No, I'm Not Required to Reciprocate

It's been a while since I made a post. Sorry. I wish I could say it wasn't my fault, but it was and there's no one to blame but myself. You see, my niece was in town for nearly two weeks and from wake-up until bed-time I remained busy, busy, busy. Also, I spent a lot of time in the mountains and various areas that received little to no internet connection.

Huh? What?

That means it was nearly impossible for me to upload photos or anything else via mobile connection.

But let's move on.

I was recently perusing Streamzoo on my Note II and noticed a lot of people, especially younger people, claiming they will follow back if you start following them. Great! Reciprocating is fun and respectful, right?

Well, maybe.

There's no rule that says we need to follow people back. In the days of messageboards and Facebook following someone was a two-way street, but with the advent of Twitter and other social networks, people are free to follow whom they choose to follow without having to have those others follow back.

Wait. What?

You don't have to follow people back. If you're trying to build your follower numbers, sure a little reciprocation seems like a good idea, but what if your content isn't any good? Do I, or should I feel obligated, to follow you back? What if I follow you because you're smart, witty, interesting, etc but I post content that you find distasteful or childish? Should you feel obligated to follow me back?

The answer is no.

Follow what you like. In the case of Streamzoo, you're only posting selfies of yourself in the bathroom, or pictures of flowers, or all your images are the most hideous forms of HDR, why on Earth should anyone follow your content?

If, on Twitter, you follow me because you like my pictures (by the way, I don't have a Twitter account for photography) but you only post status updates about the Kardashians and I don't care about the Kardashians, why on Earth should I follow you?

Again, there's no rule.

Newsfeeds and social networks allow us to create a sphere of incoming content around us we wish to see, no longer being forced to see what other people choose to push upon us. If I want to see content about dogs, I can follow content about dogs -- I no longer have to wade through a pile of BS hoping for that small bit about man's best friend. If I want to follow Israeli/Palesitnian politics, why should I feel obligated to follow someone who posts about making sandwiches for their child all day long?

The short answer is, no, I won't automatically reciprocate.  I will peruse your content and choose whether or not it adds value to my incoming feeds. If you're only posting macro images of flowers and I'm already following people who post macro images of flowers, how does your content improve my feed?

In the case of photography, I'm looking for technical inspiration or something that sparks an emotion or a fond memory. The 150 images you posted of your car's dashboard doesn't do that at all. The family photos of your cats aren't really adding value to my stream either.

If you're upset that no one's following you, it's time to change your content. Yes, you're pretty but obviously only 12 people think you're pretty enough to follow. Yes, you have a good eye for taking pictures of tennis balls, but people want to see more from you than tennis balls. Go crazy, post a picture of a racquetball! Yes, it looks like you know how to turn on HDR on your iPhone ... now turn it off. HDR is hideous.

Picture Unlreated, but this is a Photography Blog after all.

The DeLaney House

The DeLaney house is a museum made from one of the oldest still standing homesteads in Aurora, CO. Built in the 1870s the house was moved from its original location to its current spot neara the Aurora municipal building.

I went there yesterday with my niece and these are a couple of the Android shots I grabbed with my phone. As always, they were edited with Snapseed.

Yesterday at the Park

Just a few more Android shots. These are from yesterday at the local state park. The weather was overcast and chilly giving me some great texture in the sky. Once again I wish I would have brought my dSLR with me while out walking the dogs.

As you can see, I edited fairly liberally with the Snapseed app and gave a couple of the images a little old-timey feel.

This Afternoon

A couple of pics fron this afternoon's cloud cover. These were caught with my Android while out walking the dogs since I left the house without my dSLR.

There were a couple more but these are the ones I'm sharing. The others were selfies and trust me -- you really don't want to see that.

As always, edited with Snapseed.

Summer in the City

Grabbed this little gem with my Android while walking the dogs. This is a scene from a nearby park within the city limits, therefore summer in the city. ::smiles::

Edited on the go with Snapseed.