I always get a little wary when I receive word that a photo I posted to flickr was used on someone’s blog or whatever. A couple of times, they’ve been used for publications I’d want nothing to do with. Yesterday afternoon, I received such a message. Such is the nature of sharing stuff like that on the internet and licensing it under Creative Commons.
The photo in question is this one, taken nearly a year ago on a visit home to the Bronx. It’s a sunset view of Manhattan from Barretto Point Park.
I never set out to take the best skyline photo ever, it was the sunset and the setting that got my attention. So color me surprised to find that the photo was included in a blog post entitled “the World’s Most Spectacular Skylines.” An even bigger surprise was to find enough people dugg the entry to make it to digg’s front page.
Normally, I imagine that someone would be thrilled to find something they did (directly or indirectly) on digg’s home page. In this case, not so much.
Things were not off to a promising start when the first comment on the entry itself said, “seriously the weakest shot of the new york [sic] skyline ive ever seen.” Didn’t take long for the echo chamber to start.
“That photograph is absolutely awful.”
“Weak-sauce picture of NYC.”
“The skyline of New York is completely shameful from a photographer.”
“hong kong > everything else … everything else fails miserably, especially new york”
And don’t even get me started on the comments from digg, not that I consider it a haven of intelligent discourse.
I also don’t think it helped that the photo was cropped without my permission, thereby altering the context which I intended. The Creative Commons license I put the photo under clearly states “No derivative works.”
I know. “Wah. Wah. Wah…. Grow a thicker skin…. etc.” Whatever.
My friend Clarke helped put this in perspective for me over IM yesterday afternoon. To paraphrase:
For every person that actually comments, there is likely a person that saw the photo, really appreciated it for what it was, and didn’t comment. It’s the blessing/curse of having your photography/art in a public forum. Not everyone will get it or appreciate it – but, it spoke to you when you took it [and] that feeling validates the photo – anyone else’s reaction to it is secondary and the people that know you will totally get the feeling behind it.
Clarke added later on that people may not believe me when I say it was him that said it. So, may lightning strike me if I’m lying. Better yet, may lightning strike those who wouldn’t know constructive criticism from a hole in the ground.
Bah, fuck ’em! They’d probably bitch and moan that they weren’t stricken at the right voltage or something.
8 Comments
It would be so much harder for people to be dickheads over the Internet if they actually had to say the same thing to that person’s face.
http://xkcd.com/438/
wow that’s odd. that it was added to a lost of great skyline pics. It’s a nice picture of a sunset over the water- withh a beautiful pier, but calling it a “NYC skyline picture” is sort of silly, since it’s sooo far away.
I think it’s a very good skyline pic of NYC and it fits the very definition of a skyline picture no matter what any one else says
I thought it was a great shot, Im in love with New York’s skyline and as a visitor I could never imagine seeing it from so many different angles, so loved yours.
But I feel for the girl who compiled this list, lord they ripped her to shreds too, so dont feel bad.
Its a great shot, and I think any of those commentors would have agreed if the picture was presented differently.
I have to go with what Michael said. People can be jerks online and sometimes they are saying mean things to sound witty/superior. Though, I’d love to see any of the commenters take a picture of a skyline and have it come out “super sauce.”
One commenter said it best addressing all the others:
Wow, it’s amazing how many of these comments boil down to “why didn’t you use the most obvious, well-known angle?!” [Insert inexplicable levels of rage and expletives.]
Take a deep breath, folks. In through the nose, out through the mouth…
Sure, I’ve seen better shots of some of these places – but most of these pics are stunning, and many of them are a little different than the usual ones I’ve seen a million times – which is a plus, I think.
Worst photos you’ve ever seen? Really? If that’s true, you need to get out more. There are whole worlds of incompetence out there that you’ve never experienced – you have no idea what you’re missing.
I like that yours isn’t such an obvious shot of NYC.
Photography is mad subjective… all I’ll say.
A little too much sun maybe, but it’s what the eye and the camera caught, so it’s already more beautiful than the playa-hating!
As a snapshot, it’s great. As a measure to gauge NYC in comparison to other world cities, it’s shit. That’s not your fault–that’s the blog’s fault! Your photo was fine, but titling it “Spectacular Skylines” was just not right.
And the commentators are right. Cologne, Germany? Goodness, who knew that was the height of human achievement.
Please, you can’t take anything seriously on the internet, especially when the stuff gets big enough to hit Digg. I mean, I saw a completely innocuous YouTube video of a baby laughing. Just laughing. And the comments were off the hook insane – “This child is possessed by Satan!” “Will someone shoot this kid…” “If it were my kid, I’d throw him out of a car going down the highway!”
People on the interwebs are just jerks because they can be with complete security in their anonymity. Besides, coming from an art background myself, its a lot easier to take online than it is in person and then to go out, have lunch and act as though you didn’t just tear apart the person sitting across from you just five minutes earlier.