Jay T.

This site was recommended to me by a new acquaintance. At first glance the site can get a person excited and motivated about photography. The idea of contests, pier awards and critiques was very attractive. So, I joined and started posting. Initially, the pier awards that I received made me feel good about my work and motivated me to get better. This site is good for that. Also, there are some great photos on here that you can learn from, gain ideas and stay motivated. However, after a couple of days and deeper analysis of the site, I am starting to question the credibility of this site. Don't get me wrong, there are some good people who are willing to interact with you, but I also believe that there are many ghosts on this site. After uploading my first few pictures, I noticed that I had been given awards. I went to look at what I had been awarded and from who. The first thing that I noticed was that I had received awards a week before I even joined the website. Second, one day I uploaded four photos. Before I could even get to my profile to make sure they loaded properly, three of the four photos had already received several awards. One of them had received four awards in less than a second. How is that even possible? This leads me to believe that pier awards are nothing more than computer generated awards. No photo can properly be critiqued that fast. That said, pier awards and badges hold no real value. Third, I received this email from them:

"You probably don't realize it, but you've awarded, liked, or commented on hundreds of images! Your support means a lot to your fellow ViewBug members, and it makes ViewBug the amazing place that it is. Thanks for doing what you do!

Since you're such a positive force in our community, we hope you'll accept our special invitation to become a ViewBug Curator. (Less than 5% of ViewBug members are invited to become Curators, so it's kind of a big deal.) What is a ViewBug Curator? It's an invite-only team of ViewBug members who help us keep the community vibrant and friendly."

The problem with this is that to date I only critiqued one photo, awarded zero, and like zero. I am not sure what the motivation for this email was. Probably another computer generated push. They are losing credibility with me almost daily.

Fourth, there needs to be more segregation on this site. They need to start comparing apples to apples, not apples to oranges. This site seems to be geared more towards people who have mastered the art of editing, not taking photos.

Finally, if you look at several other folks profile page, you will notice that they have several hundred or even a thousand likes, awards, ect... but only have 10-25 photos posted. I am not sure how that is possible either.

My recommendation for people using this site is to be cautious, and question everything. The only value I can truly see for this site is to look at others photos and learn from them. Try and find real people to talk with and exchange messages. However, there are so many over processed and HDR photos, finding a true photographer, who is more purist, may be a challenge.