Tom Reese wrote: > > I probably shouldn't enter this debate because I haven't entered any of the > PUGs due to the combination of my Luddite attitude toward all things digital > and the fact that I only shoot slides. That said, I think the value of > having PUG themes is that it gets the members to go out and shoot pictures. > Going through archives looking for good shots defeats that purpose. > > Tom Reese
Well, you aren't a TOTAL luddite, Tom - you are doing email :) I have mixed emotions about theme vs non-theme. When I can't think of anything within a theme to present then I lean toward open and when there is a theme that exactly suits what I feel I shoot best, well, of course I love that. Stretching the subject matter is fun and challenging - though I do feel that if we have a theme there should be at least an attempt to dig out something that fits or do the "assignment" routine. The only theme I found too limiting was the Synchronicity one -- I needed it to be expanded to within, say, 5 hours instead of 2 for it to be even doable the last time. (For personal reasons.) However, I disagree with you that going through archives to come up with good shots defeats the purpose. Going through archives (whether they are last year's or stuff done 20 years ago) is an exercise that sharpens one's perception of their own vision. The theme triggers a search that often results in finding forgotten images that turn out to be better than one previously thought were the best, or more significant historically, if only in a limited way. Poring over past work is the best path to self-improvement, too. I think the watch word for the gallery is not necessarily to treat it as an assignment but to extract from ones files those images one is most pleased with oneself - that one is presenting to others only what one considers their best work. We are submitting to the Pentax Users GALLERY , right? The themes are nice because in having to search for appropriate work in your files (including "files" that may only be a few days old) is to develop portfolios that hang together. If anyone has even the slightest interest in displaying a body of work IRL or on the WEB, organizing by theme is kind of important. So, Tom, take a few slides to a good commercial lab or to a friend's scanner and get some stuff up in cyberspace Lots of us have submitted things taken as slides originally. Think of the monitor as a slide projector, there is a brilliance that comes through not unlike that of a slide show, and you can linger on the image a lot longer without damaging the original :) ann
