Apologies if been asked before, but does PAD work for you?

[pheebs67]

I've just read a comment on someone's PAD shot about someone deciding whether to stop PAD'ing (having done 4 years already) which kinda annoyed me .. but almost made sense ...

person X (I shal not mention names) encouraged the PAD'er to stop their daily work, saying that PAD galleries had a lot of "CRAP" being commented on by other people posting similar ...

... initially I was quite defensive of this comment ... My personal reason for PAD'ing is becuase I want people to critique my work as a learning photographer in order to help me get better and par for the course will be some less than ideal shots posted ... and maybe, if some of my work is good, it may inspire others ...

... on the other hand, my work seems to receive alot of "Ooohh that's good" comments, with only the occasional "Good shot but If you'd have done X it might turn out better .. " which I can actually then learn from ..

What do you want to get out of PAD'ing and do you feel you get it?

Cliff

[jeannius]

Hi I'm "x"

And it's true what I said

The PAD meta gallery is chock full of crap.

YES, there is an ocasional gem in there, and I'll be the first to admit that.

BUT, when forced to take a daily picture EVERY day, there are days when you shoot CRAP JUST for the sake of having a photo..... DM himself ADMITS that, as does his partner LA, the two of them being the longest surviving PAD people.

Another friend of mine who did PAD for over a year often expressed HIS frustration at having LOTS of GREAT shots on ONE day and then CRAP on another but not wanting to "cheat" he would not post teh extra good shots cause they were not taken on the next day....

Going thru my archives after I stopped photo a day, I found TONS of excellent shots that I ignored, because I had already moved on the the next day's photo.

Whatever this will probably turn into a huge argument, and I don't really care, I DID learn alot from doing PAD BUT I also think there is a time to move on.

Let me get my cross now, so you can all nail me to it....



EDIT....I didn't encourage ALL PAD'ers to stop their work, just told DM that since he's been wavering on it, that he should! I learned alot from doing it, and if you LIKE it keep it up...But there is a time when you realise you are through and it's OK to move on!

[gpaai]

I hate change...

I understand what Jeanne is saying though. Since starting back up on 01-01-06, I don't feel I've been producing what I am capable of producing, merely because there are some days I am just too busy and don't have the time.

As a result, I'll click the camera a couple of times and post whatever comes up.

I have been wondering if I should clean all the "crap" from my galleries since I now have interested parties looking at my work?

Besides, it seems that anymore there are so many PADders that the average image is burried within an hour.

Gary

[latinbob]

I think I have to agree too. I was posting crap just to have something for that day. I decided yesterday that I would post something to my PAD gallery if it was noteworthy, but otherwise I don't want to add any more junk to the PAD meta gallery either. I finished my PAD last year, so I don't feel the need to keep it up just to do it.

[vid64]

To answer the original question, yes PaD has worked for me. It's been great. Really. I woundn't have done it for so long if it hadn't.

As for the crap, yep, it appears in my galleries on a bad day! I post it as a reminder to do better. To stand up and show the world a failure can only make you more determined to do good work. You think when Beckham puts a penalty over the bar he can strike it from the record books? Never happened, wasn't playing that day. No, he just has to make sure the next one goes in the net. So it is with my gallery. Greatest hits or the full back catalogue?

But, I am quitting PaD on the 23rd of March. I didn't want to just not do it one day and that'd be the end... So the roll of the dice decided the date. That doesn't mean I'm giving up photography. Far from it. I have a couple of projects that I'm planning, some ideas in my head, and quitting PaD will allow me to put more time and energy into those. Roll on the 24th!!

[boegheim]

What brings PAD to me..... A moment at the day for me (and me alone)

It remindes me to take time for myself during the normal (busy) days.
makes me look at things differently en enjoy small things I see.

I've started in may 2004 and did one year....
stopped, but missed the 'edge' of PAD and started again in september 2005.

I love taking photo's hunting for something I like...
I know some days I create crap, but on other days it's ok... and sometimes really cool.

About Pbase.... I enjoy looking (and commenting) on other photo's... love creative ideas or different angles... Sometimes you see the other grow or develop a style..... very cool to witness that.
I find it encouraging that others take some time to express their idea about my photo.

But in the end I do it for myself..... to push myself to keep on doing what I like to do... and in the end.....I'm proud of the results.....

greetings,
Boegheim

[viljamix]

I totally agree with vid64. Almost one year of PaDding behind and I'm gonna quit doing it. The 2nd of April will be the day. It has done its purpose for me. Time to concentrate on something else. I'm not giving up photography either, only PaDding.

[gpaai]

These posts bring a question to mind. One the subject of other projects, just how do they (galleries) get noticed? If not for drawing attention to myself by way of the PAD Gallery, I wonder if anyone would even know my galleries existed?

The exact words of an individual that offered me a job locally were, "I saw your picture on the Photo a Day gallery and was wondering..."

Hmmm?

Gary

[joanteno]

For me, I did a PaD as personal challenge to myself to see if I could try to be creatve every day - no matter how hectic that day was. It is an invaulable experience. It has been gift - I slowed down - became more attentive to my world. I have grown in my ability to see.

Some days I struggle.. Some days are better.. Isn't that the ebb and flow of being creative?

So when will I stop -- it depends on the journey..

Joan

[leggings]

I agree with X.

I don’t generally have the time to shoot daily and I don’t like to force myself to shoot daily. Also I prefer film and will not rush to process the film and rush something just to post in PAD. So, I am not a traditional PAD shooter and can’t be. I am thinking of stopping anyway so I can focus, pardon the pun, more on film work.

