» Top 5 current Flickr inspirations (and a bit of Flickr criticism)
Above: l-r, 5-1!
Ok, here’s my current ‘Top 5 flickr inspirations’. It comes as an odd time to write this, because at the moment I’m kind of pissed off with the Flickr community.
I fully appreciate my Flickr viewership, exemplified by the 170+ comments on my latest pic, ‘Their evening banter’. I consider this one of my best works and so to have so much feedback at least shows some promise that Flickr viewership can be trusted ;)) Most of those comments are meaningful and substantial, but the one that means the most to me by far is the one I received from the manager who let me use that hotel room. Therefore the comments mean more on a quality over quantity basis. I think Federico Erra came along and faved it. That means more than ten comments like “so beautiful !” that actually make me feel a little ill. What do they mean? I see that comment written on crappy pics all over Flickr, should I be flattered to receive it myself? Have you actually looked at the pic? Or do you just see a naked/’pretty’ woman and decide blindly that the highest superlative is needed?
Someone recently said that there’s none of that ’so beautiful’ nonsense on my blog. So this is the best place to write my critique.
I want to withdraw myself from Flickr a little bit because I’m bored of the childish behaviour coming from those who feel is necessary to sit down like a saddo and judge everyone, unfairly stereotyping and incriminating users for being snobby or untalented or any other derogatory term these bored-minded people can come up with.
However, I also want to withdraw myself from Flickr a bit precisely because there is some truth in what these people say. I just wish their vitriol was better aimed, or at least not so sweeping. Not everyone is an attention-seeking talentless poo round which sycophantic flies gather. However, I feel as if I am at the end of my tether with people on Flickr blatantly ripping me off, who don’t even realise it. They and their sycophants make me feel like the word ‘artist’ is being thrown around far too much in this, yes democratic, but ever so naive, cyberspace community where anyone can ‘make it’.
As I said in my first Inspirations post, I count a real artist as one who is honest about his or her inspirations, who makes no effort to hide them, in fact, who makes a special effort every now and then to highlight them, to name them and link to them so that viewers can put their work, and thus their originality, into context.
There are so-called ‘artists’ on Flickr who simplistically recycle the images they have previously seen and admired, taking praise for having created a great piece of ‘art’. It bothers me twice as much because I feel I am the only one who can recognise that I am amongst those being plagiarised.
Obviously all photographers/artists will have to put up with copycats for some time, or even all of the time. But this is why I have a problem with Flickr, because so many viewers and users, blind to where plagiarism has occurred, are eager to plant virtual kisses all over the arses of the amateurs spawned by the internet phenomenon. It seems to make it easier for them to make a unoriginal image and get away with it, to even get praised for it.
Here are the current inspirations.
5. Ilina S
NY-based Ilina has a great popping processed style that is right up my street. I think her most recent work is the mst impressive - I was bewitched by her Valentine’s post. Her face, skin and eyes come out wonderfully in her work, as in this pic. Her Flickr portfolio is quite small so I’d love to see more from her. I haven’t yet been directly inspired by one of her pieces, but her and Vaneska Thomz (further below) generally maintain my confidence to be brave and bold with post-processing.
4. Lara Swift
She’s in my first list too. Had to add her into both lists because she’s produced some corkers recently - like this one and this mermaid one. Her work is quite deathly and gothic even, but that doesn’t put me off because she seems more nonchalantly original than alot of similarly death-loving artists. I have also heard her mention she has depression, which makes her artistic intentions a little more meaningful.
3. Vaneska Thomz
Vanessa, like Ilina above, has a stream full of square-cropped boldly colour-paletted images that offer me courage as a digital photographer. ‘Air’ is amazing and I was directly inspired by this one of hers but never quite produced anything close to it. Her work uses alot of textures and can get quite surreal. I do prefer the simpler ones which I find more effective (same goes for my No. 1 below). Pictures with floaty garments like this one was part of my inspiration to do more with interesting clothing. I also love the soft processing, hair, setup and composition of her pic ‘elegantly wasted’.
A pic I did recently, ‘Party piece(s)’ was made with Vanessa in mind (I was flattered when she faved it) but I did not mention her because it was not directly inspired by any particular pic of hers.
