SeriousCompacts.com is now PhotographersLounge.org

The lounge concept, doesn't promote action. It suggests "day's end"! Too much like my life. Forced retirement, waiting for heaven's call.
Please, try to understand. I'm not complaining. Just expressing my thoughts. I'll probably drop by from time to time, but not be very active.
You folks were friendly to me, in a time when I needed it.
Thanks a lot!

Hi Steve,

I don't think this changes the forum. This "PLACE", by whatever name, was never the place where we acted, or took action. It's where we'd come to hang out and say hello and toss ideas and thoughts around when we WEREN'T acting. When I'm out with my camera shooting, I'm diong, taking action, getting something done, working the process. And even when I'm back at my computer processing my shots, I'm doing the same thing, although in a less physically active mode. But I only spend so many hours of the day "out shooting" and I don't do it every day by a long shot. I love the time I do, but life is not all photography. The place, whether a lounge or serious compacts, is the day to come hang out at the end of a day of activity (or non-activity or not even the end of the day), just a place to drop in and say hi to people you know, however virtually. It's the electronic version of the bar some might stop at on the way home from work just to see some friends and joke around or talk about something that's on their minds.

I don't think that changes with the name. I think the name just better reflects what the place has become, organically, over the years. The goals and actions we're each responsible for and never came from a web forum - the web forum is just a place to come by and say hi and talk about what's on your mind. When you're NOT out doing.

I hope you'll reconsider and stay around. Or, if you don't, I hope it's for some reason or combination of reasons well beyond the name change. Because I don't think the name changes the nature of the place...

-Ray
 
....Because I don't think the name changes the nature of the place...

-Ray

The name as such won't immediately change the nature of the place because the place is still populated by those people who are already members. However, for whatever reason those members choose to join a site called "Serious Compacts". I'm assuming that there was something in that name that drove them to investigate the site, and then to join it. Therefore in the future, if that reasoning is true, there will be people who are driven to investigate a site called "Photographers Lounge". I would suggest that those people might bring a different ethos to the forum which in time would change its nature. It could be argued that change is good, one of those things that can't be assessed until it happens.

For me the site was losing some of its relevance before the name change, hence when reminded about my subscription lapsing a few days ago I didn't rush to renew it. For me the name change continues the process whereby the site is becoming less relevant, so my visits here are likely to dwindle with time.

Barrie
 
Regarding relevance .. I joined in 2013 The Camera that brought me here was the F660 - small, shirt pocketable, cheap (ie affordable).
This camera & its ilk have more or less disappeared all within 15 months or so. I believe I was one of the few here using such a small camera, the majority posts were already from larger cameras most of which were for me not affordable.
I also have to question the term "compact" when its seems its a minority few that can slip into a jacket pocket. (Carry additional lenses in a bag or leave them at home).
The market was changing when I bought into it. I think the broader remit of the site is only right & a mature approach.
 
Begging the forum members indulgence, I'd like to take a little of your time to more fully explain my position.

In all probability any forum is perhaps unsuitable for me. Face to face you'd find me a man of few words, I'm "blessed" with a mild form of Asperger's syndrome which manifests itself as a difficulty in social situations which does tend to leave me rather disinterested in many of the cares of my fellow members of mankind (I hope that doesn't sound too harsh). I also have little interest in the discussion of "gear". That was different in the early days of m4/3 when some of us were using adapted lenses and there were questions from new members trying to get their head around focal length, field of view and the like with such equipment. Then I would wade in and offer my own experiences if they were relevant. The increase in the range of native lenses has reduced that aspect of the scene.

So, I tend to be an image man. My joining a local camera club (with some difficulty given the above) has meant a great deal to me in terms of image appreciation, critique, etc. Also my form of photography tends to veer towards recording/documenting my part of the world. Whilst some of my images can stand alone I like to piece them together in a crude photo essay style. Many of the images posted on here are of a good standard, however I much prefer those that have some text attached to them even if only to give some idea where they were taken, it certainly increases my appreciation of them.

I realise my views might be out of step with the majority of site users, I've become used to being out of step with my fellow man over the years. Whilst I'm not a recluse, I think I'd be a very good candidate for becoming one.

So please don't take my recent posts as some form of complaining from the sidelines, I realise that they might have sounded like that, that was not the intention. If there are any shortcomings they are in my own make up. When I was actively taking photographs back in the 1970's few if any people saw the results and I drifted away from the hobby. I don't want that to happen again and as I see it the best way for me to prevent that happening is with the face to face situation in the camera club rather than on this, or perhaps any forum.

If you have read and understood my point of view, thank you for taking the time.

Barrie
 
Barry, thank you for sharing. I think that sometimes we forget that photography is many things to many people, and often thereby much greater than the sum of its parts. We all take different things from it - hobby, pastime, therapy and profession - and sometimes don't understand - or are even intolerant of - what others get from it if it is not the same as ourselves.

On the gear <~> image axis I have found myself getting further to the right as I have got older; I am less interested in the ins and outs of every new model or feature and find myself becoming much more picky in what gear I use. For a couple of decades I used Leica, but I got drawn into the penumbra of disagreement and combativeness that seems to dog the brand and I realised that life was just too short to go on playing that game.

There have been times in my life when I have used photography as therapy, solace and raison d'être dehors et environ and there is no doubt that it helped me in those times.
 
In keeping with the change, I switched the default site style / color to gray, which I think is a better overall choice for viewing most photos. The previous orange site style remains selectable in the style chooser (bottom left corner of any page).
 
Hi Amin:

Congrats on the rebranding. Will there be any new Photographers' Lounge podcasts? Maybe post-Photokina? I really enjoy them. And there's new Fuji cameras and some very cool Panasonic M43s rumored to be arriving soon!

Keep up the good work.
 
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