04-14-10 – One is the Loneliest Number

It’s weeks like this where I wonder if I should just give up and stop competing here. I feel extremely outclassed. Did I really do that badly this week?

It’s weeks like this where I wonder if I should just give up and stop competing here. I feel extremely outclassed. Did I really do that badly this week?

It’s easy to get discouraged when you just look at votes but farktography is about more than the sum cumulative award circle. Be here because you like taking pictures, the impetus to have a goal each week, and the camaraderie. Your participation keeps the contest diverse and interesting 🙂

Those are the reasons I have stuck with it. I am not gonna quit. I think life is just kind of draggin me down this week and then to only get two votes that are not my own votes just felt like a total failure. I know the voters are fickle but wtf.

This is my first “good” contest in weeks. I definitely have those weeks where I don’t make my average… what I mean by that is that I am primarily competing against myself. It feels great when I get a top 10, but it happens very very rarely. I stick with farktography through the bad weeks because it pushes me to learn and focuses my attention and makes me think about my photography every week, even if I’m not feeling all that great – mentally or physically. I also treasure the company of my peers (and my betters 😉 ); they, too, help me learn.

But really, the votes aren’t an absolute indicator of the value of your work. And gosh, voters! You really can’t tell how they’re going to roll on any given picture. Like I said last week: can’t live with ’em, can’t shoot ’em or there’d be NO votes! 😛

Please none of you get discouraged. When I suggested to my daughter that my profile graph looked like a rollercoaster, she said “A fun rollercoaster, mama!” *facepalm* And it still looks like that, even if the lows are usually not as low as they were when I started out. Usually. 😯

One thing that helped me once (or more, I’m not sure) was selecting a picture that I thought should do well but didn’t, and ask here for constructive criticism. I got a LOT of reasons why the picture wasn’t doing as well as I’d hoped and it was very educational. And I know everybody here isn’t going to be mean; they really want to help! I wouldn’t bother y’all with that sort of thing often, but when I have it’s been very rewarding. *squishes all my farktography buddies in a huge hug* <3

Besides, we like y’all! Don’t leave us, please!

When I suggested to my daughter that my profile graph looked like a rollercoaster

Besides, we like y’all! Don’t leave us, please!

There’s a profile graph? Where is that?

The FSM is great (and I don’t mean His Noodly Appendages), I spend a lot of time there. I’m a geek and an engineer with a highly competitive streak, I analyze data as a fault (so far, I have determined that, other than Schnee‘s published conclusions, fark voters are frickin unpredictable beasts). Sometimes I do crazy hubris-like stuff, like grabbing a screen cap the one week I trumped U-Man in the recent votes column, but mostly I just try to see how I’m doing at beating my averages. I figure if I can do that, then my photography is getting better, and I can feel happy without having to rub-faces and alienate friends.

/Many thanks, again, Schnee. Can’t say that enough.

I tabbed Kestrana‘s “One Cup” as a U-Man. That should be a compliment 🙂

Wow, it is indeed, thank you.

My wife (and maybe Mopsy) would caution you guys against such nice comments because my big head won’t fit through doorways. But thank you very much. Made me smile.

And I would be pleased to claim Kestrana’s lamplit table as mine. It has a really nice feel.

And I agree with orionid, the FSM adds some nerdy, competitive spice to the whole thing. Thanks from me too, schnee.