If you look a bit further down you will notice I am a member of a few photography groups. Recently I was looking at the journal of kkart [link] where he questioned why we have groups on dA, an odd question on the face of it since he is the founder of Photography-APN. It got me thinking though about why I am a member of groups.

I guess, on reflection, there are 3 reasons.

1 I am in the phase where a photographer is starting to look at an individual style rather than just taking photos of anything that stands still (and a few things that don't). I look at all the photos that the groups send me as messages (and that's a hell of a lot of photos). All of them are of a high standard because the groups have high selection standards and excellent photographers as admins and contributors. What I am looking for though is the occasional photo that knocks my socks off. While I have a pretty good idea of where I am going on my photographic journey and what I hope to achieve, these occasional photos help to clarify my path just a little. They give me a glimpse of where I might be if I am diligent and talented enough.

2 In looking at the photos and the information that accompanies them it is possible to learn a great deal about the process of capturing great images. Little snippets concerning lens, exposures, viewpoints and other minutiae of the photographic process.

3 I use these images as a yardstick to get an idea of where I am on my journey. I am my own harshest critic, I will look at some of my latest images and think that they fall so far short of what I wanted to achieve that they are crap. I usually have to come back to them several times over a couple of days to realise that they aren't so bad really and that they might be worth putting them on dA for a bit of feedback. Then I can compare them to images from photographers I admire and I may come to realise that I am closer to my goals than I thought.

One of the things I rarely do is submit my own images to the groups. I am perfectly capable of judging my own work when I have a point of comparison. There seems to be a tendency in many groups for them to become a vehicle for the admins and contributors to feature their own work as they are not constrained by the selection process. Don't get me wrong, these are competent, even outstanding photographers but some of them swamp the groups galleries and they are not uniformly good. Even a group admin can produce images below their best. These are the images I remove ruthlessly.

All the best to everybody that may read this. Have a blast on your individual journeys of artistic discovery.

Peter.