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The Peculiar World of Web Photo Sharing

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the please-link-to-your-photostream dept.

theodp writes "Can't get enough pictures of dogs' noses? Circular objects framed within squares? Newsweek reports on photo-sharing sites and picture blogs, where amateur shutterbugs looking to share their passions with the world happily blast their photos out to millions of people. Fotolog CEO Adam Seifer, who posts a picture of every meal he eats on Get In My Belly!, calls the Fotolog-Flickr-HeyPix-Smugmug phenomenon 'a million reality TV shows, only without the pain and humiliation.'" Update: 03/14 07:09 GMT by T : Reader onethumb points out an important aspect of such sites: "The new breed of photo-sharing services expose their APIs for geeks everywhere to enjoy. Both Flickr and Smugmug have growing APIs with thriving communities around them. Write your own photo-sharing application, sister web service, or software toy today!" (Here's a link to Flicker's API, and one to smugmug's.)

5 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. It has transformed photography for many people... by SlideGuitar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's so strange about it?

    You find something that you love... you share it with the world.

    http://portlandground.com/

  2. This too shall pass by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 4, Insightful
    How long until the novelty of photographing your dinner and posting it on the web fades into oblivion?

    Not long, I figure, even for the CEO of the company.

  3. Sad by CosmeticLobotamy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    a million reality TV shows, only without the pain and humiliation.

    It's sad when you have to start explaining reality (and pictures thereof) to people as "kind of like reality TV."

  4. Re:The guy doesn't make his own food? by kamapuaa · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I believe slightly less than 50% of meals in the US are home-cooked?

    There's a tone of condescension in your question, but when you're cooking for one or two people, it's easier and cheaper to eat out, particularly when you factor in time of preparation. In the cities I've lived in (Oakland Chinatown, Honolulu, Tokyo, & New York), the food can be quite interesting and healthy. Most of the people who cook do it more as a fun activity or hobby than a superior way of eating.

    I'm aware that in many areas, restaurants are intended for special occasions rather than everyday eating, or are fast food. So people from different areas may have different predjudices.

    --
    Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  5. Re:Why are we interested in this sort of thing? by ggvaidya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You actually rtfa???

    *shock and horror*