Wow. Such harsh words for something so innocent. Sucks to be you.

I happen to like themes. It gives me inspiration at times I might need it. (Coming up with new things to photograph every single day can leave a person with photographer's block every now and then.) I also like to see different people's interpretation of a theme - such as the Free Tibet.

And here's an FYI - the flowers for Peng Che that you hated so much? Her friend asked people to post flowers for Peng Che, a terminally ill woman, as a way to lift her spirits while she's in a hospital room, unable to have visitors. Do you have no compassion?

So flowers for a very ill woman piss you off? Who died and made you dictator?

Here's a clue - if you don't like themes, DON'T LOOK AT THE BLOG. Move on to the next one - and then get over yourself. Personally, I'd like to see every single member of photoblog post nothing but flowers for a day or two.

Sheesh.

Whoa! We all need to calm down in here. I feel Eidea is simply a little sarcastic with his comments and secretly looks forward to all the theme posts.

Shutterbug - I like the idea of a mass flower post; dedicated to our very own Mr Eidea of course ;)

first of all: thanks EVERYONE for engaging in this discussion. please keep in mind that i deliberately set it up as a rant, so as much as i am talking emotional bluntness here, you are encouraged to do so, too. in fact, i believe we don't do that enough on photoblog.

some remarks:
a) i never said nor do i hate the flowers for peng che action. i do have more compassion for a woman dying from cancer than i might show here... i believe such compassion is very intimate and a private thing and not to be confused with loudly posting your flower pictures (which YOU place all over the whole system anyway at any unneeded possibility) with a title that claims your compassion - i liked emmetan's action which was set up very humble and decent, but it's been developed into a monster. that peng che can't have real flowers in her room, is a sad thing... but have you ever thought of that your virtual surrogates might make her miss the REAL thing even more?

b) i have a similar opinion about the "free tibet" theme. i don't know who came up with it, but it's a cheesy, cheap way of supporting the poor (unfree) tibetans in their fight for freedom, because you actually don't do ANYTHING to help them, just walk our after your post feeling you have supported them. if you want to help tibetans, please go there and fight with them, let yourself be smashed to bloody meat samples, spend your money to support tibetan freedom fighters or whatever... but stop feeling righteous by posting mostly romanticized, usually unrelated, aestetisized pics. this is a political conflict between two countries, and a "photoblog chain action" is the last thing that'll help to solve it. i know this sounds arrogant and judgy, but it's meant rather as a resignated statement... i've been reading up and discussing tibet in the past weeks a lot and the more i checked into it, the more it gets confused. everything i saw posted here was a naive simplification and therefore more a statement of the poster's misunderstanding than helpful for tibet in any way.

c) emma is right: i'm using a slightly ironic, somewhat sarcastic provocation style here to stir things up a bit. it's a rhetoric METHOD and it works quite well for me. do not mistake it for some real rage; i'm well aware of my limits.

d) to clarify this again (for those of you who can't be bothered the whole discussion): "themes piss me off" is a rant and to my poor knowledge of english, it means that "themes make me go away in anger, themes make me look elsewhere, themes make me click on when i happen to stumble about one"... so yes, i AM not looking at them as much as i can. however, not looking at something is not a good method to change it, that's why i try to make us think about WHY the heck we should need this themes stuff, instead of simply posting our pictures and have fun looking at them... without all this games, competitions, collections, supposed similarities or inspirations from someone coming up randomly with a topic and declaring it a "theme". it just reminds me of children's play (which is nice, too, but hey i thought you're all a bit more grown up here?), it becomes boring after a while (ok, that's very subjective, i agree) and it somehow feels like not taking the pictures seriously. it gives some fake meaning to them, instead of giving viewers the chance to find out about their meaning themselves.

e) i'd like to apologize if i have offended anyone with this rant - it's not my intention.

sincerely,
eidea

Photoblog needs Eidea - someone who has the energy to challenge. You can disagree with him and do what makes you happy, but isn't it exciting to have someone openly express a disagreement?

I think it is. Especially since he does it playfully and with humour. the mall filled with nothing but flower shops and just one other store hidden behind the escalator - that was funny.

