pictures. But doesn't that make them eminently thievable?

Cheers,

R.

Probably, but I don't mind.

 

[Clint Troy]

Guys, you forgot about facebook?

 

[Roger Hicks]

"Serious photographers": regardless of the instrument used to make an image, all the "serious photographers" I know print their work.

I've seen a flickr thing called "flickr pro". I guess if you are a "flickr pro" you earn money with your work as per the definition of "pro". I wonder how much money these folks make off of flickr?

Same here. Except those whose work in its very nature appears in photomechanical print form (magazines, books, company reports...). Even then, the final result is a printed image. I suppose some people make some money from photos that appear only on web-sites but I suspect they are neither numerous nor (for the most part) paid anything realistic.

Cheers,

R.

 

[j j]

Again, thanks. I am genuinely interested in why people use Flickr, so I am grateful for your response.

Cheers,

R.

I use it to put my photos where people who know me can view them.

The unexpected bonuses are that I can link/display them in places such as RFF and search engines seem to find my images on Flickr easily; occasional sales more than pay for the subs and some very interesting and knowledgeable people have been in touch.

 

[kbg32]

The only thing viable that came about through posting on flickr, other then people asking me to use my images for free, was that Getty invited me to participate in the Getty/flickr stock collection. It is something I've wanted to do anyway since I am already a Getty contributor. They wanted 25 images that I could not have gotten included on the Getty website. A handful of them were previously rejected by Getty's editors in Dublin.

Go figure.

 

[Aristophanes]

Right, but visitors or viewers alone are a little abstract and not so useful for a professional photographer, great if a million people saw my picture, but how did this help me professionally in any way ? did they feel more inclined to buy some prints ? do they want to donate some money to help my next documentary ? etc

1. People comment on Flickr. It's a community, like RFF. Build your repertoire from criticism or compliments.

2. Some photogs have been "discovered" by Flickr exposure for commercial or artistic work.

3. Imitation is a hallmark of art and photography. Brose Flickr to see what's available.

4. Use Kickstarter for money. Use Flickr for people to see if your work is worth funding. It's a market.

If you are looking for a profession in the old fashioned hang your shingle, knock, on doors, word of mouth, ad in the Yellow Pages, the world has moved on from those methods. Prints in a gallery work locally. If you want a bigger market...

 

[Exdsc]

Again, thanks. I am genuinely interested in why people use Flickr, so I am grateful for your response.

Cheers,

R.

I use flickr to upload photos and post in different places instead of uploading over and over again.

If you upload your images to different places you no longer have control over them, with flickr you can stop sharing those images with one click.

 

[Lauffray]

1. People comment on Flickr. It's a community, like RFF. Build your repertoire from criticism or compliments.

2. Some photogs have been "discovered" by Flickr exposure for commercial or artistic work.

3. Imitation is a hallmark of art and photography. Brose Flickr to see what's available.

4. Use Kickstarter for money. Use Flickr for people to see if your work is worth funding. It's a market.

If you are looking for a profession in the old fashioned hang your shingle, knock, on doors, word of mouth, ad in the Yellow Pages, the world has moved on from those methods. Prints in a gallery work locally. If you want a bigger market...

Right then, not that I disagree with what you're saying, but Flickr doesn't actually do any of that, it's just a hosting platform with the social built in if you will, it's how you end up using it that could make the difference. Personally I just use it to show my stuff to other photographer friends and get feedback while not worrying about some nonsensical copyright policy (ahem facebook)

 

[rpsawin]

Forget professional, does amateur photographer mean anything anymore?

It has meaning to me and what I do. I am a photographer and am unconcerned about what that means to others not of the same mind. "Focus" on what this activity means to you and how it shapes the way you interact with the world and enhances your life.