Wednesday 13 May 2009: Goodbye Blipfoto

It's been fun while it lasted. Due to growing irritations with Blipfoto I'm moving to my own hosted site. Not to discredit Blipfoto here though.

Any site can be slower for some time while they experience some growing pains. I know that first-hand, having worked at a webhosting firm which became quite popular really fast. We could hardly add more servers to keep up. Recent downtime issues haven't been my worries.

The problem for me lies in an inherent mismatch between my primary shooting style, and Blipfotos rules and philosophies. The one photo a day, taken on that day rule... it simply isn't for me. While I do strive to shoot multiple times a week, I don't have the time to do it every day. And when I shoot, I'll often have multiple great shots. Having my own site means I set the rules, and can post whatever I want, whenever I want to.

The one thing I expected when I came here was actually to find a good community. While there surely is a community, the thing I find lacking is constructive criticism, or pretty much and criticism at all. I'm in this to improve my shooting as much as anyone else, but yet no-one is telling me specifically what they like and don't like about the shots. "Great shot!" comments aren't helpful.

Then there's something nagging me at a more basic level. I have the technical know-how to set up my own site, have everything exactly as I want. As a computer nerd, I like having everything under version control. On my new site, posts are text files which I can edit with whatever I want. I'm pretty sure that in 50 years time, when I'm old and grey, while the software which currently transforms that into HTML files may no longer work (it probably won't), the text files will still be readable just fine, and I could write a script at that time which extracts the titles and bodies of the posts, and outputs them in whatever format people use by then.

Wanting to have everything hosted under my own domain name, under my own banned is another factor. At some point, I'll occasionally post a regular blogpost. I can't do that here, and I'd like a one-stop hub for my online presence.

It's been fun, but Blipping isn't for me. Hope to see you at my new site, I'll be working on it in the weeks to come, one thing to do is commenting, but I wanted to switch and keep my pace going.

NIKON D300 : f/5.6 : 1/200" : 105mm : ISO 800

Comments

1. "the thing I find lacking is constructive criticism, or pretty much and criticism at all."
   
   OK. How about that image you posted was compositionally weak and the subject matter dull? Is that the type of thing you are looking for? Blip works for me because it is different to all that other formula driven sites. I think it encourages people to be creative within a discipline, which is challenging. Editing, any photographer will tell you is the key to presenting your work, so the one a day rule is great. Hope that was constructive Marten.
   
   

   ~ Megapixel

2. Well, I'm sorry if you feel offended. Again, it's not working for me personally. If it does for you, then great.

   ~ mv

3. Well 52 people have viewed your image Marten so what do I know. You must be doing something right. Keep on snapping my friend.

   ~ Megapixel

4. I can find myself in lots of things you said, but one thing i generally lack on my own site, and that is visitors :)
   
   spam your rss around when you feel it is usefull, i'll just add that ;p

   ~ nh

5. Jeesh Megapixel: dont be so darn childish.
   
   mv: shame to see you go, but you make a good point: if blipfoto not what you want then you're probably right to leave.

   ~ m-a-h

6. I totally see your point, especially about being independent of a service which is, essentially, outside your own control. This is also the reason why I have been wanting my own domain for years now; I just haven't had the time yet to set it up and build a site. The disadvantage is that, probably, less people will see your work there...
   
   The lack of constructive criticism also bothers me. I try to do that whenever I comment, but it is difficult to make sure that you don't come across as an asshole if you post anything that is not "great shot!". Still, even without feedback, a photo a day is still practice, which is why I want to keep it up. (Yet I don't!)
   
   And I agree with Megapixel, because that diagonal should not have ended almost in the top left corner. :P

   ~ ttc

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