Quantity Vs. Quality

17
Credits: peteparker

I always tried to select my pics to upload in this website, following two basic rules:
1. I have to LOVE what I share
2. I want people LIKE (or maybe just be impressed) what I publish

This brings me to make always a selection of the tons of pics i shoot, in order to publish good quality albums.
I see that many times other users prefer to upload a large quantity of pics, some of them with really bad scans (I do not mean that scans shall be professional, but sometimes they look really terrible!).

Then I see that most of the times the awarded pics are the better quality ones, so what is the meaning of submitting poor quality photos?

Credits: peteparker

I’d love to hear your opinion about this matter. I think a community is really a rich resource to share ideas and thoughts, opinions and way of thinkings.

So, comment freely this post, let me know (if you like) your thoughts about this matter: QUALITY or QUANTITY? What’s the point?

A big hug ….

Franco / Peteparker

written by peteparker on 2011-07-16

17 Comments

  1. eskimofriend
    eskimofriend ·

    I think not everyone here uploads pictures just the impress others or have them like them - I mean your lomohome is your homespace you can upload anything u want and I kinda like the idea to even see my own development and accidents even as well as other people's pictures getting better or in a different direction over time. and also maybe there are photos that you think are terribly shot or scanned but others might find those exact same photos interesting, refreshing, fun, artistic...
    'poor quality' photos still hold a memory and a moment even if just for the person who uploaded them!
    my advise - just use your like button that's what it's for ;)

  2. peteparker
    peteparker ·

    That's what I wanted to hear! A different point of view ! This really helps me and others to enlarge the way we look at this community :-) You are right when you say that sometines a bad scanned pic could be inspiring and interesting for many people...

    Maybe my thoughts are just because i am a Virgo (zodiac) and we are famous to be maybe-too-much-almost-irritating-precise JJJ

  3. kneehigh85
    kneehigh85 ·

    I think on my Facebook I only upload a select few photos because my friends will be using those to remember things we have done together. On here however I upload everything, especially now that I have started to scan myself because it is a time consuming process and it'd be too tragic to leave any out. Some of my scans are rubbish, but I am learning and I like to think that one day when I look back at the not very good scans I am doing at the moment I will be able to track my progress.

  4. lakandula
    lakandula ·

    Here's my contribution to this interesting and healthy discussion...
    When I started my lomohome my tendency was to select what I posted. I chose only what I thought were good shots. Then I noticed sometimes what I thought were so-so in the bunch of my photos got more likes and feedback. Such incidents inspired me to view my lomographs differently. Aside from seeing them with my eyes and aesthetics, I tried to see them through other people's point of view. Thus, my concept of what is artistic, beautiful and meaningful is evolving - thanks to the way other people see my work. So I began to post most if not all of the shots (I just delete the ones overexposed that no image is visible or recognizable and I see no point why they should occupy space in my home; otherwise, they all get uploaded in my lab).
    I look at my albums as my personal visual diary as it documents my growth as a lomographer. For me the process is as important as the output. Seeing my 'better' shots among others in the same album provides me a trigger to remember what I went through before, during and after taking those shots. That's why I'm taking time to tag and describe my photos/albums (I'm half-way through :D). Learning from that experience makes me grow.
    I attended no school of lomography and experience really is my teacher. I noticed not many people give substantial comments which could be vital in developing my craft - although many likes can be overwhelming and flattering. I don't post my shots for people to like (but I'm always thankful to those who like my shots for taking time to view my work and expressing their admiration of my work through the short-cut 'Likes'). Actually, I'm not so much interested in whether people like or don't like my work. I'm more interested in why they would like or don't like it. It's hard to guess the reasons why people like or dislike something. For me, such information could help me evaluate my work. In that absense I resorted to simply reflecting on my good practices and my mistakes as well as looking at volumes of other people's works to get better. Looking through the quantity help me infer on the quality. Some people would say mistakes are beautiful. I believed so before. But now, I believe that some mistakes are beautiful as others are really crappy. And knowing the difference gives me the necessary push to improve my craft. Reading through tipsters, blogs and reviews also provides handy tools .
    Another reason why I don't discriminate in my own postings here is the free storage. Practically, I can access my hi-res photos anywhere I go without having to bring a laptop or an external hard drive. Thanks LSI for this.

  5. falsedigital
    falsedigital ·

    I prefer quality over quantity. I shoot film like crazy but I may only upload 1 to 4 shots from a single roll that I personally find to be the best of the bunch. I love to see what other people are photographing but it's really boring to me to sift through piles of junk photos. That's why I'm very selective about what I "like" on here and who I follow. I wish more people would just post photos they are proud of rather than unloading everything. I find myself looking through flickr more than lomography because people seem to be more selective in what they post. I think you're right though, some people just post a lot so they get more page views. Also I find it annoying that there are contests that reward people for liking as many photos as possible. Thankfully not everyone's lomohome is like that. :]

  6. everynameistaken
    everynameistaken ·

    I only post things here I really want to share (I just made a "home" so I haven't posted much), my deviant art is a little more quantity over quality, but I'm still at least a little selective. I also only put my lomographs I am really proud of in my lomo album... the rest I keep in a photobox with family photos and things no one but me really wants to see. I think what you post can depend on where your posting, your own preferences, and your audience.

