I second that. We need to ban Julian from posting here.

Jman13 wrote:
Julian - you need to stop posting - you make me feel like such a hack. Your photos are consistently outstanding.

skamaraju, try with out the 's' in "https":

Thank you very much. Let me see if this works

Yes, it worked. Great shots, btw, especially the first one.

Thank you.
Two more with the theme 'Green'

skamaraju, very nice images, thank you for sharing them with us. I like your framing.

bobbytan wrote:
I second that. We need to ban Julian from posting here.

Jman13 wrote:
Julian - you need to stop posting - you make me feel like such a hack. Your photos are consistently outstanding.

juju1958 wrote:
From this end I do not share the same opinion . I truly do not see what I post as having qualities any greater than other posters. In fact I have been of late struggling with what I have been producing wondering if it has any value at all.


Well, let me tell you...it has value. I find your work exceptional. Really wonderful vision and brilliant execution.

Some from today while raking leaves. Panasonic 35-100/2.8:

juju1958 wrote:

From this end I do not share the same opinion . I truly do not see what I post as having qualities any greater than other posters. In fact I have been of late struggling with what I have been producing wondering if it has any value at all. Maybe it is something we all do from time to time. All I say is it gets me out the house and that at the moment is probably value enough.


Oh, dude... you have no idea. Really. I love your work - I haven't commented much on Flickr lately, but I've seen them. My hubby is in hospital and has been for weeks (nothing too serious thankfully), and seeing something beautiful, your photos, has really helped. You've made my day a lot brighter and me significantly happier. If that's not a reason for you to value your work, I don't know what is. And I'm being perfectly truthful and serious here.

Antje

I am not suggesting that your images are the only outstanding ones on this thread. There are plenty of nice images around, but yours are consistently well composed, artistic, and very clean or technically very good. I have not seen a shot from you that is busy, cluttered, badly composed or boring. Zilch, Nada. You can make a mundane subject look interesting. You have a good eye, that's for sure, and I find your artistic compositions very inspiring.

Having said that, it's good to think that you can do much better and to try to always and set a higher bar for yourself.

juju1958 wrote:
bobbytan wrote:
I second that. We need to ban Julian from posting here.

Jman13 wrote:
Julian - you need to stop posting - you make me feel like such a hack. Your photos are consistently outstanding.



From this end I do not share the same opinion . I truly do not see what I post as having qualities any greater than other posters. In fact I have been of late struggling with what I have been producing wondering if it has any value at all. Maybe it is something we all do from time to time. All I say is it gets me out the house and that at the moment is probably value enough.

juju1958 wrote:
From this end I do not share the same opinion . I truly do not see what I post as having qualities any greater than other posters. In fact I have been of late struggling with what I have been producing wondering if it has any value at all.

I agree with others here: I find your work beautiful and inspirational. The composition and colours of your images are top-notch, and I always look forward to seeing more.

Part two of my answer is that even so, the "value" of your shots should not really be an issue. If it makes you leave your house and do something, and if you enjoy the process, regardless of the results, then that is positive on its own.

At the moment the enjoyment of shooting is the only thing which sometimes gets me out of the house (and work, of course). My "vision" is in the doldrums, and I need to spend some time thinking. I have no qualms about the process though, I love shooting.

+1

owyhee wrote:
skamaraju, very nice images, thank you for sharing them with us. I like your framing.

carstenw wrote:
I agree with others here: I find your work beautiful and inspirational. The composition and colours of your images are top-notch, and I always look forward to seeing more.


+1.

I think all of use here enjoy the process of photography i.e. the tinkering with "nice" gear, the post-processing work, creating the images, finding out what others are doing and then taking or trying to take your own skill set to another level. All of this is a lot of fun. I have just started to compete in local photo competitions and that has opened up a whole new dimension for me. The judging and critiquing sessions are enormously helpful and I have become super-critical of every inch of my photograph - as every inch of the picture needs to add value or contribute to the whole image to have the greatest impact.

carstenw wrote:

At the moment the enjoyment of shooting is the only thing which sometimes gets me out of the house (and work, of course). My "vision" is in the doldrums, and I need to spend some time thinking. I have no qualms about the process though, I love shooting.

I am toying with a few ideas in my mind to get things going again. One is to participate in competitions, as you do. Another is to join an organisation, like the Royal Photographic Society in Britain. A third is to take some courses, for example the online education offered by the OCA in Britain. At the moment I have too little time to commit to these, but in the spring I should have more time again, and will make a choice.

carstenw wrote:
I am toying with a few ideas in my mind to get things going again. One is to participate in competitions, as you do. Another is to join an organisation, like the Royal Photographic Society in Britain. A third is to take some courses, for example the online education offered by the OCA in Britain. At the moment I have too little time to commit to these, but in the spring I should have more time again, and will make a choice.

Try shooting with your smartphone - Instagram-ish. Makes you focus on content and mood, not technical perfection. PP the shots a tiny bit, and voila - nice results. Prints look great also. This has been an eye-opener for me. Content is king.

I do shoot with my iPhone, and allow myself to shoot more randomly, but it is no cure-all. I tend to use either 6x6 or Hipstamatic:

Nice! I think what I'm trying to say is that photos with some "character", and often not tech. perfect shots, have recently given me some inspiration. A while ago I browsed through the Alt Image Thread 3, and there are so many awesome shots there which are not Zeiss like at all. Ulrik's, Andre's etc. Many of those shots are full of character of some kind, and not sterile, tech. perfect at all. You should browse through that thread, for me it was really enjoyable and inspirational. I've also tried to experiment with light, angles, PP etc. - trying to do things differently, being creative in every factor that makes the final photo.

Yes, you are probably right, getting the D800 has maybe made me focus too much on perfection, and I should just let go a bit more. Then again, I strongly prefer project-oriented work, and I am not sure how to combine those two without buying a Diana I guess the trick is to let go and do anything that comes to mind, until something clicks, and then try to home in on that.

In fact, I should probably browse through several of these threads again, it has been a long time since I have looked at some of the older images in there.