Getting Lost in the Archives...
11/28/2021
Recently I decided that I was feeling pretty done with social media. I didn't feel compelled to post anything at all on Instagram, which was my last frontier of social media, after I got kicked off of Facebook for not using my real name. Well, not kicked off per se, but my account was deactivated until I uploaded my birth certificate (...) to prove my identity. I decided not to. I know that I'm supposed to use my real name, and I can't say that I don't understand the consequences, though I know plenty of other people who were definitely not using their real name, and there were seemingly no repercussions. I took to Instagram for a while, and during the first few months of the isolation of the pandemic, it was a welcome connection. I built up my followers, and I was enjoying the interactions with people from around the world, seeing beautiful places that still seem a long way off for the opportunity to visit. Then it turned into more of a chore, something I'd dread to log on to, to answer the more and more comments and messages. I began to log on less and less, and though I've not deleted the account, I haven't been on to check it for a few months now, and I don't miss it. After the court cases surrounding Facebook, and really, Instagram IS Facebook, I couldn't bring myself to post anything. Any content I added would affect someone, by encouraging them to spend more time on the platform and I really don't feel like that's something I want to encourage. Personally, I've felt the negative effects of social media, and realize that the more time I spend on the platform, the worse I feel. (Of course, it could be the other way around, but both feeling bad and spending time on social media seem to go hand in hand and feed off each other, so why encourage either one?)
There was a pause, a gap, left when I didn't go back to Instagram, and I filled it with my old Gurushots account. I hadn't been on there for years, maybe last in 2018, and I'd forgotten my password, and the phone that had the app on it had long been replaced. I finally remembered the password and logged into my account. I'd been stuck at Master level for a while, and that was where I was at when I returned. There were several new features added since I'd been gone, including team challenges and Leagues, among others. I did join a team, and though I kind of liked the non-social media aspect of Gurushots, the team gives just a little bit of personality to the other players on the platform. Just enough to make me question whether I want to continue to be a part of a team anymore. It is one more way to engage folks to come back to the platform, to play in more challenges, and while I understand that, it definitely is a money making platform, too. I have never bought any of the fills or swaps, etc, that are available to purchase, nor have I paid money to have my photo be part of one of their exhibitions. I'm sure the exhibitions are legitimate, and if I lived closer to one of the cities where they are holding them, I may change my mind, but for now, I'm spending zero dollars on the platform. It's just a game. I'm using it to encourage myself to look through older photos and work on my editing skills, but mostly I'm using it to take more photos. In the three years since I played, I've noticed a big difference in what I shoot, what photos stand out to me, and how I edit my work. I've also learned more about playing the actual game part (which may or may not have to do with having excellent photos), and much of that has come from the other players on my team. In the month that I rejoined, I achieved guru status (when you get to the top, you go back to the bottom - as now I'm a baby guru, all the way at the bottom of what now has seven guru levels...), I deleted the majority of my uploaded photos, mostly because I was tired of constantly scrolling through the same images and not really uploading new work for challenges, so I thought it would help to delete them, and it has to a certain extent. I also fought furiously to work my way into the Gold II league, and I'm way out of my league, and I realized that I don't really care about the leagues anymore, and don't bother to check them. I still join every challenge, despite teammates thinking that is crazy. I don't vote frequently, and I have no hope of ever winning a challenge by being top photo/photographer, because the end game is intense and really doesn't show the merit of a photo, but rather take in the most votes from the voting frenzy in the last ten minutes of the challenge. It was easier to gain the attention of the guru running the contest and attaining the top guru pick - I only needed one person to vote for my photo, instead of competing with hundreds of others for hundreds of votes from everyone else. It worked, and now I'm past that hurdle, as you only need to win one contest, and now it's all GS points, All Star level, and Top 100 level finishes. I was disappointed by the fact that gurus no longer get to suggest themes for their own challenges. Rather, there is a set pool of challenge themes and gurus submit a photo for the cover shot of the challenge, and the 'best' one is selected, and that guru gets to run the challenge. I do have the 'Manage' challenges tab on my profile now, but there has never been a challenge available to even submit a cover photo to, as it is a feature that is only being rolled out to a few members at a time. So that's very different than my naive head had thought it would be.
