how do you guys find "good" content online?

[Godfrey]

I want to look into a diverse set of work. so far I search flickr for things like "rolleiflex" "hasselblad" and etc. and I browse RFF.

I'm just wondering if there are other cool photography sites or if you guys look at the flickr groups. The problem with photography is that there is so much uninteresting content (well, to me atleast) that finding the gems becomes difficult.

In person, I just go to museums, galleries, used book stores, library, and etc. but I find the non-professional work more interesting and many of those photographers aren't well-exposed.

I find it difficult to find good content online. I follow a few blogs and podcasts (Michael Johnston's "The Online Photographer", Kirk Tuck's "Visual Science Lab", Ming Thein's blog, Steve Huff's blog, Brooks Jensen's "Lenswork Daily") with my RSS feed reader. Some of these have guest posters, all of them occasionally talk about other contemporary photographers with work of note. I've added some of those to my list of RSS feeds if they have blogs. The unfortunate truth is that most of the popular blogs are largely gear centric and get boring pretty quickly.

I find searching flickr by equipment*type is mostly hopeless for finding good content unless your interest is equipment capabilities. You're better off searching by subject area if you want the interesting stuff. I do participate on Flickr myself, but rarely search for content—I've been around there long enough that I have several hundred contacts now, most of whose work I'm interested in, and am notified when they post new material to look at. I add a couple of people as contacts from time to time for this purpose.

G

 

[andersju]

I've found lots of good stuff through http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/ - "The New Breed of Documentary Photographers" - he has showcased hundreds of photographers from around the world - fantastic resource.

 

[bgetty]

will have to bookmark this thread for the great links contained. thanks to those who've shared so far!

since i've begun using tumblr, i've discovered many great photographers who use the platform as a kind of launching pad for various portfolios/specific bodies of work. sifting through various hash-tags ("documentary photography" or "contre jour") may seem menial, but it's allowed me to stumble upon some great stuff.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Stop looking at just about everything photography specific if you want to see good photographs. Instead look at quality magazines or newspapers, either print or on-line.

Pick any photography award for any genre, look at their winners over time and find a single photograph that came from a photo magazine or web site. Let me know when you find one.

 

[ampguy]

I like the photos on the bbc travel sites. They're not necessarily "art" but great travel / documentary / travel journalism photos, probably taken with huge dlsrs 😉

 

[Bob Michaels]

try Life magazine photo archives. There are enough great photos there to keep you busy for a few months.

 

[msbarnes]

In my defense,

I only search equipment because it tends to feed out some "bad" photographs as the photographers that I prefer are usually film shooters. I'd search things like "Rolleiflex Provia" "Leica Tri-X" and things like that.

The great thing about flickr is that just about everyone can be a "photographer" and so I'm very interested in seeing work by some flickr peeps like Tommy Oshima just as much as I am interested in seeing established photographers. Issue is people like him can easily get lost in a sea of photographers. Ofcourse he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he is mine. I feel that I have to actively "search" for the photographers/photographs on flickr. Maybe not the best analogy but the good thing about the radio is that new music flows passively (well it depends on the station I guess).

Well, I'm just interested in grasping a diverse set of work in general: street, portraits, landscape, and etc. For entertainment and perhaps inspiration. It's just nice to see photographs from someone who isn't Henri Cartier Bresson, Richard Avedon, and etc. every once in a while.

I love taking pictures but I like to view fresh content too.