This afternoon I received such a nice, thoughtful response from one of the photographers whose work was highlighted in yesterday’s Friday Finds: Macros.
Here’s a closer look at his completely amazing photograph followed by his email (published here with his permission):
I’m fixer11 on flickr, and want to say how much I appreciate the time you put into your group “Friday Finds”. I’m a new member, and was pleasantly surprised to see my “pinky frog” picture in the gallery. I know we all need a bit of kind words, and comments to keep our spirits high, and keep clicking, but I’ve always been hard on myself, so I sometimes need more than the “normal” person. Seeing my little frog next to all those other amazing macros gives me warm fuzzy feelings.Another thing: It’s sometimes impossible to tell how much work went into someone else’s photo. That tiny frog did not want to pose. I got so tired I had to cage the fellow up and try again the next morning. You get the picture. It was a hassle, but totally worth it thanks to individuals like yourself
It is so nice to receive a comment like this! First, it’s wonderful to be able to brighten someone’s day in any way. Second, it’s amazing to receive this kind of feedback and inspire someone!
I wrote a guest post published over on Skinned Knees today about comitting to and getting through Project 365. I think a lot of these points can go for anyone wanting to improve their photography though. One of my suggestions was to interact with other photographers. Comment on their work. Learn from them! It’s really cool and very few photographers don’t appreciate a well-thought out comment.
I started Friday Finds as a way to help myself develop an editorial eye and highlight others’ photographs. I’m so glad I decided to create a Flickr group for it a couple of weeks ago, because the process has blown me away! I still go through and search for Creative Commons photos highlight, but I then invite them to my group instead of just putting the best in my gallery. I find people appreciate the hand-picked quality of the photos and photographers are making connections with one another through the group. At the end of the week, my job of creating an 18 photo gallery is made much easier due to all the astounding pieces to choose from!
Please let this inspire you to not just sit back and expect the world to come to you. Go out there and spread kindness and inspiration and it will be returned to you tenfold!
After reading this, I realized my photography journey began with a selfless generous gift from someone I despised the first 13 years of my life. The feeling was mutual. But, after my brother, and elder of 8 years, moved away from home, I realized I loved him more than words. He’s a wonderful human, and gave me my first computer and digital camera. It was a Nikon Coolpix 100. No memory card needed. The camera just popped apart and I inserted half of it into my laptop, zapped the pictures on to my computer, and then took ~4-8 shots before having to repeat the process. My guess is an act of kindness was bestowed upon my brother enabling him to be able to get me that first camera. Small favors are merely small for a short time. They can, and have been, life altering. Thanks bro, I love ya, man.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Wow, Frank. every person has such an interesting story to tell. i’m sorry your early life was less than ideal, but very glad you were given a wonderful gift and inspiration from your brother.
Thank you for sharing your story and photography.
Twitter: @BetterYourBlog
Hi there!
That *is* a great pic and what a nice response from Frank, as well! That must have totally made your day!!!
Saw your guest post on Skinned Knees so thought I would skedaddle over here since I wasn’t sure if you were responding to comments over there (which may help you reach your goal of 1000 subscribers!).
Friday Finds is a great meme!
I wish you much success, Lynda!!! And a wonderful Sunday too!
~ Alyna
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thank you so much Alyna! You bet your butt I’m responding to comments over there too!
I really appreciate you taking time to come over here and check me out and comment! thanks!
Wow! How inspiring! Great post, great comments, this is what blogging is all about.
Someday I’ll have a *real* camera and feel like a *real* photographer, but in the meantime I’ll go zap at everything with my Lumix’s 10x zoom!
Oh, and i’ll also remind my (younger) sister to tell me she loves me.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thank you – I’ve been getting a lot of amazing feedback lately and 31DBBB is definitely pushing my success. I’m so glad you’re having a great time with it too!
In my guest post published today at a fellow 31DBBB participant’s site, one of the points I brought up was that the camera is not what makes a photographer, not in the least!
You nailed it when you said the camera doesn’t make the photographer. Hand Phil Mickleson a set of old wooden headed golf clubs, or Roger Federer an old wooden racket with loose strings, and they are both going to whoop ya, know matter how much you spent on your equiptment. Many of my personal favorite photos were taken long before I had a DSLR camera, or even realized I could by a camera and actually change the lense that goes on it. Like you said.. keep clicking. I like your attitude. You sound like someone fairly content with what you have, and will be very appreciative when you are able to get upgrade. Frank
I need to know: how did you get it to email this to me???? I need that plugin STAT!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
I love it! It’s called Comment Reply Notification.
by the way, you can find all my active plugins here:
http://www.digitalwoe.com/about/plugins/
Twitter: @VsAfterbedtime
I’ve got to ask . . . Where do you find the time?
And I agree, the camera is not what makes the photographer. I’ve worked with photographers over 10 years now and I can tell you, the high end camera with the $20k digital back does not make the photographer.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
People have been asking me that a lot. Partly, I ignore my family (only partly) but mostly I’m very efficient. My poor laptop can’t take all the abuse I’m giving it. I usually have Photoshop up and Firefox open with 15-20 tabs up at a time.
Twitter: @bubbleboophoto
It really is a stunning picture, and the e-mail is lovely, too.
I wanted to stop by and tell you I linked to you in my ‘Linky Love’ post today
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thank you so incredibly much for your kind words! It’s a pleasure meeting you through this challenge!
Twitter: @BLOGitse
That frog is cute and quality of the pic is great!!!
I really like this idea of yours.
Just visited your flickr group but I run out of time – it’s dinner time!
One question: can the pics be watermarked?
My picture was misused by an online news company and after that I watermark all my pics.
I’ll be back tomorrow, gotta run!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Oh yes, the pics can be watermarked. I totally get why you’d want to do that! For the series, I only highlight photographs with an attribution creative commons license, which means I can use their image on my site if I credit them, unless they’ve set up additional limitations.
That being said, to be completely honest, watermark detracts from the image to me. I’m not highlighting the photos with any authority, it’s just what looks good to my eye. I will not automatically disqualify any watermarked photo though and of course they are always welcome to be posted in the group!
Lovin’ that you’re playing around with your design. I’d common on a more appropriate post but i couldn’t figure out what pos that would be! I love the new design yet i am also confused…. :$ if this comment doesn’t make sense let me know and i’ll explain. Basically, when i open your site now i have to click on a post to be able to write or read anything. my brain-dead brain can’t handle it right now…does that make sense?
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thanks for alerting me to weirdness on my site – I love it when people do that. It was acting wonky last night due to some plugins I was installing, but it all looks fine to me now – I didn’t change anything with the design.
Are you talking about the front page? Maybe it didn’t fully load?
“Go out there and spread kindness and inspiration and it will be returned to you tenfold!” I sure like to think so.
What a great photo! Cute little teeny frog.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
It’s an adorable frog. I’d be afraid to squish it!
Thanks for dropping by and commenting!
Holy cow that is an amazing shot.
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Isn’t it?