local analogue photographers who havent heard of apug.org

[jss]

not sure how to categorize this post.

today i found motivation (thanks, ann!) to inquire on a craigslist posting about a "non digital photography club" forming here in san francisco.

i thought it was by the same gal, a wedding photographer / art student who tried to do the same last year. she managed to gather about 10 similarly aged (mostly art students) folk together for a first meeting. but due to poor communication and planning, i don't think that group lasted more than 2 or 3 meetings.

i replied to the posting and got a reply back with a name and phone number. it was someone else. i searched for his name and phone number, and found it to by someone who had built a complete darkroom in his house and was trying to rent it out, offer private instruction, etc. it looks like (from my limited research) that the guy is inserting himself into the art scene here in the city.

he said his goal was to make a new non-digital group, make it a known entity, and eventually do group shows. i'd asked if he heard of APUG.org. nope. i was surpised.

the gal who tried before to start a non-digital group had also not heard of apug. nor did the photographer from whom i bought a large stack of film holders from.

maybe it is my "generation-x upbringing", but when im wanting to find colleagues, community one of the first things i do is look online. the strangest thing is, this new guy didn't seem all that interested.

i am not the world's most social person, nor am i a part of any art scene (if you don't count my coworkers and family). so discovering things like this is pretty interesting.

incidentally, the next big meeting of this group is on the 21st of january, which is the same day there's a large photo/camera swap meet down in san jose. he wasn't aware of that either.

so i think what's happening is a professional photographer is trying to work "down" to an amateur audience (maybe his audience will be pros trying to return to or escape with traditional photography?). the gal from last year and her audience was definitely on the amateur side trying to work "up" to a real organized group.

i will try to make it to this meeting, although i am not really one for pot-luck meals which might be happening.

thanks for your attention to my rambling. this is what happens when i have a day off from work

 

[firecracker]

Hi. I thought I would comment here because I've felt the same way, though not in the same situation as you are. But I'm not surprised by that at all.

I've been coming here for gathering information on photography as well as having a little online discussions with other photographers/APUGers for less than a year. And I am very thankful. But if I hadn't started using it, I wouldn't have known what this site is all about.

I think it's just a matter of how some people feel about using a certain medium and know how to utilize it for their own benefits as well as others'. It's the same as using a liburary that has tons of resources, but that doesn't mean every one of us goes there to find what we need all the time.

I live in a rutal part of Japan not far from cities, but in terms of reaching photographic communities it's far. In the cites I know some people in the art field/market that deals with photography, but as far as online places are concerned, there's almost no place that is substantial enough to learn something and in a way teach other participants.

I've asked amateurs, pros, students of all types, but they don't know if there's any. So, I joke about the APUG: If your instructors know about it, they don't have to teach their students but just give them the reference.

Instead, they tell me there's a popular site that's incorporated with other areas of interest not in art but personal ads and etc. Suppose you're a post art-school type, and that's where you meet other young art geeks who are into design, hip clothing, and punk music. They live for fashion, not belief or philosophy, and that's the limit over here.

Well, it's a different country with a different set of expectations and a language barrier, but that doesn't mean it's okay to not have a site that's actually helpful. Maybe in a long run, I should consider making a site for those who read Japanese.

 

[gr82bart]

Here in New Haven, there's one darkroom rental facility at the creative Arts Workshop, where traditional photography techniques are also taught, and there's a dedicated group of about a dozen film enthusiasts that come out almost every week. They've never heard of APUG. Most are registered on - gasp - Photo.net and - brace yourselves - Luminous Landscapes! I'm not sure if any of them signed up here and are just lurking.

Art.