  7. goonies
    goonies ·

    Ciao Franco, io sono iscritto a questa community veramente da pochissimo e ho già superato i 1000 upload, quindi sono uno molto produttivo, e non tutte le foto che carico sono di qualità. Ma non carico quantità industriali di foto solo per essere figo o avere maggiore visibilità. Questa community per me è condivisione, una sorta di diario di bordo delle mie giornate, è un modo più comodo per mostrare ad amici le foto delle serate passate insieme a bighellonare. Oppure semplicemente mostrare agli altri della community lomoesperimenti e lomoidee anche se riusciti male.

  8. peteparker
    peteparker ·

    Thanks people for your contributions for this discussion! I really love to read all of your points of view! I understand that what rules is the main concept "the world is different" and the freedom of anyone is maybe the richness of a community.
    @goonies: grazie per il tuo post! ovviamente non volevo discriminare e/o discutere chi posta migliaia di foto :-) mi piaceva aprire la discussione in merito a questo aspetto anche per arricchire me stesso delle esperienze di altri (PS: che bella la tua foto del profilo!)

    I also have tons of shots to scan and clean before posting... Sometimes I'd prefere to massively upload as they are... but then I get a minumum of work of cleaning from dust...

    The fantastic thing is that many people think that my pics are Photoshopped :-) every time I have to tell them that they are original as-shot, no filters od adjustments are made.... but this maybe will be another blog topic :-).

  9. goonies
    goonies ·

    Franco non mi sono per niente sentito discriminato dalla tue parole, ma visto che sono uno che posta tanto ho voluto esprimere il punto di vista di chi preferisce la quantità alla qualità :D p.s. grazie per i complimenti, ma glee mi ha completamente stregato

  10. londongoth
    londongoth ·

    I think it has to do with experience as well. For example when I only discovered lomography I was in love with my every single photo, good or terrible as it was. And surely had a desire to share it with everyone who would look. Now I'm more critical about my works and I don't post (or print) just anything, because a everyone here I guess I have tons and tons of photos both shot and scanned. I try to do lomo-projects where photos are united by some common theme and not to just download them film by film. Takes more time and some thinking but hey, this is what were here for)))

  11. jennson
    jennson ·

    sometimes it also seems to me that people just upload to improve their number of photos! when i started lomographing i also uploaded all my photos, cause somehow i liked them all, but this changed a bit! and like @londongoth wrote, i think that i get more critical with myself from time to time! i don´t like all my shots! could be that someone likes my crapy stuff or thinks it´s interesting, but i only want to share photos that I like, and I don´t mind if sometimes an album has no more than 5 photos! ..so for me it´s ..QUALITY.. :o)

  12. srmarcus
    srmarcus ·

    I vote for QUALITY, but so far, I've been uploading albums that were the whole film. I've been using Lomography as a place where I have all scanned reels, available.
    Things begin to change.

  13. peteparker
    peteparker ·

    wow... thanx to all people who let their comment here... it became a really interesting discussion about QUality vs. Quantity... !!!

  14. lighttomysoul
    lighttomysoul ·

    I've uploaded a few pictures that I originally discarded - but even they have gotten some likes. I'm more for quality though, if a photo of mine is really bad/blurry/over or underexposed or basically just looks like nothing, I won't upload it. I'm not happy with all my shots, but I think that's more of an issue of not choosing the right film for the occasion/having the right settings all the time so they still get uploaded as a reminder of what I've done "wrong" and need to think about.
    I'm really picky with my likes though. And once in a while I'll come across a picture that I can't make sense of - but hey maybe someone else can. It's not for me to judge.
    But yeah I'm slightly more for quality, especially if someone is just uploading every single frame they've shot just to get their numbers up. That doesn't fly with me.

  15. nicolas_noir
    nicolas_noir ·

    I personally go for a bit of both. I see my rolls of film as an album, some bad shots perhaps but hopefully a few good ones too, but together going to make an impression as a whole, whether for better or worse!

    I upload things on here for likes pretty much! The chance for feedback is good too, but I don't want people to have a false impression either. I do self-edit and don't just dump everything on here, either because it's mostly bad or just family messing about stuff. I don't just upload the good stuff because I find it a bit show offy and I don't want to give the impression that I only take good shots! Also, I read something I think on Tokyo Camera Style, about a Japanese photographer who edits his shows/books to include the bad shots so that the audience is lulled into a false sense of expectations, making the good shots have more impact!

  16. cutebun
    cutebun ·

    For me, I upload all photos as a digital backup so even when I lost my films I still have digital backup =)

  17. istionojr
    istionojr ·

    Am I weird to vote quantity following by quality? This is the world of analogue, what the canister printed of '36 exposure' is really mean alot for me. Honesty I am totally agree with @cutebun and @lakandula' last sentence; this what we called "homes" is a really impressive way to backup your photos as (same) hi-resolution as it have. Different matter when we talk about flickr, deviantart, or multiply. And I feel all of lomographers would shot a picture that is really interesting for them. (:

    Umm then when people were throwing their words on my photo, I felt it times more appreciate than like.