Posted by John Allan: 

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Wow! That's kind of sad...

John

Well, think of it this way...

If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by John Allan: 

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Wow! That's kind of sad...

John

Well, think of it this way...

If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

Muffler shop workers are paid for their technical abilities, not their creativities.

But they do have ways to learn about new mufflers and muffler related techniques that are better than crawling around parking lots.

Or do you mean this as a critique of the quality of MM photographers' portfolios?  That being on MM is like crawling around parking lots?

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

That's the worse thing you can do for your personal development.

I like to look at other photographer's work for inspiration. If I like it that much, I will emulate to test my skills. It helps to diversify your style when necessary.

Posted by Belair: 

Well, think of it this way...

If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

well, I am glad that I don't approach this like working in a muffler shop, good luck with your shop

Star

Posted by Belair: 
If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

If I worked in a muffler shop and the guys in other shops put their installations on the web, I'd probably look at them. ;-)

Paul

Posted by DawnElizabeth: 
Israel Colon (not on here)
Jerry Avenaim
Mike D (rocks)
Xtreme Artist (oh my gawd)
Doug Swinskey
J1S
Eric Foltz

You look younger every day ;-)
Thanks, although I don't deserve to be listed alongside some of the other shooters that have been mentioned.  You're too nice. Doug and I are across the bridge from each other, you know. A trip to Tampa Bay would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak...

Seriously, I look at everyone's work, online and off. It's part of learning I think. There are some great shooters here. I tend to be drawn to clean photography without a lot of Photoshop in general.

I especially appreciate alexwh's work and his insights in the forums into different photography techinques and issues. When I shared with him that he influenced one of my photos heavily, his reply in typical fasion was "it looks scary!" He likes to push people's buttons, and I can relate to that.

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by John Allan: 

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Wow! That's kind of sad...

John

Well, think of it this way...

If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

Any good business person in any business knows for a fact that you always keep an eye on the competition to see what they're doing and how they're doing it.

If a new studio opens across town and you sit on your ass and don't care about what they're doing or the quality of work they can produce, you may be wondering a year later why your last years income was way below normal.

Any person in their right mind that knows business is going to look at what they're doing and if it's quality work that surpasses their own then they better do something about it or they might be locking their doors someday and not returning to open them.

If anyone here with good business sense does not agree with this, I'd like to know. 

Posted by Paul Ferrara: 

Posted by Belair: 
If one works in a muffler shop, would he be expected to be seen crawling around parking lots on his belly looking at other muffler shops' work?

If I worked in a muffler shop and the guys in other shops put their installations on the web, I'd probably look at them. ;-)

Paul

Paul...hey thanks for the inspiration...

I'm going to call my ISP today and increase my bandwidth allowance and start a pair of new sites:

One Muffler Place

Muffler Mayhem

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

The gentleman is clearly comfortable with himself and his level of competence. He feels he's at the top of his game and clearly has nowhere else to go. That leaves the rest of us with a faint glimmer of hope that we too may someday be as lucky.

Keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to us all.

Posted by Lapis: 
...I know all you photogs hate each other (lol). but, I want to see what ports other people like.

Every chance I get, I like looking at other peoples' work.

It keeps me from getting bigheaded.

Posted by Joe K. Perez: 

Every chance I get, I like looking at other peoples' work.

It keeps me from getting bigheaded.

.....but Joe when I look at other photographers work......... I get bigheaded..........



O.K. hold on let me get my asbestos suit on.........Ok that's better...........

Posted by Todd Steinwart: 

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

The gentleman is clearly comfortable with himself and his level of competence. He feels he's at the top of his game and clearly has nowhere else to go. That leaves the rest of us with a faint glimmer of hope that we too may someday be as lucky.

Keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to us all.

Todd...I detect a hint of sarcasm here.

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Too bad you feel this way...I did go to your site, but only found a page with 1 pic in it, so it only took 1 sec and 1 minute to figure out thats all you had there to back up your words...if you loog at other photographer's site you will find out must customers want to see a wide variaty and range of work, not just one pic...it felt like a business card.

Also I looked at your port, and I think if you look at other photographer's portfolios even in here (not necesarily mine) you will be able to improve your photographs (cropping, composition, lighting, etc.) we never too good to learn new things and still keeping out style...

