Thread: Starting Over

BillN, Thanks for reminding me of just how special John Lennon was, and what a tragic day that was.Cut down in the renaissance of his life, he had so much more to give to the world.
olli, Looking forward to seeing your site when I have some time.Self editing may be the hardest thing for any photographer to do.Every time I go through my photos, I delet a bunch.Even on Flicker, I drop old ones often.The mind can only process so much at a time.

Originally Posted by stanleyk

"Out of a year and a half of work, Frank chose just 83 images."

I think if I got 83 photos worth showing in 18 months I would be happy.

My family and friends audience seem to like my photos more than me, but maybe they're just being kind. Or condescending :-)

I start over and reprocess images fairly frequently, (advantage of shooting raw) sometimes because my feeling about the image changes over time and technology is always being upgraded. For years I did all post processing on Linux with "The Gimp", before that it was Windows and Adobe, now I have a Mac Book Pro with Retina and use Aperture with all the cool Nik filters, (usually over-cooked).

I had to recently make a choice as well, Flickr displays only the most recent 200 images or pony up for a Pro account. Once I made the decision to pay for online storage, I looked around at most of the offerings and decided like you, that SmugMug offered the best experience for the money.

Thanks for your thoughts all. Thanks for your kind words Stephen. I understand your preference for prints. They are unbeatable when you get them I still like to have images available to view online.

Luke, visually the site hasn't changed much. I've switched from a white background to a very light grey background but that's about all. I do like a spare, minimalist look. I take a similar approach - flickr is where everything gets posted (eventually), my blog gets more recent shots (though not exclusively) and over time some of these may get 'promoted' while others will eventually get deleted. I've also be posting selected images to 500px which I had dropped off but have now started up again. Personally I would encourage you to take the plunge with a site sooner rather than later if that's what you intend to do, otherwise you might keep waiting never get round to it.

David, I entirely agree about the need to delete. I live in dread of amassing a hard drive full of thousands or tens of thousands of images. I already have a sense of it being out of control with the 2-3 thousand I currently have.

Michael, congrats on the new site. I've generally been happy with SmugMug though there have been a couple of issues recently with the non arrival of a long promised make over and a rather dramatic price increase at the pro level. I did reconsider my options when I decided to go for the relaunch but none of the competing products were decisively better, so I choose to stick with SmugMug.

I spent some time perusing your site, Olli, and goodness is your photography wonderful!

Your very kind Chris, but do bear in mind so far I've posted about a dozen out of a couple of thousand images. Its all downhill from here

Misplaced modesty Olli. You have a wonderful eye .
As to the original question ... I often think my Flickr 'stream could do with winnowing but the effort seems too huge, plus it's more like a visual diary than a portfolio.
The downside is I have artist friends who like my photos but can't face the sheer volume ... They won't be the only ones

I enjoy your blog a lot and didn't follow it since my last visit, just figured I could add the RSS! Congratulations :)