Posting your work online

[Leifer]

What are your thoughts on sharing your work online? I find myself always wanting to post photos that Im overly satisfied with, but I try and hold off as much as possible. Does anyone have the same issue? Also, if you don't post any of your photographs, what is your reasoning behind it?

 

[Wenge]

I used to do custom framing for several artists, and my main client then, an art teacher (who I'm still friends with) always said to not be afraid to enter or post your work. I realize my work is mediocre, but posting it makes me want to try harder to get better.

 

[peterm1]

I don't fully understand what you mean about trying to hold off posting. Can you explain why would you feel this way?

The reason I ask is that in one respect I think I can possibly understand because I find that when I come back from a photo expedition, I have in the past posted photos after I processed them only to find that later I re processed them and found I am more happy with the results of the second attempt. Too late - the inferior image is already up on the internet. (Fortunately Flickr which I use allows you to substitute another image of the same name - or used to I don't know if that has changed with recent site changes).

As a result of this situation I have learned not to rush my posting of images.

But apart from this kind of consideration I don't really understand why someone might wish to delay posting their photos online.

The other thing to say that is relevant is that sometimes I go back over my old folders in which I have held images I have downloaded to the computer from my camera only to find inspiration in an image I previously rejected. This then results in me posting an old image onto the web simply because I had not previously recognized its potential.

 

[Pioneer]

I shoot thousands of frames of film every year but I post very, very little. Part of the problem is that I am very, very critical of my own work. I have this mental block against posting something I am not personally happy with.

Second, I am usually happier with my printed work (digital or analog) while that same picture displayed on a monitor does not look the same. Most of my favorite work has been printed and I have a very tough time posting the digital version while the print is so much better to my eye.

Third, I find that I am more likely to post photos that were taken digitally than I am those that were taken with film. And those I do post are rarely printed after I post them. I think that I have this thought in the back of my mind that digital work is less important, though that idea has been changing quickly since I bought the DP2M. Some of the photos out of that camera are beginning to reform my opinion of digital. I just printed one of my photos from that camera on Red River's Pearl paper and I am stunned by the color, depth, clarity and detail in that print.