...btw, I saw many photographers in your port that has taged you and are on the list of your friends...so you never seen their ports before aproving them or adding them? is that really a sign of a friend? minus well delet them as "Friends" to save bandwith as the time that takes to aprove them would have been enough time for you to finally clip your toe nails!

PS: sorry for the bad gramar and spelling, but I rather pick my nose than spend the time to go back and correct it ;p

That's my $.02

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by Todd Steinwart: 

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

The gentleman is clearly comfortable with himself and his level of competence. He feels he's at the top of his game and clearly has nowhere else to go. That leaves the rest of us with a faint glimmer of hope that we too may someday be as lucky.

Keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to us all.

Todd...I detect a hint of sarcasm here.

No... but yes. Really only the last line, but the rest of it was set up for it.

Here's what I think: First, you're enjoying your "celebrity status" as the only, or at least one of the few naysayers in this thread. The discourse in this thread has been amazingly civil, which I'm guessing has kept anyone from coming right out and saying "Maybe you SHOULD spend some time trolling portfolios." The truth of the matter is there are a fair number of photographers on this site who ARE better than you, and there are a number of photographers who aren't. What your first post came off as though is "There are NO portfolios here better than mine," and I imagine you know better than that.

The problem is there are multiple aspects to a photograph: it's technical competence, and the very subjective "i wish i had taken that photograph."

It comes down to a matter of time constraints. Is it worth sifting through a lot of dirt to find a handful of gems? That's your call, and if you don't think so then I respect that and I think everyone else should, too.

Lunch is ready! Gotta scoot. Peace... =t=

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

But posting on forums is not a waste of your time?

Why not?

Posted by steve prue: 
i must be the weird one.

i like looking at pictures almost as much as i like taking them.

I love looking at excellent pictures... photographs that are outstanding inspire me and motivate to become a better photographer...

Posted by Lapis: 
This subject lifted from my other subject asking models for their fave photographer ports. No one answered! I want to know about other photographers ports...believe it or not, I think that photographers often have more exciting portfolios than models. In fact, many photographers I speak with say models, "always pick the wrong pictures" because they are only looking to see how good they look, as opposed to looking at lighting, overall composition, etc. However, everyone is talking about favorite models. I know all you photogs hate each other (lol). but, I want to see what ports other people like.

I look at photographer's portfolios all the time. I like to see what they are doing...what new lighting, shadow, and composition techniques they are using...what the industry/clients are asking them for...because it changes all the time and it differs demographically as well.

Mollie

Posted by Todd Steinwart: 

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by Todd Steinwart: 

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

The gentleman is clearly comfortable with himself and his level of competence. He feels he's at the top of his game and clearly has nowhere else to go. That leaves the rest of us with a faint glimmer of hope that we too may someday be as lucky.

Keep up the good work! You're an inspiration to us all.

Todd...I detect a hint of sarcasm here.

No... but yes. Really only the last line, but the rest of it was set up for it.

Here's what I think: First, you're enjoying your "celebrity status" as the only, or at least one of the few naysayers in this thread. The discourse in this thread has been amazingly civil, which I'm guessing has kept anyone from coming right out and saying "Maybe you SHOULD spend some time trolling portfolios." The truth of the matter is there are a fair number of photographers on this site who ARE better than you, and there are a number of photographers who aren't. What your first post came off as though is "There are NO portfolios here better than mine," and I imagine you know better than that.

The problem is there are multiple aspects to a photograph: it's technical competence, and the very subjective "i wish i had taken that photograph."

It comes down to a matter of time constraints. Is it worth sifting through a lot of dirt to find a handful of gems? That's your call, and if you don't think so then I respect that and I think everyone else should, too.

Lunch is ready! Gotta scoot. Peace... =t=

Actually, I never made any such statements about the quality of my work or anyone else's.  I merely stated that I didn't see the value in looking at other profiles.

Posted by Star: 

Posted by Belair: 
LOL...none of you guys have sold me on the notion that trolling through MM or OMP photog profiles is a good way to spend time. 

I believe that muffler guys are as much of artists as anyone else.  I once had a '67 Impala that had so many bends and twists and rustouts and kinks in the frame that installation of pipes and mufflers was truely an artistic endeavour.