Duncan

[pathfindar]

I agree on both points- there can be a lot of crap out there at times- inclluding from myself on some days. I try to avoid just shooting to be shooting, but will sometimes shoot things I would never normally publish because I am experimenting on lines, colors, or composition.

I sometimes have some boring work- like today a more tourist type shot of the Indianapolis 500 Mile racetrack- but it will be a part of a project I am working on of sites around Indianapolis- since we do have people from all over the world- I thorught I would put some photos up eventually about the city.

I do refuse to just take a picture of my shoe or something that isn't really photographic to say I took a picture. I would rather, and have, skipped days or went to the archives and get something that hasn't been published yet. Although the PAd is supposed to be a learning event, so I don't think it bad if someone does.

I do find it tends to make me a little more aware of looking for pictures as I am out and about during the day- something I hadn't done for some time. I am just not going to stress and worry about posting something if I can't find anything.

I just think PAD should be an enjoyable project.

[floradoragirl]

Yes, there's crap in the PaD metadata gallery. There's crap in the recently uploaded galleries too. Should we tell them to stop taking pictures too?

We all get different things from PaD and when we stop getting what we want then it's time to stop doing PaD. But that's not necessarily when someone tells you that you're posting crap. Because, you know, maybe it's crap to them, but it's not crap to you. I don't think I need to justify what I post and why I post it. I have had many of the same thoughts about my work that Jeanne's expressed in her post further up this thread, but for the time being, I'm going to keep padding because I want to. And that's really all there is to it for me.

[vid64]

A subject is what you make of it. Shoes? Why not?


May 17th - May 21st 2005

Surely the point of all this is to challenge yourself creatively every day. If you accept that you only post on the good days, where's the challenge? When do you make the decision. When you wake up in the morning? Lunchtime? After spending an hour trying (and failing) to get a half decent picture of your cat? Midnight? The day before? Que 'person Y' ranting about 'this not being a country club'... Clearly every person envolved in a PaD project has their own goals and motivations, so I guess you can only judge someones PaD on what they set out to achieve. So on bad days, sorry guys, I post crap.

Yes, the PaD thing has been great, but I feel I've got as much out of it as I can and it's time to move on. One of the reasons I'm stopping (after 1178 days) is that I want to slow down, take more time, and yes, shoot more film. I enjoy the process, and not having the instant feedback of digital. Sorry Cliff!

[jeannius]

I never suggested to anyone that they stop posting PAD. When I started, and I look thru my old ones NOW, I think "OMG!! What CRAP!" BUT....those shots and the discipline of daily shooting are what I think have helped me to improve over time.

My point is that there comes a time when it doesn't help I think (Ok at least for me, but clearly for a few others as well)

Comes a time when you just shoot anything. And that is when it may be time to step back and say, "Am I learning anything here? Is this HELPING me?" And when I realised it WASN'T, that is when I stopped.

David stated several times that he wanted to stop...I, being someone who did this for over 2 years, and had a slightly obsessive compulsive disorder while doing so, FINALLY realised by stopping that it is OK! Life goes on, you DON'T stop loving photograhpy, you simply change direction.

I apologise that my comment of the word "crap" is harsh....I tend to just shoot things out of my mouth, but I DO think that some people may know what I mean. I also think that DM RARELY posted a crap shot...there was always at least an inate cleverness to it....and his self-imposed themes were amazing to follow.

But now that I've stopped shooting a PAD I've done things like...MAKE PRINTS of my work! Something I NEVER did while doing PAD cause I was always so budy chasing that next shot. I've also gone out and solicited work, gone to plays, cafes that have live music, passed out business cards, and gotten lots of portrait work and actually gotten PAID MONEY.

I have a show in April in San Francisco I have to prepare for, 9 prints to make BIG, I am buying a matte cutter and have alot to learn about that.

Like DM, I also started shooting film, (not processing it, but I ran some slide film thru an old film camera and it was FUN)

So I think, that the PAD thing, after a while simply LIMITED me, cause I was too caught up in the daily photo, AND the commenting to focus on furthering my photography.

Hope that clears up my previous post.

But, I agree with Rosie too...only YOU will know when it's time to move on.

[camera0bug]

Of course 90% of the postings on the PAD galleries are crap. These are untrained eyes mostly, without any idea of composition, artistic style or juxtaposition.
This is merely another photographic outlet to take advantage of and hopefully be seen through. It's a virtual crapshoot.

Of course if you weed through all that muck and mire, an occasional gem can be found among the weeds that makes it all worthwhile.
Gosh! I've even made a few friends here (how bizarre is that!)

I don't use it religiously on a daily basis (no wrongs, no rights) but try to cajole and provoke the viewers with recent images that haven't seen the light of day (yet). Perhaps it's sort of a 'best of' for me in that I try to place a quality image there instead of a castoff shot that would have been better off erased after the time of exposure.

I find my compositional eye improving all the time (been at this a long time and it doesn't happen overnight, especially on a consistant basis).
I started with cameras a long time ago and the digital access just broadened my horizons and that of every other Pbaser that could afford a camera and finds time to mess with it.

Take a break when you need it, have a cool drink over ice and come back fresh when the urge strikes you. (As it will when all those fingernails are chewed off)
;^))

Even Dwarves Started Small.
(a good Werner Herzog movie you should see Jeanne!)

PS: Come on down to San Diego and I'll take you to some cool places!
Might even buy you lunch.
WooHoo!