 

[Sean]

since I started advertising apug with google & yahoo we've been hitting 25-35 new registrations a day (that's up from 18-20 a day). We are on track to register well over 600 this month, so maybe people are starting to find us a little more. The current growth is pretty major for such a specialized community so I'm not to keen on exceeding the current growth with additional advertising for fear we will grow too fast. As long as things grow steadily and the community maintains it's friendly atmosphere I'm happy. I've also noticed searching google and yahoo for anything traditional photo related brings up many apug threads, so not sure how those people are missing us.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

There are a lot of analog types out there who just aren't very interested in the internet, for the same reasons they aren't interested in digital photography.

 

[roteague]

The internet is also a very big place. I put a guy in New Zealand onto APUG when I was there in October, but I don't know if he signed up or not. He was a LF photographer, teaching d*****l at the local tech college.

 

[Bob F.]

I always have to keep reminding myself that not everyone is as comfortable with using the Web as others. I am a long way away from firecracker's Generation-X but also treat the 'net as my 1st port of call whenever I want information on just about any subject - and have done for years now. I lay prostrate at the feet of the Lord Google (who overthrew the dark King Yahoo many, many moons past)...

In my work I regularly go to the aid of people who have recently left university who still have no clue how to operate a computer effectively - even logging in to a network is often too confusing for them - using it as little more than a glorified typewriter of 30 years ago. Very strange.

As far as APUG membership goes, I think that, as with most things, steady progress is to be preferred to revolution...


Cheers, Bob.

 

[Fintan]

I remember way back searching for "film photography" in Google and APUG didnt show. It still doesn't. I never used the term "analog photography" till I came here and I dont know of anyone that uses this term.

I think the words film photography should appear in the welcome paragraph of the apug home page. I know its in the keywords.

Anyone with a personal website should include a link to apug on their homepage which will boost the ranking of APUG on the search engines.

People posting on other forums should add a link to APUG on their sig.

If theres any graphic designers on here can you please design a small and simple advert in the commonly used inkjet paper sizes, for posting in darkrooms, shops, colleges etc.

 

[removed account4]

i know a lot of people that are 1/2 in one world and 1/2 in another. they don't really feel comfortable in a place that whenever someone mentions the word digital they get bashed with 7-8 pages worth of rants, or a place where people get harassed for putting film-scans in an online gallery. their view is that a photographic image is a photographic image and its gotta be scanned (film or print) to be "gallerized", so what is the problem.

i guess they are not purists like a lot of the people here, so they stay away for one reason or another.

 

[firecracker]

I always have to keep reminding myself that not everyone is as comfortable with using the Web as others. I am a long way away from firecracker's Generation-X but also treat the 'net as my 1st port of call whenever I want information on just about any subject - and have done for years now.

I'm not much of a Generation X type. But it was not long ago when some universities started offering classes online. Actually I was pretty shocked by that back then, and personally that's still something I would not prefer to join if I had a choice.

 

[firecracker]

What's interesting is that a lot of people (I mean the non-English speaking Japanese) seem to bother using eBay (U.S.) for buyng and searching for used photo equipment when there's an alternative popular Japanese Yahoo auction site. They are also searching for particular darkroom items that collectors and shop owners wouldn't even bother. So, they are very computer- literate in a sense.

But then when it comes down to using what they've got, it's a totally different story. That's what really amazes me.

 

[Photo Engineer]

This may be a bit off-topic but;

I have a complete darkroom with the ability to do color and B&W, and make emulsions and coat. I don't think that I could give away time in my DR to anyone there is so little interest in the area (Rochester NY). I would dearly love to give away any knowledege wrt my photographic background, but mostly I get disinterest or even criticism.

Well, the only satisfaction I have is that those that attend my workshops willl go home happy (I hope) and those that don't will have only themselves to blame. But I am coming to the conclusion that the 'apprentice' method is the only thing that will sustain and prolong the life of conventional photography. The problem is that the average person able to transmit this data cannot affor to have an apprentice. The economy of the present day precludes an effective apprenticeship.

If anyone has any ideas on this, I am open to suggestion. I have lots of information to pass on, but no one to pass it on to. Very few takers!!!!! (well, practically none)

PE