So how do you accept that nobody cares about your photography?

davev8 said:

mapachebasura said:

Truth is, unless it's a great photo of the person individually, nobody cares about my work. I used to be in an art community who vaguely did, with friends taking photos of more prestigious people (niche musicians/visual artists) which get a lot of love.

Mostly though, not much in return even after a couple small shows. I'm not making a career of it though a few photos were published. But it didn't really go anywhere - maybe it could have if I had made decisions differently, but I was prioritizing other things in my life. Downside is that I don't even have people who will look at my photos anymore, even if it's just to critique them.

I know I take odd photos of non-marketable things. I guess I'd call it 'whatever-the-opposite-of fine art' photography? I think they're aesthetically pleasing and you can extrapolate something meaningful (but not profound or "deep") and work well as a series.

But don't have the WOW factor that people are drawn to. Now that we see thousands of photos a day, that feels pretty essential to get any sort of acknowledgement even from people you know personally.

I'm sure other people relate. End of the day, I take those photos because I like them. I like what they evoke to me, I like the memory of taking them. But it does feel like a bummer to show people photos and not even my friends care.

I imagine all of you fancy yourself sheepdog lone wolves standing alone in the wind not caring about what others think when you post my close-crop red tail hawk or mountainscape, but for those that AREN'T that way, feel free to dump your feelings here and how you process it.

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most folk are not qualified to give you an opinion on your work ...just because some random mate thinks a photo is good or not so good means nothing ....now if someone on here or someplace with a portfolio that you really like then you can listen to what they say about your work

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Marek M said:

So how do you accept that nobody cares about your photography?

My friends are very complimentary. It's not that my pictures are that good, it is that my friends are good-natured and do not criticize friends.

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grsnovi said:

For the most part, I shoot for me. If by chance somebody comments that they like one of my shots - that's a bonus.

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tony field said:

The folks that I shoot of, for, with, seem to care about my photographs. Other folks don't really care. So what the heck oh, that is the nature of people particularly the dpreview folks who Chit Chat about things and that's as far as it goes.

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jimhughes said:

I sell a print once in a while, via a POD. But that's going the way of microstock: oversupplied with cr@p, Getty and others dumping their libraries. It's going corporate.

I have friends on FB who still like seeing an interesting photo although they have no idea of the work behind it. But FB is fizzling out too, a sluggish polluted river of ads. My friends don't post anything themselves except kid pictures. I think FB is in its end days.

The web giveth, and the web taketh away.

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Hoxton Bridge said:

mapachebasura said:

Truth is, unless it's a great photo of the person individually, nobody cares about my work. I used to be in an art community who vaguely did, with friends taking photos of more prestigious people (niche musicians/visual artists) which get a lot of love.

Mostly though, not much in return even after a couple small shows. I'm not making a career of it though a few photos were published. But it didn't really go anywhere - maybe it could have if I had made decisions differently, but I was prioritizing other things in my life. Downside is that I don't even have people who will look at my photos anymore, even if it's just to critique them.

I know I take odd photos of non-marketable things. I guess I'd call it 'whatever-the-opposite-of fine art' photography? I think they're aesthetically pleasing and you can extrapolate something meaningful (but not profound or "deep") and work well as a series.

But don't have the WOW factor that people are drawn to. Now that we see thousands of photos a day, that feels pretty essential to get any sort of acknowledgement even from people you know personally.

I'm sure other people relate. End of the day, I take those photos because I like them. I like what they evoke to me, I like the memory of taking them. But it does feel like a bummer to show people photos and not even my friends care.

I imagine all of you fancy yourself sheepdog lone wolves standing alone in the wind not caring about what others think when you post my close-crop red tail hawk or mountainscape, but for those that AREN'T that way, feel free to dump your feelings here and how you process it.

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Not in the slightest bit concerned. My photography is for me, if anyone else likes it that is nice but not necessary.

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mapachebasura said:

End of the day, I take those photos because I like them. I like what they evoke to me, I like the memory of taking them.

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mapachebasura said:

But it does feel like a bummer to show people photos and not even my friends care.

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mapachebasura said:

I literally just said that this isn't about all of you who don't care never cared don't need anyone else in your life whatever. That was the closer of the post. "I accept it because I'm a tough guy who doesn't want to associate with others in a meaningful way," is really not the intended conversation here.

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MediaArchivist said:

Most people don't post this until their 200th or so post.

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sportyaccordy said:

Stop living for the admiration of others

Real greatness comes from within

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jpeghorror said:

tony field said:

The folks that I shoot of, for, with, seem to care about my photographs. Other folks don't really care. So what the heck oh, that is the nature of people particularly the dpreview folks who Chit Chat about things and that's as far as it goes.

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It is what it is.

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jpeghorror said:

jimhughes said:

I sell a print once in a while, via a POD. But that's going the way of microstock: oversupplied with cr@p, Getty and others dumping their libraries. It's going corporate.