2. Oladios
I’ll write her what I wrote in my testimonial for Oladios.
“I came across Ola’s weird and wonderful work one day through the Female Self Portrait Artists’ group and was immediately struck by how well she photographs her cats. What’s more, she captures them perfectly within the difficult feat of self portraiture! She becomes her own character within the quaint comic strip world of her images; a mysterious girl interacting with the animals who are placed as if by a paintbrush. This play between human and cat Oladios tells us is very much in the style of Balthus’ paintings, but Ola takes his nubile nude and replaces it with her clothed - and masked - self.
“Ola is one of the very few people on Flickr for whom I feel art is a special vocation, almost a divine power that comes from above, rather than from the influence of her peers such as on Flickr. Artists like Ola don’t worry about fitting in, they don’t try to master a certain level of photography in order to be accepted. They just get on with creating magic through what they are naturally good at - employing their superior sense of the visual.
“Whilst she may take inspiration from other artists, artists like Ola never seem to be copying an image or rendering photographic cliches as if there were a limited supply of ideas in self-portraiture. Instead, they take inspiration from selected diverse and obscure sources, in Ola’s case, those inspirations go from Balthus’ paintings to Nirvana lyrics.”
I haven’t been directly inspired by any of her pics as yet, but her work just generally fills me with a good feeling about photography. It’s weird when you realise that most of her pics on Flickr are taken in the same room, from the same angle, with the same subjects, and yet she can create a different surreal narrative every time, using some props and a crazy imagination!
My faves of her work are Jozin z basin and this one.
When I did my pic ‘Self portrait with Sally’ I mentioned the work of Ola with regards to keeping animals still and obedient during photoshoots. She not only seems to have control over them, but seems to have the power of a circus ringleader to even get them to do roll over and jump up!
1. Quizz
Bogna’s work impresses and excites me more than anything I’ve seen inside or even outside of Flickr.
Her work is like a modern-day classic art museum, a girl who uses her digital camera and Photoshop to create painting-like masterpieces that look more like photorealistic paintings.
My favourites of her work are most usually the ones with least use of ‘texture’ - that is, the ones that allude to paintings, with the subject unobscured by the addition of textured layers. My favourites include ‘Pillow book’, ‘Publications feel good’, ‘Read my lips’, and ‘Balancing on the edge of light’. I was lucky to do a collaboration with her - see her image here, mine here, though I’ve never met her (the collaboration was done digitally).
Quizz always inspires me but usually, when inspired, I end up creating something completely different, which is a good thing!
You can see the influence of Quizz in images of mine such as An impromptu performance and Bless this mess. She’s inspired me to try harder with motion and expression - a poetry of the body. As a result, I often look theatrical, as noticeable in They found themselves on stage.
Out of her recent work in my opinion the astounding image water, exceeds the level of most of the other more ‘popular’ images.
And that’s my 5.
Some more ones to watch:
Brady
What Milk
Sophie Charlotte (only young! some fantastic inspirational spritely work that inspired me recently)
This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am and is filed under Essays, Inspirations - References to other artists, Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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April 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Thank you for the mention
Great list. All of those girls (and you) make me keep wanting to pick up my camera. I have found some great artists through the essays on your blog, so thanks doubly ! X
April 7th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I’m just going to comment on the first few paragraphs now and read the praise for other artists (and follow the links) when I’ve settled in for the night (I’m on my last fag, so I have to pop out in a minute).
I think a large amount of people who post on flickr (or any sort of public blog) go through phases of being annoyed with the system and how it is used and abused. Democracy doesn’t please all the people all the time, after all. Sometimes, there is just too much shit to deal with. Many a time, I’ve quit a website, only to come back later because I missed the “good” bits.
It’s pretty pointless me advising you to “ignore the crap” because it’s only human to want to know what other people think about you and your work. However, I would argue that an artist has to accept (if not agree with) her critics, no matter how shallow or ignorant their opinions may be. To a greater or lesser extent we all, as consumers, try to enforce our own prejudices upon everything and everyone we see. It is only human to try and categorize and praise or dismiss what we see.
