Look, listen, read.

I now have a Flickr account. It's very addictive and being a very easily addicted person...

I have met up over there, with Jonny Baker, Dean Ayers, Andrew Dowsett and a few others. In fact there's a whole emerging photo thing going on! Needless to say that most of the photography beats mine, Jonny and Dean have some excellent photos up. I'm just a learner.

It's all very addictive, I am longing for people to look at my photos and comment. It makes me wonder about how much we want to be listened to, read, looked at. Does this make the listener more valuable than the speaker, the reader rarer than the writer? Certainly at Flickr I have decided to work generously commenting on more photos than I put up. I wonder how long I will be able to keep it up?

According to Technorati there are 71 million blogs. I wonder if there are that many readers?

Comments

[carmen]

wow! i love the circle series, and the one looking up into the steel bones of the eiffl tower (sp?) was great! i'd of commented on your photos directly, but i'm not a member -- yet.

dang it. now i'll have to go and start one of those things. like i have time to burn. ack.

[David]

Carmen, thanks for looking - yep eats time I don't have!

[Dean Ayres]

Thanks for the mention, David. I'm a learner, too!

Your Oxalis photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/13543974@N08/1454924140/) is wonderful.

You put your finger on something when you reflect on our need to be listened to, read, looked at. A year or so ago, I guy sent me a message on flickr saying that he had seen my great photos of Croydon, and inviting me to look at his pics of the town. In fact, the only image of Croydon I have is in a panorama of the london skyline. It seems he spammed anyone who had an image tagged 'Croydon'. In contrast, you've got it right; be a reader as well as a publisher. Taking the trouble to read/listen/view/comment is a generous act. Posting a photo or blog article is also generous, provided we don't crave a response too much.

Tell me what you think :)

[David]

Dean thanks for stopping by. I think that often we (I) crave the attention to affirm ourselves, but are less willing to affirm other people. Posting an article or a photo may be generous or it may be attention seeking depending on our attitude. I think so often I am the latter!

All this makes me think about the nature of community - that involves giving and receiving but with the good of the community at heart not our own individual self. The best blogs are those that involve some form of conversation/interaction, no?

This is interesting because as blogs get more popular it becomes impossible to keep up the personal interaction and so people go elsewhere. What to you think?

[Michele]

"It's all very addictive, I am longing for people to look at my photos and comment"

So do I ! It's a little difficult for me to comment (in english ....), but I find your photos "plus que belles" (beautiful and more...)

[David]

Michele

Mon Français est très mauvais, pardon, mais tous les commentaires sont importants. Also, you have beautiful photo's too. I love the set of Honfleur. Thanks for stopping by.