One of the moderators who helps run the entire r/AlternateAngles community shared with Bored Panda their take on why the subreddit continues to be so popular and why people are so fascinated by entirely new perspectives.
"We are a unique subreddit that offers pictures that you don't normally see in other subs or the internet in general," they told Bored Panda, adding that sometimes you do see cross-posts from other subreddits or taken from the internet, e.g. from Facebook.
"I think the fascination of, for example, the back frame of the Mona Lisa, is something most people never get to see. We generally don't allow pictures of cats, dogs, food, and generic houses with some spin, but require famous artwork, people, monuments, or events—something everyone will recognize from all the famous photos that are published, but not from the perspective of the photo posted in our sub."
In the mod's opinion, the perspective can completely change the tone and feel of the photo. However, they noted that most, if not all, of the images shared on r/AlternateAngles "aren't from professional photographers but instead by Joe Average with an iPhone instead of the latest and greatest digital camera" which means that the sub really is open to everyone. The angle and the idea behind it are more interesting than all the other technical fluff.
"It's those alternate angles that aren't well published that give people a unique perspective of a location, event, or artwork that they had never been made aware of."
The mod took the Mona Lisa example a bit further to show the unique perspective (pun not intended) that the sub brings even more. "Everyone can go on the internet and see a picture or travel to the Louvre Museum. It was at an odd time while they were fixing the location that a few people could see the back side for the first time. The same could be applied to taking a photo of the Statue of Liberty looking straight up or a photo of 9-11 from an amateur that hadn't been published before. I think people are fascinated by that," the moderator shared with Bored Panda.
"Personally, I feel the quality of the photo has little to do with the popularity but rather the uniqueness of the photo and perspective. The centering of the photo, the proper color gradient, and the perfect focus have little to do with popularity. I think also it is very subjective as to what users are interested in, however, the more unique the perspective plays a large part into how popular a post is."
#7 Don't Know About You, But I Very Rarely See Images Of The Grand Canyon Taken From Right Down At The Bottom. It's A Very Long Way Down, And In A Sense A Much Longer Way Back Up - That Might Be The Reason
#8 Last Photograph Of The Last Run Of Ladder 118 As It Crosses The Brooklyn Bridge... None Of The Firefighters Would Survive
Created relatively recently, at the start of summer in 2019, the subreddit has become the home to nearly 150k redditors since then. The community has a very unique way of looking at history, art, landmarks, and life in general, and it’s what keeps its members coming back.
The content is as educational as it is entertaining, and odds are that you’ll end up sending quite a few of these pics to your friends if you’re anything like us. And the cool thing is that once you realize that r/AlternateAngles is a thing, you can’t help but start considering events, well-known places, and even ideas from different sides.
Previously, my colleague reached out to the mod team helping run the entire r/AlternateAngles community, and they were kind enough to answer some of Bored Panda’s questions.
They told us a bit about the origins of the group: “A comment in another subreddit of famous pictures suggested that someone should create a sub of different views of famous pictures, which led to the creation of r/AlternateAngles by u/Murkon and another Redditor who decided to step down and is no longer a moderator.”
According to the mods, the concept of r/AlternateAngles “can be summed up by a rule: Limit all submissions to alternate views, or unique perspectives, of well-known locations, items, people, and events. An alternate angle of your kitchen does not qualify but Gordon Ramsay's kitchen does."
In the mods’ opinion, what’s well-known is very subjective. “The occasional post of an obviously non-well-known picture slips through, but we strive to keep with the original objective,” they told Bored Panda.
Some posts actually turn out to be fakes or have been photoshopped, which goes against the rules of the subreddit. The moderators rely on the help of their “fantastic and active user base” to help out with filtering out those.
Those of you who plan on posting, not just lurking, on the sub should keep a few additional rules in mind. Obviously, you shouldn’t be manipulating or editing any photos to try and trick the internet. That’d just mean (and frankly, we don’t really see the point).
#15 A Flying Giant Squirrel From India (Petaurista Philippensis) Caught In The Act On A Sunny Day
#16 I've Never Walked Directly Under An Electricity Pylon Before! There's Some Brilliant Symmetry
What’s more, you should aim to write descriptive titles that let redditors know exactly what they’re seeing. Adding dates is also “highly encouraged.” Meanwhile, if you’re posting a photo of a structure or landmark, then it must bring some unique alternate value. For instance, you might share a pic of a building while it’s being renovated or what it was like while it was still under construction. In short, show the subreddit an alternate temporal angle, too, not just a spatial one.
Alas, if you’re a fan of memes, then r/AlternateAngles is definitely not the place for those. What’s more, the mod team wants everyone to have a great time, so there’s a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks on other redditors. You can end up being banned if you don’t follow the rules (which might provide a very unusual angle to the whole subreddit experience, but that’s way too meta and it’s better not to risk it).
