What you can see in a bunch of thumbnails

As a lowly poor member I can only see thumbnails. There was a thread recently that a little out of hand and people started whipping out their resumes. I went to several or the galleries to get a better understanding of their prowess. I was shocked by what I saw. So, I went to lots of people's galleries. It was an interesting excercise.

It was cool to see things in thumbneails with several on a page. Too small to see the details but plenty big enough to see the compositional elements. What I think of as the geometry of the image (focal point, line, shape, light/dark, balance) really stood out. I also could see connections between images. Those I would call the more experienced (Don't read professional photographer into this because I don't know who is and who is not professional) behind the lens had a unifying nature to their images. They were fluid, yet connected. Some I found a new found respect for and others, whom I have been blown away by on a single image basis, became boring, and stagnant. Like they are taking the same 3 photographs 20 or 30 times and posting them.

From there I took a look at my own and woof! I got some work to do.

Try it sometime. Find your favorite APUG photographer's gallery or just take a stroll through the populace and look at their thumbnails only. It is an interesting excercise, then look at your own.

You weren't the only one and there were lots of people on that thread. That thread was just what started the browse through the thumbnail galleries. I went through lots of them. There is no reason to name names or voice opinions about people's work. I thought it was a great way to get another insight into others as photographers as well as myself. Thought I would pass on the exercise.

As another thought from a want a be collector's point of view. I saw some people whose work a buyer could just keep buying because of the connected fluidity of the pieces. Others, if you bought 2 or 3 images you have the breadth of their work, no matter how much they produced.

As a teacher I can see the extreme value of this excercise as a means for students to discuss an artists dominant compositional structure.