I'm not sure how long I'll hang around on Gurushots this time. For now, I'm using it as a way to spend the non-existent free time I have to search out (and, hopefully, take new) images. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the recent additions that I have taken and come across in my searches and travels over the past few weeks.
There was a pause, a gap, left when I didn't go back to Instagram, and I filled it with my old Gurushots account. I hadn't been on there for years, maybe last in 2018, and I'd forgotten my password, and the phone that had the app on it had long been replaced. I finally remembered the password and logged into my account. I'd been stuck at Master level for a while, and that was where I was at when I returned. There were several new features added since I'd been gone, including team challenges and Leagues, among others. I did join a team, and though I kind of liked the non-social media aspect of Gurushots, the team gives just a little bit of personality to the other players on the platform. Just enough to make me question whether I want to continue to be a part of a team anymore. It is one more way to engage folks to come back to the platform, to play in more challenges, and while I understand that, it definitely is a money making platform, too. I have never bought any of the fills or swaps, etc, that are available to purchase, nor have I paid money to have my photo be part of one of their exhibitions. I'm sure the exhibitions are legitimate, and if I lived closer to one of the cities where they are holding them, I may change my mind, but for now, I'm spending zero dollars on the platform. It's just a game. I'm using it to encourage myself to look through older photos and work on my editing skills, but mostly I'm using it to take more photos. In the three years since I played, I've noticed a big difference in what I shoot, what photos stand out to me, and how I edit my work. I've also learned more about playing the actual game part (which may or may not have to do with having excellent photos), and much of that has come from the other players on my team. In the month that I rejoined, I achieved guru status (when you get to the top, you go back to the bottom - as now I'm a baby guru, all the way at the bottom of what now has seven guru levels...), I deleted the majority of my uploaded photos, mostly because I was tired of constantly scrolling through the same images and not really uploading new work for challenges, so I thought it would help to delete them, and it has to a certain extent. I also fought furiously to work my way into the Gold II league, and I'm way out of my league, and I realized that I don't really care about the leagues anymore, and don't bother to check them. I still join every challenge, despite teammates thinking that is crazy. I don't vote frequently, and I have no hope of ever winning a challenge by being top photo/photographer, because the end game is intense and really doesn't show the merit of a photo, but rather take in the most votes from the voting frenzy in the last ten minutes of the challenge. It was easier to gain the attention of the guru running the contest and attaining the top guru pick - I only needed one person to vote for my photo, instead of competing with hundreds of others for hundreds of votes from everyone else. It worked, and now I'm past that hurdle, as you only need to win one contest, and now it's all GS points, All Star level, and Top 100 level finishes. I was disappointed by the fact that gurus no longer get to suggest themes for their own challenges. Rather, there is a set pool of challenge themes and gurus submit a photo for the cover shot of the challenge, and the 'best' one is selected, and that guru gets to run the challenge. I do have the 'Manage' challenges tab on my profile now, but there has never been a challenge available to even submit a cover photo to, as it is a feature that is only being rolled out to a few members at a time. So that's very different than my naive head had thought it would be.
I'm not sure how long I'll hang around on Gurushots this time. For now, I'm using it as a way to spend the non-existent free time I have to search out (and, hopefully, take new) images. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the recent additions that I have taken and come across in my searches and travels over the past few weeks.
Child sits in red chair wrapped in red blanket
|
|
This was a fun little grouping of images - complimentary colors and simple color compositions. All the horizontal pics were taken in a short time in my back yard, utilizing the fall colors to make complimentary color compositions. It was an enjoyable practice. The vertical, of my youngest son wrapped in a red blanket and sitting on a red chair, was taken in the summer at my mom's house. We'd gone down to the river, and when we got back he was wet and cold, so we wrapped him up. Out of the four, that one is my favorite, but I wouldn't upload it to Gurushots now, as it really is true that the platform favors horizontal images. You can have the greatest vertical shot, and it won't get as many votes because it is displayed so small compared to the horizontal pics. So I save my vertical shots for other applications.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|