Hey Everyone! I hope today finds you healthy and safe. Where's your gallery? What a question. I thought of this at my virtual camera club meeting when we were discussing a local exhibit that we were going to put our photos in.  And I got to thinking, why would I go to the effort of printing a large print of something, frame it, and get it ready to hang?  I'm not trying to sell it. The local Arts Council, although nice, is small and doesn't get that much traffic. So I started wondering about galleries and the purpose of showing off your art there. I guess most of us dream of being a professional photographer, traveling the world, and living off of our art like the people we see on YouTube or Instagram. But the truth is 99.9 % of us are never going to make this into a profession. I know I'm not and really don't want to.  I love taking photographs, the act of it. The photo is the byproduct of the shoot to me. The experience of traveling or seeing something new is what I treasure. I am and always will be an amateur. And I'm okay with that. I'm also okay with people that want to be professional or semi-professional or just do it on the side for a few bucks. Well, I see I've gotten off on a tangent. Back to galleries.  

My galleries, I guess, are Instagram, Flickr, and occasionally Facebook. I also consider my house a gallery,  and I like to hang my work around the house as well as photos of family and friends.  Within the last couple of years, I've been making a Year in Review book of my work that I hope will be handed down through the generations of my family.

Instagram- If you follow me you know that I post to Instagram daily or at least try to. If you want to keep up with my work, it is here that you should go. I like the interaction and all of the great photos you can see there. But it has been acquired by Facebook, my least favorite place to post photographs. I don't like the way that they compress the photos, and sometimes they look blurry when they are not blurry. But for right now Instagram is doing fine, so I'll keep posting for now.

Facebook- I used to post most of my stuff to Facebook, but then I don't like the compression, like I mentioned before.  I do like all of the social interaction that you get with everyone, but there is a lot of negativity happening on Facebook that I don't like.  I usually check Facebook once in the morning and once in the evening. Other than that I try not to look at Facebook too much.

Flickr- In the early-2000s I started posting to Flickr. I don't post much anymore because it has changed hands a couple of times. However, in the last year or so it has been bought by SmugMug, which is a great photography company.  I've got a feeling that this will become my next daily-post platform. I love the way my photos look on Flickr and all of the groups that you can join.

500 PX - Another platform that I have occasionally posted to but not in a while, and I don't know why.  Your photos look great and there is a lot to look at. When I go to a new place, this is one of the sites I go to so I can see what other people have posted and what's already out there.

I do think that you should share your work, but formal galleries may not be the place to go for most of us. I do think it is important to print your best work. But for most of us, I think that an online gallery is the best choice and maybe the best way to get others to see our work.  Social media is big in our culture now, and photography is a big part of it. So sites like Flickr, 500 Px, Instagram, and even Facebook are some places to have your online gallery. Being a photographer is more than what you can do to make money, and formal galleries, to me, are geared toward making money in some form or fashion. So I will not be submitting photos to be hung in a gallery this time with our club. To tell you the truth, I don't think I have anything that is formal gallery worthy. For those who want to see their art hung in a formal gallery, I think that's great, and it is fun the first time you see your work on a wall. Well, that's my two cents on that subject. Until next week keep shooting and get outside.