White noise... (Jaeda's Artists' Cafe 12//7/99)

I'm a webphotographer. To show my work, and to arrange models, I have to view and post on the fora. I get so tired of the white noise out there.

The photographers aren't necessarily bad, and the models are completely adequate. It's not that. The noise seems to be like the noise that surrounds you in a farmers' market or a busy mall. It's distracting, annoying, but otherwise harmless.

I mostly hang out at the Fashion Only Forum. Because it has some enforced standards for posting it's usually quieter than most, and has very few of the "Mary, Mary, Wotta Wunnerful Modle" adverts. But even there, the trivia gets thick, and the topics transparent. Once in awhile a post makes people think.

The rest are, in my opinion, places to troll for models. That's about it. Lots of really bad photographers puffing out chests to attract the pullets. A few good photographers try to introduce sanity where it isn't wanted. And cock fights all over the place. I don't mind a fight once in awhile, but a constant state of war is numbing. And it chases the chickens away.

There are some notable exceptions. One specializes in commercial model photography, and is well moderated, but boring as hell. Another is for "professionals" and is also well moderated, and also sometimes has pictures of subjects other than girls (though I personally think of that as a waste of film.) Yet another is only technical, and gets my interest every time. (I'm a hardware kind of guy.)

But I post at all these places, and get responses from models in Nova Scotia wanting to test, and photography students asking for my "tricks." I tell them. And once in awhile I actually find a model to photograph and make some more of my art.

And when that happens it's like finding a pair of 501's in my size at the bottom of the SALE stack at Mervyns for $12.

-Don