The Camerazzi Community

Camerazzi News – July 2011

Hi GuysnGals

Greetings from the desk of the editor.

Shewww, I know it has been a long stretch since the previous ‘regular’ Camerazzi newsletter, but as the Afrikaans saying goes: geen nuus is goeie nuus en julle hou my so besig met die foto’s ek kom nie by die nuusbrief uit nie…

I could make a lot of excuses like that my PC packed up (true-Heinrich is trying to sort it out at this stage); that I have been marking exam papers, that I have been working day & night for 6 weeks on the pp-production and admin of the graduation shoot, that the facebook page is outgrowing my schedule…but that would almost sound like bragging .

Website – Some interesting stats
Thanks to all you loyal camarazzi who have posted some 1900 photo pages on the site since we revamped it 18 months ago; an average of just over a 100 posts per month and getting feedback at 4.5 comments per post – 8500 comments in all. Together with the old site (which is still accessible under “Reference Library” in the main menu) there are now 3600 posts and 14700 comments on the site. In web terms these numbers are fairly small but what an awesome body of shared skills, knowledge, and wisdom, to the benefit of all. The site has become an extremely valuable learning resource for budding photographers all over and we often get feedback from people telling us how studying the photo posts helped to improve their photography.

Camerazzi on Facebook
We started in November/December 2010 experimenting with the Camerazzi facebook Page as an additional web presence, hosting the Camerazzi photo contests and at the same time provide another forum to post photos, ask, assist, discuss and learn from each other. The page simply mushroomed over 6 months and already has around 700 followers, contains more than 2100 photo-posts and new posts are added at an average of around 20 every day. Yet I’m thrilled that the real value of the page lies in the quality of the social and professional feedback and interaction amongst dedicated photography enthusiasts much more than in the number people, posts and activities.

Thanks for being different
We often get feedback of our web presences being so refreshingly different from all the other photography websites out there. I ascribe this welcome difference to our approach of not simply telling people that their photos are great or not, but why they are great; what elements make them great, and if we think they can be improved, make suggestions how to improve them and even create and show examples. I’m so grateful that our site members and facebook followers have mostly adopted this way of commenting – by doing so YOU make the Camerazzi Community the greatest and most useful photographic community in South Africa at least.

What about the photo competitions?
I had to put the contests temporarily on hold for two reasons – since the Camerazzi fb Wall has become so popular for posting and discussing photos, we could hardly run a contest on the same page for reasons of administrative chaos – I plan to start a new page for the contests so the post for comments can run uninterrupted on the fb wall. Watch this space

The second reason is that I haven’t started the new contest page yet…the days are too short in winter time

Change happens
The initial idea of the Camerazzi blog was to serve as a forum for discussing all photos and specifically also those less-than-perfect learner- and beginner attempts in order to learn. That was the reasoning behind the two front page galleries: Photo Forum for learners with comments/discussions in the form of tips and guidelines and Showcase for the more serious stuff like bragging and comments/discussions in the form of crits and ratings. These things however have a habit of defining and re-defining themselves as time moves on.

It seems that by adding facebook to the equation, we have really provided a quicker, easier, user-friendly, popular social environment for just everyone to post and speak their minds at will about their own and other people’s photos – a place where no-one feels inadequate or intimidated; where we are all family! The Camerazzi facebook page became the general discussion forum we initially had in mind for the Photo Forum on the Camerazzi blog (website).

At the same time I am really thrilled to see some extraordinary images posted lately in both Galleries on the Camerazzi blog. I’d like to quote Denis Smit as he commented about some of these: “I want to say one thing. This photo (referring to Francois Swart’s ‘100 men…America’s best)” and that done by Willem recently (Stoomtrein) is world class…and its an amazing honour and credit to Pikkie W that such work is showcased on Camerazzi. Credit to all the folk that make Camerazzi what is is. I can only wait for next one…something good is happening here folks!” Now this is coming from the guy who has himself just recently posted an exquisite 3-part photo essay on the Old Jhb Hospital as shot on a photowalk by the Johannesburg Photowalkers – the best series ever published on the site…
You can see the above referenced posts here:

So while facebook has become the photo forum, the camerazzi website has become a great showcase of our member’s work! Everyone is welcome to visit and comment, and yes, we still crit even the best photos , but only registered members with author rights may publish their work on the site.

Publishing on the site has the advantage that posts are categorized and tagged for grouping and referencing purposes – you could for instance with a click or two see all the bird or wildlife or portrait images or even the images by one photographer together in one place. The site works like a library: once a post is made it gets listed in various ways and stays accessible for ever. This is quite different from facebook where a post appears, picks up comments, but soon falls off the bottom of the page into oblivion – just the way the different media works.

The coming months may see some changes to the website: we will retain the showcased postings but for the rest of the site move in the direction of more formal and categorized learning and tutoring. Changes to our facebook presence will mostly entail expansion of the camerazzi activities like additional pages e.g. a full blown contest page.

Thank You time
We are extremely appreciative and thankful to a number of very enthusiastic (and some quite capable photographers) who spontaneously got involved on the Camerazzi fb Page and is taking the lead with their great posts and extremely valuable comments, even when it is a bit tongue-in-the-cheek: Thank you firstly to Denis Smit who rarely skip commenting on any photo, supported by some other ‘old hands’ like Ben Broughton, Pikkie Langenhoven, Johan Vosloo, Amanda Bester, Glenn Visser, Warwick Winterbach, Hilbert Bron & Marie Koen; Alexius v/d Westhuizen, Hugo Klaasen, Frans Zietsman, Greg Labuscagne and newcomers like Niel Koegelenberg, Wynand Schoonbee, Tasmin Johnston, Tersia Marais, Jooste Myburgh and all the others – too many to name – You are doing just great and doing exactly what I had in mind with the page: A community forum owned and operated by the community!

Concerning the Camerazzi blog, I’m a bit late yet still relevant in welcoming Willem van der Post and Callie de Wet, two very able and experienced togs who already taught us some valuable lessons both in their posts and insightful comments – we are seeing some extraordinary bird and wildlife photography from these two guys as well as other work from Willem already described as “world class” above. Welcome also to John Brandow who just made his first posts and Frans Zietsman and Peet Buys who made a number of posts. Welcome back to Danie Coetsee who treated us to a great range from Namibia after an absence for a while – seems like he’s been travelling…. It is also great to have the two ‘uitlanders’ in the persons of Francois Swart (San Diego, California) and Faan Martin (Glasgow, Scotland) as regular posters and commentators on the site – Hey I know these from the days they were still “Boere in die Ou Transvaal.” – thanks for sticking with us and talking about sticking: Thank you Mike, LeGrange, Kieta, Ben, Pikkie, Drien, Amelia, Johan, Thelma for your ongoing involvement – great to have you guys around!

Back to work but the show goes on
As I will be back in class from Monday 25 July, spending 8hr days in an ongoing quest to rid this world from all forms of ignorance, I may be less active in burdening you all with my highly opinionated critical comments on your great photos… Fortunately leave you with quite a number of camerazzi who practice my philosophy that it serves no purpose to tell someone their photos are good or not; it serves great purpose to tell them what makes it good and what not. Identify the elements that enhance or counteract the greatness of an image, express it in words in your comments and be amazed on how you learn and teach at the same time! Gaan en doen jy net so!

Kind Regards

Pikkie

From the desk of Pikkie Wolmarans
Editor: http://camerazzi.net and http://facebook.com/camerazzi
editor@camerazzi.net