Guy Glorieux wrote:
Don, (on your concern over the Gallery)
Your concern is very real that the postcard project should not
distract from the weekly gallery. This said, it is nice that the
project brings people out of the woodworks.
There has been a number of events contributing to the slowness of the
gallery and I agree that it is a bit sad that PF'ers do not talk about
the images as much as in the past. I've just started putting in my
2-bits of critique.
I would think that the ups and downs of the gallery could be a topic
to address as a group. Also, there seems to me (and I may be wrong on
this) quite a lot of people on the fringe that do enjoy the forum but
are afraid to post their work. Is this real?
If so, how can we bring you guys out there to the fore?
Regards,
Guy
Guy, thanks for the follow up on my concerns. As contentious as it was
some times, the forum in the days of Jan and Bob Rosen and others was
immensely interesting and, I think, much more valuable to the members.
Now, and I hope I don't offend anyone, we have become too sweet. People
submit photos to the gallery for critiques; it is supposed to be a
learning experience. They don't want, and shouldn't get, nothing but
sugar-coated, positive comments. So we get a minor flame war once in a
while. I think that is healthy as long as people obey the limits of
propriety. Our only disagreements anymore seem to be about cameras or
operating systems or things of that ilk. There are many varieties of
aesthetic sensibilities and tolerances in techniques that we could be
exploring. I have a feeling that most of the folks who have departed
did so because we became too tame and safe and not because of the
personality battles that sometimes erupted. A number of you seem to be
contacting Sidney Flack, why not ask him why he gave up on us? Many of
the current members seem to have become lurkers, I believe, because the
excitement has gone. I would welcome discussions about why we went soft
and what we can do to regain our edge. I may not have a huge number of
great photos like many of you but I do have opinions.
Don
