Alison is now living in the UK, city of Oxford. Alison is full time mother to 3 boys still at home, one daughter now earning her own living. Alison is now paying more attention to what is becoming a serious passion , photography, which she hopes will hold her interest right to the end. It would have to, to justify spending all that money on equipment! Favourite photography would be travelling and taking all kinds of images. Cambodia was a new venture, learning to deal with light more effectively, and having the confidence to take more journalistic style and people. Travel time is limited so at home focus is more on macro work, textures, details, things near at hand. This year she is trying to take things to the next level by getting on top of the technological side of things, planning a webpage, learning about printing. She has exhibited at the local Artweeks and sold several images and many cards which was encouraging.
Alison Ryde :
had a look at picmonkey today, a neat little programme.
avmurray : Glad you like it. It is quite easy to use, and best of all, it is free.
June 23 at 4:54PM
Hinta : I found a site that does not give points, dollars etc. It is www.photocritique.net.Fantastic photos critiqued by fellow photographers with no agenda.Maybe you already know this site but thought I would let you know. It is free to join and offers a discount on on-line courses.
June 26 at 4:30PM
Alison Ryde : thanks for this. I am getting weary of having spend hours online to get 'dollars' to promote my work. Also feel that many pictures are getting ratings which do not reflect their talent (or lack of).
June 29 at 2:56PM
Alison Ryde :
now uploaded lightened versions of today's pix, the two on the water. Hope this helps!
Alison Ryde :
really good advice is coming in from some more experienced photographers so it IS worth hanging around this site, although I am still frustrated that it takes hours to earn points to promote, and the rich folk can go right in and pay for a top spot, thus inducing people to review their stuff...a bit unfair. Reluctant to spend the $$$ as saving them to travel with camera.
Alison Ryde :
Hi folks. I hope I have now nailed the uploading and resizing issues, thanks to some suggestions on this site from some helpful people. Thanks to them.
Kelli Lauck : good! what did you end up doing?
June 19 at 6:22PM
Alison Ryde : decided to spend the money and get a decent one - about £100 a year isn't too bad is it? have to think carefully about what I want to put on it though, first. The better the brief to the designer, the better the result, probably.
June 20 at 6:38AM
Alison Ryde : sorry, you meant resizing. Used picasa at 1024 which the site accepts. Easy peasy.
June 20 at 6:38AM
Alison Ryde :
off to bed after quite a productive day - a bit of time on this site, but managed to get some flower macro work in too, and lots of the other normal jobs that need doing: cleaning, baking, shopping, etc, feeding hungry family. Bla, bla. Pouring with rain again, surprise surprise. Sleep well, all you out there.
Alison Ryde :
I'm not going to be able to maintain such a lot of time on this site and refuse to spend tons of money promoting photos. Anyone willing to spend can put their often not very impressive stuff up top. If you don't and you can't spend all day reviewing, makes me pretty cynical about it. someone is making money out of this all right. Also very open to abuse. So feeling rather cheesed off. Unless people sign up as a fan they won't see your stuff. MEH.
rooskanga1 : I used to spend money, but I got tired of that fast--(plus I don't have the dollars to do so). I have a small fan base which i do review on and a few here and there. Mostly I just get 1-2 reviews per post and that's ok.
June 14 at 3:18PM
Alison Ryde : yes, I guess that will do. Annoying though!
June 16 at 4:39AM
Skyangel02 : I think if we all started boycotting the promoted art work and just reviewed the work that we really liked for two cents each, everyone would be in the same boat and it would be a lot fairer if all reviews paid the same amount. After all, it takes the same amount of time to review them all. The only people making money around here are the owners of the site and that's why they set it up like it is. The ones on the top of the lists are the ones who pay the most for the trophies in the end. They pay by advertising their work regardless of how good or bad it is.
June 18 at 8:55PM
Alison Ryde :
a brand new day dawns (if I'm honest, some hours ago) and at this rate I could spend all day reviewing stuff. Still very much trying to get the hang of this site. Not paying to promote means spending hours reviewing or is there something else I should know? Feel I'm not quite on top of it. Any tips anyone?
corrinas creations : Unfortunately if you don't put the cash in and promote purely on dollars earned you have to put a fair amount of time into the site, no easy way around it. I would just enjoy the work posted and getting to know peeps and dont worry about the whole ranking thing, its not an accurate representation of the talent on here anyway :)
June 13 at 7:38AM
helena6052 : I do agree with corrinas creations, have fun, learn and enjoy but do not take this site seriously.
June 13 at 9:01AM
Alison Ryde : thanks people. I thought I might be missing the obvious. some very high rankers don't seem to merit the ratings, so it is a bit weird. Guess I won't be on the site quite so much.
June 13 at 3:19PM
Alison Ryde : thanks people. I thought I might be missing the obvious. some very high rankers don't seem to merit the ratings, so it is a bit weird. Guess I won't be on the site quite so much.
June 13 at 3:19PM
corrinas creations : Yup its a bit of a glitch but the good does outway the bad, I still think this is the best site I belong to, at least the ranking system helps you interact more with other creative folk, its great for that and you can learn loads from this site, I always come here for advice more than anything. Its great to see what real reactions are. You find on other sites everyone loves everything but there seems to be more honesty on here. Just have fun with it, just looked at your portfolio, you have some great stuff on there so do stick around, I loved that water carrier one :)
June 13 at 5:05PM
Jane Jenkins : I agree with Corrina. Find people who work you admire and add them to your fan list. That way you are notified when they post something and you don't have to wade through some of the stuff you already mentioned. I've developed several good critic resources this way. I don't worry about the rankings anymore. Most of them post without promoting themselves, so it takes awhile (a penny at a time) to build up enough to post unless they really want to get their work noticed and promote. Then I feel like I've hit the jackpot! I try to return the favor. I also looked at your portfolio and hope you will continue posting. Your stuff is very good.
June 16 at 4:47PM
Alison Ryde :
Hi folks, this has been a busy day. Written lots of reviews in which I try to be honest and helpful. It's so subjective that it can be a bit risky! Don't want to offend anyone. Kids are back in school today (ha!) so back to some free time. It's raining like we should plan to build an Ark.
adr1an : already built one here in wales alison!
June 11 at 4:49PM
Alison Ryde : sounds like you needed it this week. You dry over there?
June 12 at 3:59PM
Alison Ryde :
weather in uk is complete rubbish just now - like Autumn instead of early summer. so I was very happy to receive my ringflash unit bought on ebay this week. Look forward to playing with that!
Alison Ryde :
Hi there, This looks like a fun way to keep the creative juices moving!
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