So, 10 years and 3,000+ posts. Ive wasted a lot of time on APUG.
I joined APUG on February 16, 2004! (I'm posting today as I'm traveling tomorrow.) I do not remember how I found this website. I suppose that I found it while surfing the net. (Does anybody use that term anymore?) My own photography had been languishing for a while. I had a dedicated darkroom, and all the gear, and actually made pictures once in a while, but just nothing was really happening.
APUG was a different place back then. I came from rec.photo.darkroom. APUG was new, fresh, different. It was a different group of people then, but that is always the case. Look up any old thread from past years, and it will be a mostly different group of participants. The same will be true one year in either direction from that thread, too. Twenty thousand, forty thousand, sixty thousand members!!! But, at any given time, there are probably only a few hundred active posters.
Ive seen the question asked several times: where have all the old apuggers gone. Not as many have gone as you might think. A lot of them read, but dont post anymore. They got tired of the same old questions, opinions and arguments. This is not a flaw of APUG, its the normal life cycle of an internet forum. However, I owe a great deal of thanks to APUG and to Sean; and continue to subscribe and participate, even thought Im often pretty tired of it. Because of APUG, I met:
Lee Carmichael. It was early 2005. After mostly lurking on the forum for a year, I posted a suggestion to have a local meet-up. There were 6 of us that showed up. Lee and I were the first to get there. He showed me some very impressive work that he had done, and very graciously looked at the few sad prints I had brought along. We were friends and colleagues until his death in 2012. I learned a good bit from him. Some of it was even about photography. Also along on that meet-up were Jeremy Moore, Kevin Mullet and Mike Castles. I dont see Jeremy or Kevin much anymore, but we remain Facebook friends. Mike and I are still friends in person, and were out photographing (with some other folks) just a couple of weeks ago.
Then, in May of 2005, Lee produced a printing workshop with Les McLean as the clinician. There were 12 of us in attendance. I cant remember all 12, but among them were apuggers Ann, BWgirl, Gay Larsen, scootermm, Bruce Osgood, et al. Jeremy and Mike were there, too.
Also met Valerie Yaklin-Brown, Clay Harmon, Kerik Kouklas and Bill Schwab through APUG. I became friends with Les McLean and spent Christmas with him in England in 2006! Went to Iceland with Bill Schwab and a small group just last year. From 2006 2009, I collaborated on a project with Lee, Jeremy, Mike and scooter (Matthew Magruder) called the Texas Church Project. We had exhibitions and were on TV! And we made a lot of work! (And I became a better photographer)
And the chatroom! It, too, is not the same; but years ago, I could go in almost any night and chat with Hans (Denmark), Luis (Spain), Nicole (Australia), or any number of other delightful people from all over the world.
Therefore, like many other old-timers both chronologically and by tenure on APUG I have a real love-hate relationship with the forum. We may be tired of the same old discussions, the opinions over facts, the fanatical defense of arbitrary ways of doing things, and the trolls; but we realize the value in the relationships that have been spawned and nurtured through this community. These are friendships that may not have happened without the forum.
Carry on. Turn off the computer once in a while and go actually make photographs. Many of us and 99.999% of the world dont care which film/developer/camera you use. We also dont care if you own and use a digital camera, because, you know, we do, too.
Only while here, dont feed the trolls!
I joined APUG on February 16, 2004! (I'm posting today as I'm traveling tomorrow.) I do not remember how I found this website. I suppose that I found it while surfing the net. (Does anybody use that term anymore?) My own photography had been languishing for a while. I had a dedicated darkroom, and all the gear, and actually made pictures once in a while, but just nothing was really happening.
APUG was a different place back then. I came from rec.photo.darkroom. APUG was new, fresh, different. It was a different group of people then, but that is always the case. Look up any old thread from past years, and it will be a mostly different group of participants. The same will be true one year in either direction from that thread, too. Twenty thousand, forty thousand, sixty thousand members!!! But, at any given time, there are probably only a few hundred active posters.
Ive seen the question asked several times: where have all the old apuggers gone. Not as many have gone as you might think. A lot of them read, but dont post anymore. They got tired of the same old questions, opinions and arguments. This is not a flaw of APUG, its the normal life cycle of an internet forum. However, I owe a great deal of thanks to APUG and to Sean; and continue to subscribe and participate, even thought Im often pretty tired of it. Because of APUG, I met:
Lee Carmichael. It was early 2005. After mostly lurking on the forum for a year, I posted a suggestion to have a local meet-up. There were 6 of us that showed up. Lee and I were the first to get there. He showed me some very impressive work that he had done, and very graciously looked at the few sad prints I had brought along. We were friends and colleagues until his death in 2012. I learned a good bit from him. Some of it was even about photography. Also along on that meet-up were Jeremy Moore, Kevin Mullet and Mike Castles. I dont see Jeremy or Kevin much anymore, but we remain Facebook friends. Mike and I are still friends in person, and were out photographing (with some other folks) just a couple of weeks ago.
Then, in May of 2005, Lee produced a printing workshop with Les McLean as the clinician. There were 12 of us in attendance. I cant remember all 12, but among them were apuggers Ann, BWgirl, Gay Larsen, scootermm, Bruce Osgood, et al. Jeremy and Mike were there, too.
Also met Valerie Yaklin-Brown, Clay Harmon, Kerik Kouklas and Bill Schwab through APUG. I became friends with Les McLean and spent Christmas with him in England in 2006! Went to Iceland with Bill Schwab and a small group just last year. From 2006 2009, I collaborated on a project with Lee, Jeremy, Mike and scooter (Matthew Magruder) called the Texas Church Project. We had exhibitions and were on TV! And we made a lot of work! (And I became a better photographer)
And the chatroom! It, too, is not the same; but years ago, I could go in almost any night and chat with Hans (Denmark), Luis (Spain), Nicole (Australia), or any number of other delightful people from all over the world.
Therefore, like many other old-timers both chronologically and by tenure on APUG I have a real love-hate relationship with the forum. We may be tired of the same old discussions, the opinions over facts, the fanatical defense of arbitrary ways of doing things, and the trolls; but we realize the value in the relationships that have been spawned and nurtured through this community. These are friendships that may not have happened without the forum.
Carry on. Turn off the computer once in a while and go actually make photographs. Many of us and 99.999% of the world dont care which film/developer/camera you use. We also dont care if you own and use a digital camera, because, you know, we do, too.
Only while here, dont feed the trolls!