But posting on forums is not a waste of your time?

Why not?

Posting on forums is an interactive process which keeps us all on our toes.

Posted by XposurePhoto: 

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Too bad you feel this way...I did go to your site, but only found a page with 1 pic in it, so it only took 1 sec and 1 minute to figure out thats all you had there to back up your words...if you loog at other photographer's site you will find out must customers want to see a wide variaty and range of work, not just one pic...it felt like a business card.

Also I looked at your port, and I think if you look at other photographer's portfolios even in here (not necesarily mine) you will be able to improve your photographs (cropping, composition, lighting, etc.) we never too good to learn new things and still keeping out style...

...btw, I saw many photographers in your port that has taged you and are on the list of your friends...so you never seen their ports before aproving them or adding them? is that really a sign of a friend? minus well delet them as "Friends" to save bandwith as the time that takes to aprove them would have been enough time for you to finally clip your toe nails!

PS: sorry for the bad gramar and spelling, but I rather pick my nose than spend the time to go back and correct it ;p

That's my $.02

Indeed my internet site is supposed to serve as an on-line business card.  That's its purpose.

As far as whether my "work" needs improvement, like everyone else's, it probably does.  But, none of my posts in this thread were commentaries on anyone elses' "work."

As far as the "friends" and "tags" on my profile, I can't help it if those people want to tag me or friend me.  And, no, I probably didn't look at their profiles.

Posted by XtremeArtists: 

I've never seen such groundbreaking and original work as Belair's.

From it's probing social commentary to it's quest for truth, his work is clearly one of a kind.

Dayum...I was just about to say the same about you!  Great minds think alike!  Keep up the good work, bud!

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by XposurePhoto: 

Posted by Belair: 
I never really found any reason to look at other photographers' portfolios.  If I had that much time to kill, I'd clip my toenails.

Too bad you feel this way...I did go to your site, but only found a page with 1 pic in it, so it only took 1 sec and 1 minute to figure out thats all you had there to back up your words...if you loog at other photographer's site you will find out must customers want to see a wide variaty and range of work, not just one pic...it felt like a business card.

Also I looked at your port, and I think if you look at other photographer's portfolios even in here (not necesarily mine) you will be able to improve your photographs (cropping, composition, lighting, etc.) we never too good to learn new things and still keeping out style...

...btw, I saw many photographers in your port that has taged you and are on the list of your friends...so you never seen their ports before aproving them or adding them? is that really a sign of a friend? minus well delet them as "Friends" to save bandwith as the time that takes to aprove them would have been enough time for you to finally clip your toe nails!

PS: sorry for the bad gramar and spelling, but I rather pick my nose than spend the time to go back and correct it ;p

That's my $.02

Indeed my internet site is supposed to serve as an on-line business card.  That's its purpose.

As far as whether my "work" needs improvement, like everyone else's, it probably does.  But, none of my posts in this thread were commentaries on anyone elses' "work."

As far as the "friends" and "tags" on my profile, I can't help it if those people want to tag me or friend me.  And, no, I probably didn't look at their profiles.

Wow! You're appearing in print here as a real "piece of work" ...

I'm not really sure that I should be taking this diatribe at face value

John

Posted by MarkMarek: 
I dare say that photogs who claim not to check other photogs portfolios are liars. It's like saying that one doesn't masturbate. Observing other photogs work is the way to improve your own and avoid being repetitive. Everybody wants to know how others are doing, what they do, how they do it but the reason some pretend not to is to look like real pros who have best techniques and ideas of their own without influence of others. 

I like you.

Posted by Dan Hood: 

Posted by Joe K. Perez: 

Every chance I get, I like looking at other peoples' work.

It keeps me from getting bigheaded.

.....but Joe when I look at other photographers work......... I get bigheaded..........



O.K. hold on let me get my asbestos suit on.........Ok that's better...........

*chuckles*

Posted by Belair: 

Posted by XtremeArtists: 

I've never seen such groundbreaking and original work as Belair's.

From it's probing social commentary to it's quest for truth, his work is clearly one of a kind.

Dayum...I was just about to say the same about you!  Great minds think alike!  Keep up the good work, bud!

Aw? Why can't it be something simpler like, "great minds exposed from the skull looks just as gross as the dumb ones"?