With hindsight I probably don’t use the Forum as much as I should to explain management decisions to members. The main reason for this is that I have so many tasks to perform as President that I am always busy, responding to emails, moderating writing new member critiques (although not in recent months due to my workload), addressing issues and all the other tasks that are too long to mention (including acting as Treasurer at present ). To be honest I don’t always have the inclination or time at the end of each day. However, I’m responding to this topic as it is important that our members understand the depth of discussions undertaken by the committee on subjects such as this one and that they feel their feedback is valued.
In an ideal World it would be rewarding if members could receive feedback on every photo submitted for moderation. This is not possible given the time it takes to moderate each image and quite often moderators have to email the photographer for more information or clarification on some aspect of their image. Images with ‘issues’ do not sneak through the process – they are either rejected with an explanation, which takes time, or the photographer is contacted to suggest how their photo can be better post-processed. I don’t contribute to the Critique Gallery and that is until recently I was writing many critiques for new member submissions, which are not seen by the general membership. Simon Pelling is carrying this load at present and I thank him sincerely. When I am moderating, I will often contact the photographer and ask if they would like feedback on a particular issue. If they say ‘YES” I generally arrange a zoom call and take them through key edits in real time – this is also time consuming. Sometimes the process can be resolved by email but not always. The membership will not be aware of the mentoring delivered by various means by our moderators.
Ian Wilson indicated one incident that occurred when he was trying to assist a new member. Ian’s extensive expertise and passion for good photography should be received with open arms by new members – this is not always the case. This hasn’t happened to me and that might be that if the photographer does not reply tomy offer of sssitance assistance I do not follow-up. Connecting with members can be a frustrating call or email and I understand how Ian feels. When members tell you that they don’t want to spend money on post-processing software nor colour calibration tools and they are too busy to spend time reading and learning about their camera or PP software, they have never accessed our website resources, I wonder why they joined BLP. BLP doesn’t just accumulate quality images of Australian birds, it also teaches photography and we have quite a depth of expertise that is FREELY available. One response I often hear from new members is that they joined BLP because their friends told them that their facebook or Flickr images are fantastic and the new member is puzzled why our moderators would have any negative comments on the photos they submit – surely we accept any bird image that is submitted!
At the April committee meeting we will again address the issue of comments for all galleries. Will I support comments on images other than in the Critique Gallery. Definitely not and for the reasons discussed in the previous posts. Such posts can generate more harm than good and as suggested by others, you can bet the majority of comments will be low-value ‘Wow’, ‘Great photo’, ‘Wonderful image’ or an emoji. On the flip side there can be quite divisive comments, sometimes deliberate, sometimes solely a function of how individuals interpret the written word. I’ve witnessed an award winning photographer on Feathers & Photos chastise a new member to that Forum for criticising his photo and essentially threatening him never to do so again. In recent years I have often acted as a judge at my local camera clubs and I have noticed that providing critiques at a meeting where the photographer can speak to you at the end of the night is always well received. I think this reflects the personalised face-to-face interactions. For BLP, just the additional time to moderate these additional comments for our all galleries, or even just New Images would be a nightmare. My input will only count as ‘one vote’ – lets see what the rest of the committee think.