Musings on Ipernity and Flickr...

Many people have posted comments and blog entries about similarities and differences between Ipernity and Flickr, and about general behaviour in such sites. While reading and sometimes also commenting on some, I've made a few observations, more rambling than any coherent line of thought.

First off, For me, both Ipernity and Flickr are about photography and sharing my passion about it with others. The nice thing about Ipernity is that it broadens this scope to other areas, so I have found I share additional passions with some of my contacts - which is always rewarding. However, I'm not so sure about sharing music of others that I like, least of it because of copyright issues that I don't want to bother with. But I have found incredible musicians (besides photographers) here - Ojisanjake, Adam Zilberman and joe are examples that come to mind), and it is an added pleasure to enjoy their artistry.

Ipernity still requires more initiative in order to get your pictures seen, in the absence of groups. I know, there are good and bad things about them, but one thing is undeniable - they provide a convenient forum to share photos, especially if you are focused on particular aspects, such as themes or techniques. The only reasonably effective way I have found to meet new people is either by looking up people who have visited my page (great feature!), or have made comments/faved my pictures. I also like to look at my "extended network" - my contacts' contacts.But this has become increasingly hard to do, given the exponential growth of the network. Either way, I have found that when I see a photo I like, it is either a contact or part of my extended network.

As far as the quality of comments and interactions, I have been very impressed with some of the blogs - the quality, humour, courage and deep honesty of many posts. Again, an added opportunity to know people better, and share more than photos.

Specifically about comments in photos, I don't see really much difference. Personally, I basically comment photos I like, and I always really mean what I say. If there are pictures of my contacts (or anyone) I don't particularly like or even dislike, I just don't think it is worth it to give negative feedback, even if polite. It is simply a matter of time - I have my hands full as it is with the good ones!
This doesn't mean I might not make a constructive criticism on a given photo, but it will be on one I already like - and the comment would be my (obviously personal) feeling on how one might improve it.
I am also constatly surprised at the variety of tastes in both Ipernity and Flickr. I have long tried to guess what people will like, as I have been wrong as many times as I have been right... So nowadays I simply post the ones I like and that I feel like sharing with others - and then enjoy the feedback when it happens.

Since I have not had the time to be so active in Ipernity (yet), most of the feedback I get is still in Flickr, but I plan to focus here more once groups are available. However, one thing is evident here - communication between members is much easier, and can flow in may different ways (witness this blog entry!).

I have chosen to post to Ipernity only those photos I have enjoyed taking, and I feel like sharing, from a photography or subject matter point of view. I tend not to post personal and family photos. because I simply assume that most people will not be interested in personal details, especially if the photo does not have any particular merit as a photograph. So I use a completely different site to share this kind of photos.

Overall, I get the feeling that the average quality of the photos I see here is much higher than in Flickr. Evidently, this is a biased sample, since here I basically see photos of my (extended) network, which, by construction, I'm more like to appreciate. But hey, I've got only so much time to spend, so it is in general a more pleasurable experience here than in Flickr, since I see more photos I like here, on the average.

I'm sure this community here is bound to evolve, and I'm hopeful it will be in a different direction than Flickr has evolved. If it will be better or not, only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm enjoying myself, and shooting away (photos, well understood ;-)).