dianaschnuth

I was just poking around in my photography category on my blog, and clicked on a link to go to my lomohome on lomography.com.

404 Error? Hmm, looks like the site got a redesign. Oh, look — I can migrate my old account. All is not lost.

Or is it? All my photos are gone. Huh. Good thing I have local copies, eh? Ah, well. I can reupload.

Then I read the legalese:

5. Use of Ideas

If you send any communications or materials to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like, all such communications are, and will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary. Anything you transmit or post may be used by Lomography, its parent and/or its affiliates for any purpose, including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast, and posting. Furthermore, Lomography, its parent and its affiliates are free to use, without any compensation to you, any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to the Site for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing, and marketing products using such information.

I’m reading this as saying that I lose the rights to any photos I upload — or, rather, they gain unlimited rights without me getting any kickback or even acknowledgment. They might mean this to refer to unsolicited product ideas, but it comes off as ANY upload to the site ANYWHERE.

See ya, lomohomes. Check my Flickr for my Lomo pics from now on.

This evening, over the phone, my Mom was telling me that my photography has gotten so good that I should be photographing for a magazine or something. I’d just uploaded the first half of my photos from our Chicago trip, and she’d been paging through them as we talked.

Now, mothers are known for exaggerating the talents of their progeny. However, being that mine is a portrait photographer by trade, I’d like to think that gives her opinion a little more weight. Still, though, I see the other photos on Flickr — the ones that make the Explore page, or have high ratings of Interestingness — and I realize that I’m nowhere close to being in their league, for the most part.

Then, again, sometimes I look at photos on Flickr, or photos for sale at art shows, and I think, “My photos are easily that good!” Maybe I just don’t give myself enough credit. Maybe I don’t pimp myself out enough on Flickr by posting to relevant groups. Maybe I should start submitting my work to stock photography websites/companies. After all, I’ve been published in a magazine (Tricycle) and in an online travel guide (Schmap Baltimore), among others.

Then the question becomes: when will I feel satisfied with my photography? When I’m making a steady income from my photos? When one of my photos is recognized by Flickr’s super-secret Interestingness algorithm for the Explore page? And how much time and effort do I put into these goals, just to satisfy my own ego?

Maybe, for now, I can simply remain satisfied with my continuing progress as an amateur photographer, and just enjoy taking pictures.