I have friends on FB who still like seeing an interesting photo although they have no idea of the work behind it. But FB is fizzling out too, a sluggish polluted river of ads. My friends don't post anything themselves except kid pictures. I think FB is in its end days.

The web giveth, and the web taketh away.

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So where to share? Instagram was a nightmare when I tried it. Currently on Flickr but visibility is pretty low.

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tkbslc said:

gloaming said:

I am quibbling, and yes it's beside your point, but....

...conventionally, mediocre, as a term, would imply the 'average' range in a standard normal distribution, would it not? 'Above average' would comprise those between the 67th %ile and on up to about the 86th %ile. Anyone falling in the distribution under the curve higher than that would be deemed 'superior', or similar terms in each case.

Mediocre/average would then fall only between 33% and 66%, admittedly the heavy bulk of all points in the distribution. But, that would leave a more sizeable chunk outside of mediocre than your 97% suggests.

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Typically with the arts or sports, only the exceptional break through to success. So I was going with the normal bell curve + 2 standard deviations as "average" or "mediocre". If you want to argue with my use of the word, that is fine, but I will still argue that you'd need to be in that upper section of the curve if you want to stand out. Maybe even the 3rd deviation 99.9 percentile. Either that, or you need to be above the 1st deviation, but be in the exceptional range for marketing skills.

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mapachebasura said:

Truth is, unless it's a great photo of the person individually, nobody cares about my work. I used to be in an art community who vaguely did, with friends taking photos of more prestigious people (niche musicians/visual artists) which get a lot of love.

Mostly though, not much in return even after a couple small shows. I'm not making a career of it though a few photos were published. But it didn't really go anywhere - maybe it could have if I had made decisions differently, but I was prioritizing other things in my life. Downside is that I don't even have people who will look at my photos anymore, even if it's just to critique them.

I know I take odd photos of non-marketable things. I guess I'd call it 'whatever-the-opposite-of fine art' photography? I think they're aesthetically pleasing and you can extrapolate something meaningful (but not profound or "deep") and work well as a series.

But don't have the WOW factor that people are drawn to. Now that we see thousands of photos a day, that feels pretty essential to get any sort of acknowledgement even from people you know personally.

I'm sure other people relate. End of the day, I take those photos because I like them. I like what they evoke to me, I like the memory of taking them. But it does feel like a bummer to show people photos and not even my friends care.

I imagine all of you fancy yourself sheepdog lone wolves standing alone in the wind not caring about what others think when you post my close-crop red tail hawk or mountainscape, but for those that AREN'T that way, feel free to dump your feelings here and how you process it.

Click to expand...

jpeghorror said:

mapachebasura said:

Truth is, unless it's a great photo of the person individually, nobody cares about my work. I used to be in an art community who vaguely did, with friends taking photos of more prestigious people (niche musicians/visual artists) which get a lot of love.

Mostly though, not much in return even after a couple small shows. I'm not making a career of it though a few photos were published. But it didn't really go anywhere - maybe it could have if I had made decisions differently, but I was prioritizing other things in my life. Downside is that I don't even have people who will look at my photos anymore, even if it's just to critique them.

I know I take odd photos of non-marketable things. I guess I'd call it 'whatever-the-opposite-of fine art' photography? I think they're aesthetically pleasing and you can extrapolate something meaningful (but not profound or "deep") and work well as a series.

But don't have the WOW factor that people are drawn to. Now that we see thousands of photos a day, that feels pretty essential to get any sort of acknowledgement even from people you know personally.

I'm sure other people relate. End of the day, I take those photos because I like them. I like what they evoke to me, I like the memory of taking them. But it does feel like a bummer to show people photos and not even my friends care.

I imagine all of you fancy yourself sheepdog lone wolves standing alone in the wind not caring about what others think when you post my close-crop red tail hawk or mountainscape, but for those that AREN'T that way, feel free to dump your feelings here and how you process it.

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Also, in Spanish mapache means raccoon and basura means trash. But Mapache is also a musical group. The OP could be saying that they think the group is trash. The mystery deepens.

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mapachebasura said:

I don't share photos on here. Did it three times and then I saw a crappy photo of meat winning a challenge (not sorry if it was you) and decided, ya know, this probably isn't my demographic.

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Tuonov2 said:

mapachebasura said:

I don't share photos on here. Did it three times and then I saw a crappy photo of meat winning a challenge (not sorry if it was you) and decided, ya know, this probably isn't my demographic.

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Maybe people don't care about your photography because you're not very good at it, how would any of us know?

To not post your work on one of the biggest world wide photography forums with 10'000's of members who all have dispirate likes and dislikes because "ya know, this probably isn't my demographic.", whilst in the same post demeaning other peoples work, seems a bit off. There are skilled photographers of every single genre you can think of on here, if your work can't stand alone and appeal to any of those people then it's your work, not the forum at fault.

Btw, what is 'your demographic'

Seems like you should stop what you're doing and have a long hard look in the mirror rather than blaming others....

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