Student Photography Online Community

[Spearin]

Is there a forum/community online geared towards students (at the university/college level)?

If not, would anyone be interested in being part of one... if one was started?

[blinking8s]

specific universities do, and im working on a new one for my school but the project is a little more than just a community...

but the issue is, you have two boundaries to overcome...finding a stable usergroups and something that brings them together, and the devision between art photographers and photojournalism, they are two totally separate fields and merging them in a community will be hard to do...

i'd join one for sure, im an active forum on 8 forums as it is, 3 of them being photography based...but you're going to have to offer more than just a forum for it to take off. i've seen many an attempt fail...

[Spearin]

hmm Very good points.

I actually did think of a student photography resource, but a lot of time and effort and committment would have to go into making that happen. Best to start off with a forum to see if it sparks and grows.

I think with the appropriate advertisements and such, it could bring a lot of people together, but then again there needs to be that incentive. One thing that kind of turns me off about general public photography forums is that a lot of people are very amateur and don't really have too much knowledge about even how a photo is taken. For that, they don't take too well to giving or receiving proper critiques. However, someone who has at least some education in photography will know and understand what it takes to capture and image... and should know how to critique properly.

So why not a 'pros' forum? Students are in a good position. They can use each other to improve. Even professionals posting on a student board would be great to have the input. This kind of makes for an 'elitist' sort of thing though, which isn't viewed too highly by most.

I don't think there would be a big problem making a distinction between Photojournalism and Fine Art photography on a forum. For the forums that I'm a part of (which I think are the same 3 as you are), they don't make a large distinction, except for iPhotoForum. I can safely say that I am aspiring to more of the photojournalism field (capturing events) rather than fine art or studio work. However, I still enjoy bringing the artistic element into photojournalistic style images.

With that said, would you have any suggestions on how one could work? Also, are you at any discretion to say what you're working on for your school?

[blimmer]

you could initiate a cross cultural exchange of some sort between students from each university
but what exactly is the purpose of the site? a resource for aspiring photographers or to promote photography among students?
i'm from the singapore management university and i'll be more than happy to trade photos and exchange pointers

my suggestion would be to start a theme and get students to contribute a picture for that theme, much like www.lensday.com
since you're targetting university students, revolve the theme around the campus and such

[Spearin]

I like that idea of themes revolving around campus/university life :)

But yeah, basically what you said is correct. It would be a gathering place for students to share their photos and critique each other (like we do in the classroom) to help improve one another. The main thing though, is that critiques would be coming from people who have formal education in photography, so have a qualified opinion (not that anyone without formal photography education doesn't have a qualified opinion!)

It would be a place to share ideas and share work and ask questions from other people who pretty much have the same level of perspective.

[blimmer]

do you have any qualified professionals in mind? getting them to critique on a regular basis might be the stumbling block

building a community requires a critical mass of users to make it viable. perhaps you would like to think about drumming up interest and get a simple forum started. the forum could then move on to a portal and a resource

i'll definitely be interested, keep me updated. i'll pm you my contacts

[Spearin]

perhaps you would like to think about drumming up interest and get a simple forum started. the forum could then move on to a portal and a resource
That's exactly what I have in mind. I don't have any specific professionals in mind, but if this goes through, I would contact as many schools as possible to let them know of the community. This will hopefully spark the interest of not just students, but possibly instructors as well. With some more advertising and promotion, it may be able to bring in some additional pros.

[blimmer]

great! i see a project in the making. a pity we're the only ones talking about it. hopefully there will be more interest from the colleges. start targeting the campus photographic societies/clubs

scour www.photographycorner.com for people and ideas

[pebbledesignscouk]

www.pebble-designs.co.uk


this is a uni based student web site to upload your pictures and talk about eachother pictures.

it is still being promoted so keep coming back.

Im sending information packs to a variety of unis

[blinking8s]

but just a sharing site doesnt offer much. what else is it going to provide.

[pebbledesignscouk]

There will be competitions etc for people to enter. ive also emailed a load of magazines and websites for support. ive had good feedback and review. its similar to www. deviantart .com.

what would you like to see?

[pebbledesignscouk]

There will be competitions etc for people to enter. ive also emailed a load of magazines and websites for support. ive had good feedback and review. its similar to www. deviantart .com.

what would you like to see?
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