I shudder when I see a comment on your stream inviting you to submit an artistic nude photo to one of those “Girls with their kit off” pools, but the people who leave such comments aren’t part of your target market. Don’t get angry or upset about being misunderstood; just completely ignore the comment, or delete it so that the group doesn’t get the publicity it seeks.
There’s not a lot you can do about people ripping off your ideas. I know one should be flattered, but it’s certainly annoying when others get praised for work they claim is wholly original but amounts to the theft of an idea. Provided you still get credit from your own followers, does it really matter if other people are copying you? They won’t go very far without some originality of their own.
I hope you don’t scale down your flickr activities too much. That would make you appear to be a victim (of your own success). Your art and the debates you inspire act as a kind of nourishment for many people like me.
Sometimes a picture (or the model in it) is just “beautiful”. No deconstruction of such a comment is needed. You should only spend as long thinking about such a comment as the time it took to type it. Where people have left paragraphs containing criticism of your work or the artist herself, the response is entirely up to you. You normally acquit yourself well in such responses (and indeed, you appear to give them more thought than anyone else I know on flickr) but maybe this defensiveness is something you could try to limit.
Finally, for now, I would add that the Internet makes it extremely hard to tell how serious someone’s words are, even with the use of smileys. It’s as easy to misjudge the intentions of a writer as it is the artist. In such cases where a conflict develops, I think it’s best to simply say “I’m not exactly sure of the point of your message, but thanks anyway”. It’s evident that some of the written insults are refracted through the prism of cyberspace and don’t accurately represent how people talk in real life. This is why you (and I, too) shouldn’t take such criticism so seriously. Make art for yourself and the people who share your beliefs will love you for it.
I hope you come out of this phase with recharged batteries and continue to wow your audience with thought-provoking and passionate images.
Best, Arty.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I’ve actually always wondered what your perception is on the majority of your photograph comments. You do obviously receive some meaningful comments and criticisms, however, as a whole, the comments are mostly fawning praise. This is a big reasony why I have pretty much refrained from making Flickr comments and is one of my biggest concerns (as an audience) about Flickr. I really see Flickr only as a means for everybody from weekend snap-shooters to aspiring artists to expose whatever it is they wish (from their talent to their drunken soirées). As a web-site designer I am constantly struck how slowly Flickr artist move beyond its poor system when there are so many (from simple to complex) options available.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Nice critique and introduction, for me, on some very talented artists / photographers.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Thank you for including me as one of your inspirations, Natalie. I am glad and very flattered, esp since i count you as a major inspiration to me and i am sure many others.
I’m sorry about your frustrations regarding flickr and i do also feel strongly against people who make spiteful, bitter comments with intentions only to hurt rather than being constructive, and how the slightest reply to them often have the photog labeled as “unable to take criticism”. Anyway, I admire how you’ve handled these issues so far and hope you don’t stay away for too long
I want to say something about your mentioning you prefer my simpler and non-textured pictures. I am glad you say that. Truth is i have been getting kind of sick of doing texture for a while now, and i came to a realization that I often feel compelled to throw in a texture ‘cos i do not have enough confidence that my pictures can stand alone by themselves without further embellishment. That is something i have to figure out for myself, i guess. Anyway thanks for mentioning this, ‘cos now i feel more motivated to not “hide behind textures”.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hi dear Aniela!
I just got this link from a flickr user and I was so surprised and honoured to be in your list. Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.
I also understand your critic on flickr. I also think so.
Two years ago I was very flattered to hear “so beautiful”. Now I am a little bit indifferent to it because I see the same comments everywhere. I think you are right, that it is more worth to hear such things from people you like (or get favs by them). I also write stuff like “beautiful” but because I truly love it - and I rarely comment on pictures, so I really mean it, when I write something!.
Concerning you, I like you because of your special beauty but first of all because you are very creative and kind, and I think that’s the most important.
Love,
Lara
April 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
thanks all!
Brady, Vanessa, and Lara, thanks for your comments, pleasure to have you all part of my inspirations. Thanks to Arty for checking out these people’s work and even leaving the Seen In link, that’s much appreciated.
