In reply to Michael Gordon:
> Why? I would go with your gut and not worry about how well an image may be received. They're free to post up, no?
Haha you’re totally right, and in an ideal world I would! As I’m becoming more confident in my own photography it’s something I’m trying to do more of (as in go with my gut and post more of the photos I personally like rather than the ones which I know might be more reliably well received). But I guess as a someone who does this for a living I feel really invested in what I do and care about the photos I take, and that naturally leads to caring about what others think about my work and how it gets received. I guess this is a fairly human response and most other photographers/filmmakers/creatives will feel the same. In a world where that kind of appraisal (and also critique) comes in the form of likes/comments on social media (and a scoring system on here for example), it (for better or worse) conditions you to post the images that you think will generally be more reliably well received.
I’m not in any way criticising the situation (I definitely wouldn’t have been able to make a career that I really love taking photos in the mountains without social media/UKC etc). Just providing a bit of personal insight and experience to answer your question.
I really enjoy the weekly photo comps and seeing the broad variety of great images both from ‘pro’ photographers alongside perhaps less polished but equally great photos that members of the climbing community have just taken on fun days out where they happen to have a camera with them and have caught a great moment. It’s something really unique and special about the photo comps on UKC.
I’ve generally not been posting as many photos on UKC as I used to, but I guess I’m now inspired/encouraged to go with my gut instinct and post a few more of the shots I personally really like that are perhaps a bit different!