And even if you strongly disagree with him, could he just possibly have a point worth making?

I would like to see a theme: Challengers
who are the theme arrangers around here? Lindy?

Can we have a Challengers theme?

actually i respect mr. eidea for speaking his mind, something alot of people here don't do !

i for one do not always participate in Themes, i can take it or leave it.
there are other things here i can go off on !
like allowing people to use photoblog to promote a business. ( fake watches )

sure a challenges theme Julia.. yeah we need to calm down here ..

I did want you to know Michael we posted flowers for Peng che Because her best friend (Emmetan) ASKED us to post the pictures so she could print them and brighten her hospital room because she cannot have real flowers and Peng Che was very moved and touched by them...


I probally would not of even said a word about any of this had the whole Peng Che thing not been mentioned ..

Oh and I disagree (something you like us to do right?) about the FREE TIBET issue..I think if anything it helped raised awareness of the situation .. and I myself read about it more because of the posts and am indeed looking into ways to help as you suggested ...


oh and last but not least my lasted post is a flower for you called tangerine dreams.. what better title since you are so into bands... this is done in sarcastic humour you love and I hope I have appeased the rage some....



so there is my Rant..

good rant, LIndy.

It was the Peng Che comment that set me off, too, as well as what I perceived to be an attack on Lindy because she likes flowers. I had also initially missed the part where English is not his first language. If that's the case, maybe the phrase "annoys me" is more fitting, rather than "pisses me off." The choice of words conveyed (to me) a very angry, hurtful post, and that may not have been his intention.

The thing is, photography is many different things to different people, as is Photoblog. Some are using it to document their daily life, and others are using it to create art; to express themselves. Some are serious about photography as an art form, and others just like taking snapshots.

Not everyone will appreciate the same thing. I happen to take a lot of bird photos, because that is what's around me, and what interests me. I also take pictures of my dogs, because they are a big part of my life. I realize that not everyone loves bird or dog photos, and that's ok. However, it's pretty harsh to rip someone apart because you don't like the subject of their photos, and that's what appeared to be happening here. This is where the old saying would fit - If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

As for themes, this is not a concept that's unique to Photoblog. There are many sites and photo contests that have themes. In fact, I don't know of a single photo contest that doesn't have a theme. I realize that the themes here aren't contests; however, they are a way to challenge photographers to try a new subject, or maybe a different interpretation of a subject they've previously photographed. While many members may be posting on the same theme, it's not always the same theme that an individual member usually photographs - hence the challenge.

Personally, I welcome any opportunity to expand my photographic horizons. If I don't care for a theme, I won't play the game that week. It doesn't mean no one else should. If you don't care for themes, don't look at the blogs. However, just because you dislike something doesn't mean others can't enjoy it - and they shouldn't be looked down upon for doing so.

What a boring world (and blog) it would be if we all liked the same things...

It would be such a shame if people, like Eidea, didn't speak their mind/rant/whatever.

Eidea, you say you don't intend to offend anyone, and I have to admit I don't quite believe you. I think you intend to offend people a little bit.

You want to annoy, not to hurt - that's what I imagine. And sometimes you overshoot when the thing you are criticizing comes from the heart of the person who expressed it.

It isn't easy to be a challenger.

Eidea, What I see in alot of this thread, is that you can make a comment, but when someone comes back with a response, you get threatend, I could be wrong but hey I have read the whole thread, I have to agree with others if you don't like it don't read or look at it, and if you think we are all kids...............Is that a bad thing? Thats my Input

geez... is this now about ME and my bad english, my lack of sense, my wanting to provoke and my probably completely disturbed personality?

it's a METHOD, people, like an actor uses to get something expressed! i rant, so yes, some of you get annoyed, and some get a lot of fuel into their brain cells and get an opinion... heck, a kingdom for an OPINION, not just some newspaper article knowledge or "i say this because my friend said it" bla bla!

and as all your wonderful comments prove - it worked!

so, please forget about ME and my reasons posting this, forget about my disfunctional language and disturbed annoying trouble maker brain... talk about the issue discussed here, which is:

"themes are a useless wast of time - they disrespect the individual picture and the person that made it - themes don't help anybody, don't inspire no one but just give FAKE structure to the way we perceive the world - themes are a sad excuse for making sense with your pictures - themes are BAD - and pictures of flowers, no matter ow nice they look or well they are taken, are just a topic completely used up even BEFORE anyone posted a flower blog here.

because right now, you're just stalling.

sincerely and still with you all without any anger,
eidea

I think "themes" give you an opportunity to stretch. I do not always participate in them but if I see a theme for something I haven't tried before, why not? If it helps me learn something new about photography than that's all I care about. If someone else happens to like a photo from a theme, all the better.

And just a thought....about 50 million cameras were sold in the past two years alone in the United States. That's not counting the millions sold in other countries or other years. And photography has been around for 100+ years. So if you think you have come up with an original idea that NO ONE has done before, you would be very lucky indeed. Odds are, if you've thought of it, someone else has already been there, done that. But that doesn't mean you should put your camera away because every photo is the unique view of a subject by the photographer (even if it's the same subject).

ok Provocation King...

I disagree... you have your right to your opinion .. I agree to that...

but themes actually helped me grow in my way of thinking of taking pictures and about life... and seeing how others thought or saw the same subject ...

also I am amazed how people think out of the box of how I see a theme ...ect...so it can be creative ...


and flowers ....well flowers are perfect, beautiful... countless , so many colors and downright sexy......

so there ... you wanted opinions, there they are...

more rant...... somebody please rave...

For what it's worth, I wasn't bashing your language skills. Besides, YOU were the one who said you had poor English! I was hoping that you meant annoyed, not pissed, because I'd hate to think that something as innocent as photography themes would actually provoke real anger in a person.

I see that I might be wrong.

You're of the opinion that themes are wrong. However, you don't seem to be willing to allow others to disagree with you. I'm all for discussing differences of opinion, as long as the parties agree to respect the opinions of each other. You seem unwilling to accept that a lot of us actually like themes, and a lot of us like flowers. Well, tough. Looks like you're gonna have to deal with it, because I'm going to take as many photos of flowers as I damn well please.

But don't worry your provocative little head over it, because I've blocked you from my blog. Now my pretty flowers and theme participation won't bother you.

Lindy, I'll rave.

I'll rave about your flowers, because I think they're beautiful. You don't just take a snapshot of a flower and call it art - you actually create art from flowers.

I love photographs of flowers, because I see many varieties that aren't available here. I love the beauty of a garden, and am glad that people are willing to share theirs with others.

I attended a macro workshop last year, and part of the class entailed a visit to the farmers' market. There were about 10 of us there. We all split up and photographed on our own, but when it came time to review photos, we found that almost every one of us had a photograph of sunflowers.

However, no two photographs were alike. I loved that. It showed that everyone has a different perspective - not just about flowers, but about everything in general.

And all of the sunflower photographs were beautiful.

I've already raved about themes, and am glad you're continuing them. They get me to think outside the box, and explore other avenues to photograph. Thank you for that.

THEMES ARE AS OLD AS ART ITSELF

In every art throughout history, there have been themes which are taken up by different artists.

christ on the cross,
the baby jesus on mary's lap,
the hunt,
the noble warrior,
the pastoral landscape,
young love
childhood innocence
the storm

these are all themes repeated in art.
Michaelangelo carved some pretty well known themes

themes can stimulate creativity as much as limit it.

Very well said, Julia.

Flowers have existed in art as well. Van Gogh's sunflowers, Monet's water lilies, etc.

Very well put Julia Thanks................And Lindy keep those themes rolling, just because one hates them to the point of just ranting, does not mean that bloggers don't want them, Everyone loves the themes...................I'm waiting for the rantman!!

this is the first interesting forum discussion we've had. If you don't like rants ... um ... I was going to say 'if you don't like rants, don't read them', but I think I'll change that. If you don't like rants, come here to the forum, read them, and post your replies. And then, if you are really, really angry about them, maybe you should go for a walk.