@ Arty, yes, as much as I feel tempted to back out of the Flickr scene a bit, i still want to be part of the community on there that I most admire, and will not change my activity in that way. I believe strongly in what you said - making ‘art for yourself’. I have always followed this, but perhaps I think too much of Flickr when I make my work (as I mentioned to you Brady) and it would be better to think of it first and foremost as independently existent of Flickr, not packaged as Flickr uploads straight from my camera/Photoshop.
@ jestem - thanks. Yes I agree.
cheers @ Bob.
@ Vanessa - my pleasure, thanks for commenting. Though it was just a matter of my personal taste when I said that I like your least-textured pics the most, I am certainly very happy to have encouraged you to feel confident with fewer textures as you said you wanted to be. I personally have a funny relationship with textures - I used them for the first time a couple of weeks ago and uncannily, the first attempt looked ok, people liked it. But somehow textures don’t look good on most of my other pics! Because I am so used to not working with them, i find that i am accustomed to filling up my picture in other ways, colour, content, etc.
I’ll look forward to seeing both what you do with and without textures…cheers again!
@ Lara -
Yes me too, I was at one point flattered by comments such as these, now, like you say, I am indifferent. And blase really, knowing that most of those comments are vacuously given anyway.
Thanks for your kind words and for your visit!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Quizz also thanked me for letting her know about this blog, but she’s probably too busy having an argument somewhere to let you know.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Damian Hurst does not even make his work - every true artist is a thief.
I assume that ‘blatantly ripping me off’, is a stylistic reference. The crime here is a naive reading of your work. The assertion however [re]in-forces it, privileging style over concept.
I did wonder how you operated in such a loaded context. You must be conscious of how sexuality is an attraction for your audience, (whether they are blatant about it, inviting you to seedy groups or coy, using ‘beautiful’ in code), it is imperially visible in your most favorited photos. So within such a contrived context it is hard to know if your photographs are an assertion or submission.
I have yet to read a serious critique on flickr and it is almost expecting too much to go looking for it there.
Good luck.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
not sure how you linked the topic of inspiration/ripoffs to sexuality in my pics, so can’t fully respond.
regarding rip-offs, i won’t name anyone, but really you’d have to see the images in question to fully know what i mean.
as for assertion or submission, i could on about female self-depiction empowerment malarkey till the cows come home, but that’s ultimately for the viewers to decide for her/himself.
and this is only a critique of aspects of flickr (current in my head right now.) a critique on flickr as a general topic would be v.v. long…;))
April 11th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Daniel might like to read the comments in Miss Aniela’s “Debates” set on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/sets/72157600463820342/
I had feelings somewhat similar to his when I first saw some of Natalie’s portraits and it was only through dialogue with the artist that I learned to understand her viewpoint regarding the assertion/submission issue and the vexing problem that “sex sells”. We certainly didn’t agree on everything, but I think Natalie has more than adequately posted her opinions in various places, to the point where I think it would be tiresome to do so again.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I’m might upset you with what I have to say, because it’s not going to be pleasant.
I think you might be a bit too attached to your work. The true artwork, in my humble opinion, is just a side effect of expression of someone’s talent. What matters to you the most, those pictures you post on Flickr, or the energy, the inspiration, the process of creation? Nobody can plagiarize you talent. Why be concerned with people copying your work and getting praised for it? Be grateful that you have an ability to make someone want to create something beautiful, even if it is just to make an exact copy. You inspired someone to do something, and hopefully they will outgrow it and find a path of their own.
What do comments like “so beautiful !” mean? Well, they could mean a person is not an artist, or an art critic, not an experienced photographer with a head full of trade terms is looking at your work and thinks “This is so beautiful”. And they want to share that feeling with you. And even if they are just looking at your naked body and admire “ass and tits”, that too is a form of appreciation. Majority of people on Flickr might fall into this category.
Everyone can only see in art a reflection of what they already have inside, and who are you to tell what it is that someone has inside?
I guess that’s all I had to say, I’m sorry if I offended you in any way.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I didn’t find your comment offensive at all. I thought it said interesting things, and not in an arrogant or forceful way that you seemed to want to apologise for.
