I like your ideas, Chris! October will be bad, because I'm going to be moving October 1 or shortly before. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly where yet (not that I may end up on the street, I have a fallback if my preference doesn't work out), but either way, I'll be in a house with a computer. I just may not be able to do anything until November PUG.
But, the informal thing you mention is a good thing. Since your little thing fell apart a while ago (I guess that's when you more or less went off list to complete your studies), no one picked up the ball, but I got the feeling things more or less fell apart just before you left anyway. Like several others, I've critiqued my favourites from time to time, and one or two months I think I did the whole bunch. But, I've done nothing for many months now, largely because my computer moniter is all but history, only working in b&w, and being ~very~ fuzzy, so it's really hard to properly criticize a photo that one can hardly see! I say, let's give your idea a shot. I'm in! cheers, frank Chris Brogden wrote: > There's been at least a couple of people who've mentioned the PUG comments > since I got back on the list. I've been thinking about them, too, but it > seems to me that there were some problems with the old format. People > often didn't really have feelings either way about the photos they were > assigned, or they didn't have time to post critiques in the first few days > of the month, or they felt that it was too much like homework and didn't > grant them enough individual freedom. So, taking those criticisms into > account, why don't we start up the comments again, but with some changes: > > First, participation is completely voluntary on a month by month basis. > You don't have to comment every month, though it's probably good to push > yourself to do so. I'm not going to be keeping track of names, or > assigning specific photos to specific people, or anything like that. This > means less work on my part and more freedom on everyone else's. If you > want to comment, do so. If not, don't. Your choice. There are no > deadlines, so you don't have to have something written 30 minutes after > the photos go up. If it takes you most of the month to talk about all the > photos you want to mention, no problem. > > Each month you participate, try to comment on at least 5 photos. If you > use the following guide, we'll establish some sort of consistency in the > comments: > > 1. The most interesting lighting, either natural or artificial. Which > photo do you think makes the best use of light/shadow? How so? What's so > good about it? > > 2. The most interesting composition. Pretty self-explanatory. Pick a > photo where the composition goes a long way toward making the shot and > talk about it. What's so great about the composition? Why does it work? > > 3. One that doesn't quite work for you. Pick a photo which could have > been so much better if... and then explain why and how you think it could > be improved. Constructive criticism, please. > > 4. Another 1, 2 or more photos that you like. Pick a couple more photos > that you like, and try to figure out why you like them. Talk about what > makes them good in your eyes, what appeals to you, why you like them, etc. > > If you don't like some or all of these approaches, great! Come up with > some yourself. The important thing is to try and talk about some photos > each month, however you want to approach it. > > I see this as being a self-organizing thing, so I'll be just another > commentator. If you want to try and commit to talking about some PUG > photos each month, then reply to this email and let the PDML know. > There's still no pressure to follow through each month, but at least > you're saying publically that you want to give it a try, which will > hopefully be enough motivation to do it. > > You don't have to submit to the PUG to do this, or even consider yourself > a great photographer or art critic. You're just giving your opinions... > no big deal. > > The PUG is a pretty cool gallery, and it's a shame we don't talk more > about our photographs, given the amount of time we spend discussing > equipment. Let's get a bunch of people who actually want to try and talk > about photographs once a month, and we'll see if it makes a difference. > Put "PUG" in the subject line if you remember, so people who only care > about equipment can filter the posts if they want, and so it's easier to > find in the archives. Something like "PUG: October 2003 comments" would > be good. > > Should be interesting to see if this goes anywhere. I'll do my 5 comments > when the October gallery is up. > > chris > > On Mon, 22 Sep 2003, frank theriault wrote: > > > I too, miss PUG comments, but I'm in the same boat as you. My shots > > rarely get mentioned, except for by those who take the time to comment > > on ~every~ shot (and then the comments have always been good), and back > > when Brogden organized the little critique circle a year or more ago - > > again, never a bad comment that I can remember. -- "Hell is others" -Jean Paul Sartre
