photos

How Much Excess is Enough?

How many photos do you have time for? More than just time, how many photos can you enjoy before your eyes glaze over?

This is a serious concern of mine and probably every photographer. We all have our limits. We all have lots of things competing for our attention. I have 38000+ photos in my photo gallery taken over the past 9 years. No one but me has seen all of those (and I’ve seen all many times). Merri has seen most, bless her.

Of my photos, 35000 have no rating. I’ve only been diligent in the past two years with deleting the worst and rating all of the remaining. Of the the 3000 that are rated, 119 have 5 stars, as decided by both Merri and me – let’s call those my best. Another 900 have 4 stars. (Mind you, I fervently hope that of the 35000 without ratings, there are more than a few 4 and 5 stars. And even a 3 star photo has some merit.) But, who *wants* to look at 100 photos, let alone 1000+.

Obviously, I don’t shy from showing my photos. In fact, by my standards, I’ve become rather pushy, dare I say, aggressive. Along with this blog and other websites, I have two digital frames in my house and every computer monitor and TV displays photos. I have photo books, note cards, and business cards. I even have a dozen prints beside the front door so there is no escape without seeing some of my photos. Are you sick of this yet? Perhaps I’m the one who is sick.

I have a hodgepodge of photo locations because no one method satisfies me. Flickr is great for getting exposure to photo enthusiasts, one photo at a time. Picasa on the Web (I don’t use the application) is great for organizing albums, especially because of its options for linking to and embedding albums. Facebook provides a friendly audience, although I don’t really like or trust FB (i.e., FB itself is not my Friend and I Unlike it).

I like the control and customization possible in hosting my own web services, such as this blog. But a blog entry is a message in a bottle – most sink unseen. Glug…

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