New website direction

[Avril Kirby]

Pierre has asked me to explain the whys and wherefores of the direction we are thinking the club website could go. As we've been told by Wendy, we are currently using far more space than we are actually allowed for the fees we pay. Rather than substantially raising our website budget, we can all help by reducing our own images down to 25 that we are proudest of or that represent us best.

This can be done either by "quitting" the club, so that all your images are erased, and then rejoining and starting afresh or, if you'd like to save some of your images, viewing them one by one full size (click bottom right, under photo), right clicking on the image that comes up, selecting "save image as..." and putting it in a folder you've created on your computer. Then you can select "options", top right on the original page and click on "delete photo". Or don't delete it if it's one of the 25 you'd like to show. This is a daunting and time-consuming process for those of us with hundreds of images but it allows us to keep a portfolio on our own page.

We would like to put our best foot forward while going ahead with the exciting Photofest project in 2019. We're expecting that visitors who are considering coming to the island for this celebration of photography will want to have a preview of what might be in store and that, when we open the website to the public, we will have a number of interested viewers.

On a personal note, it would be great to have a bit more club involvement on the site. Maybe put your best photo of the week on and then leave a comment or two for someone else. Everyone loves to have a bit of positive critique on their work. Find an image that speaks to you and just leave a little note for the photographer which says you've noticed their work and given some thought to it. In this way we can encourage each other, something this club has always been good at.

And now back I go to deleting my overabundance of photographs--only 103 pages left to go!   Thanks,  Avril

[Avril Kirby]

I agree, Jean--we are a social club. I don't think the aim is to make us all professionals. I do think that club discussion is needed but you may have to wait until Pierre is back and available. I don't actually feel qualified to speak to the vision he has for the club.

[Curt Firestone]

Sounds like no decision has been made by either the Executive or the Club membership.

Jean and Ross have ideas worthy of discussion.  

[Pierre Mineau]

Hello Jean.

Am in the middle of packing (leaving early tomorrow morning) but thought I would respond to your post because it crystallizes the dichotomy we have been discussing as an executive and that I brought up at the meeting. Ideally, we want to do both: That is a) put our best foot forward and entice people to want to see more of our work, come to our shows etc...; and b) keep the social element of the club, best epitomised by the Monday coffee meets and regular postings of the 'photos of the day' or travel snaps. 

I am not sure whether our current website can deal with this separation of 'church and State'. Best I can gather from her comments, Wendy is trying to figure that out - i.e. can we have a part of the website that is open to the public (our best work and portfolios) as well as a a more free-flowing side (keeping in mind that we are over 300% our limit now so we do need to reduce). One idea that was put out for the membership is to use the Facebook account for photos of the day, keeping in touch etc.... and the website for member's portfolios and photos they want to discuss and would like critiques and suggestions.  What do you think of that possibility ?

Pierre

[Jean Panepinto]

Not everyone uses Facebook (including me). I agree that the number of photos held on the website was excessive in some cases myself included  but i  and I am sure others were not aware of the space limitations on the website, as the website just kept adding pages as the number of photos grew. 

However to limit the photos to 25 is also not reasonable and to require a one off and one on situation above 25 would be tedious. Some of us enjoy the challenge of posting daily, finding interesting images in our surroundings or when we travel, I don’t think any of us are trying to just post our holiday snaps or just keep in touch. We are all at different levels in our ability and equipment and I believe use the website and monthly challenge to boost our skills and present different viewpoints on photography. I don’t think we want to discourage that. 

I think there needs to be an open discussion about the website space etc where ideas can be discussed and questions answered by someone ( Wendy?) who knows what the website can be programmed to handle automatically etc. We also need to clarify the goals of our Club and their implementation as they seem to be changing. 

[Avril Kirby]

Hi Pierre,  I'm wondering, if instead of using our website as a face for the world, we could use a Photofest Facebook page for the same purpose and have everyone who will be involved access it? That could include Photosynthesis members, galleries and photographers with studios that will be open during Photofest.

[Jean Panepinto]

I think that is a great idea and ideal for photographers to display their portfolios. 

[Bob Fenske]

I fully support the new direction for images that would be available for the public. I do have a question though for images that are uploaded to the various Special Interest groups. For me, the Special Interest groups are learning centres, and as such uploaded images may not be representative of our “best”. When the website is open to the public, will the images in the Special Interest groups be password restricted?

[Doug McMillin]

Bob, Groups can be set up with a 'members only' viewing option.

I have created 'Test Group' with this setting, but cannot test it by accessing the website as a non-member until general site access is granted to non-members.

That said, a non-group-member like you might try accessing 'Test Group' to see just what kind of members are excluded from that Group. If as a non-group member you can't see the pumpkin posted there, then viewing excludes non-group members as well as the non-club.

[Bob Fenske]

So I clicked on Test Group and no pumpkin! Does this mean now that the public could see club images, but not Group images? Seems likely I’m thinking because “the Public” has not signed in. Now, when do I get to see The Pumpkin, .... after 1200am?

[Doug McMillin]

I'm confused. You logged in as a club member and do not see the pumpkin (you say), meaning to me that only group members can see it. Then you say you see it. What did you do that was different? I see that you did not join the group?

If you logged out of the website entirely and revisit as a non-member, you should not be able to see anything.

[Uri Cogan]

Thanks, Avril. Great opportunity to prune. 

[Simon Henson]

I like the idea of a once a week posting, not only will that help control numbers, but encourage and develop self-critiqueing before posting, thus improving visual awareness.