As for the ‘beautiful’ comments, I don’t mind someone looking at my work and really feeling that response. But what happens on Flickr is that people seem to continually give these words and it seems like they don’t even mean what they say, they just repeat it from pic to pic, stream to stream, and when they might invite the pic into an irrelevant group which suggests they haven’t even looked at the pic properly. Even worse, on pics that aren’t very good technically, but just depict a beautiful object, some people feel a need to remark on the general beauty of that object as it stands in the world, e.g. a badly composed sunset. There is a lack of critique on photography as an art, which may just be too high an expection of Flickr… so, i suppose my comment in that respect was triggered by a response to general Flickr usage, not just about viewers on my stream.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Look at it from this way.
Yes, those ‘beautiful’ comments are the easy way out for most people, most of the time who comment on Flickr.
I use them, too. Guilty as charged but only when I truly mean it. (my philosophy is simple, if I don’t have anything good to say, I rather don’t say anything)
On the other hand, I find it’s a very imposing thing to do to give honest critique to somebody I don’t even know in person.
Quite frankly, who am I (and anybody else for that matter) to know how this person reacts to my or any other’s comments?
Too much praise can be as disastrous as one bad critique can be. (You won’t believe how quickly people can get too full of themselves. Which is mostly the beginning of the end.)
For that very reason, when a photo inspires me to say something I use words like ‘beautiful’ instead of a full blown analysis. If somebody wants more from me, he or she has to ask me for it (ask Quizz ;).
Last but not, i agree with you on the copying thing. It is truly annoying.
Again, look at it from this way. When it comes to art, design or photography getting copied is the nicest form of flattery. Somebody must have thought your work is truly beautiful.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I completely agree with you. I have always thought “who am I (and anybody else for that matter) to know how this person reacts to my or any other’s comments?” I was quite shocked when I heard a Flickr person once complain of getting comments like ‘beautiful’, because I felt the same reasoning as you - “when a photo inspires me to say something I use words like ‘beautiful’ instead of a full blown analysis. If somebody wants more from me, he or she has to ask me for it”. My comments on people’s work are sometimes very brief and in note-form.
What stirred me to write this post is not a criticism of everyone who uses the single word ‘beautiful’ in their comments. Not at all. What I felt is a boredom at certain people’s use of that word which I see flung round the whole of Flickr - I can think of one commenter in particular who does this, and it is given to a range of high and low quality photography. Maybe this is a good thing. I just got nauseated at it and it made me question what that word means.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Indeed, on Flickr superlatives are like currency. The more one throws around with them, the more they lose in value
Don’t forget, though, he over use, particular in a non deserving case, does always reflect on the giver’s taste, too. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Montevideo, 4 de Mayo de 2008.-
Me gusta que tenga inquietudes, positiva hacia la vida, como yo, dibujo y pinto para darle gracias a la vida, que no todos lo hacen.-
Veo que es muy bella, y muy joven.-
Pero utilizar esas virtudes para hacer arte, me incomoda.-
Todas las chicas bellas y jovenes harian lo mismo, usarian su bella imagen como exposicion.-
Como el que vomita, y hace arte con sus excrementos estomacales, no se si recordaran al celebre Ripley, aunque Ud. no lo crea.-
Pero no quiero ser tan extremista y morboso.-
Me gustaria que tuviera un arte expositivo, mas normal,para ella: paisajes coloridos,fotos o dibujos,flores de hermosos colores, temas dulces y romanticos, retratos con claroscuro y esfumado.-
De todas maneras, le deseo, mucha suerte,eso si me gustaria que la gente o los chicos que van a verla no la miren con plaser,¨SINO CON ARTE¨.-
Es muy bella,y joven, todavia.-
Mis saludos, artisticos.-
May 16th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Hi Miss Aniela.
I was just wondering what you meant concerning depression. I don’t want to interpret this comment in the wrong way.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hi Natalie, thanks so much for the mention… considering that your photostream is like my #1 destination on Flickr… it is only natural that I am extremely flattered and honored to learn that my stream is in your top 5 inspirations!
By the way, I am extremely excited about your growing successes… Keep it up!! xx
June 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
@ Helen
Which comment?