The founder and one of the administrators of the 'Unspectacular Subject Photograhy' group, Reekers, told us about the idea behind the entire Facebook group. According to the founder, focusing on 'unspectacular' subjects can help show the depth and breadth of a photographer's skills.
"If you, for instance, take the skyline of New York by night (with or without fireworks in the sky), many people can make a beautiful picture of that subject," Reekers told Bored Panda.
However, "if you take an unspectacular subject, for instance, an empty box on the street, it very much depends on the personal creative skills of the photographer to make an interesting picture."
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The founder added: "Composition, the light, color, atmosphere, etc. become very important." This should then lead to a greater expression of personal creativity. "That is what I am interested in."
Reekers suggested that new members in the group should start off by enjoying themselves, looking around, and having fun taking photos.
They should also experiment, ignore bad comments, and shouldn't bother thinking about how many likes they'll get. "I find it interesting when a photograph isn't liked by anyone," the administrator of the group said.
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We were curious to get Reekers' thoughts on what photographers could do to move past their sense of frustration when things don't turn out as well as they'd hoped. The admin told Bored Panda that creatives should embrace that sense of frustration.
"If you take more pictures you will get better. I also think that looking at good paintings can improve your photographs."
Initially, Reekers made the public group on Facebook just because they wanted to see what would happen. "I didn't want to judge. A consequence of that is that sometimes discussions appear. Discussions are okay as long as they remain respectful, and the subject is the image itself."
Bored Panda wanted to get photography expert Sberna's thoughts on how creatives can deal with the disappointment and frustrations that are part of any worthwhile pursuit.
According to the Ohio-based photographer, there is no magical solution when you don't get the results or make the progress that you want, aside from sustained effort.
"To move past the frustration of not achieving the results you want, just try and try again," Sberna told Bored Panda.
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“Practice makes perfect, and even I don’t always get the results that I want,” he pointed out that no matter who you talk to, nobody will always get the results that they aim to get.
“Sometimes, it [the frustration] is inevitable, but other times, it just takes a different way of looking at things,” he shared his take on moving past these negative feelings.
We were curious how amateur photographers can make their images look more artistic and elevate the overall quality of their work.
Photographer Sberna said that following the "tried and true" elements of art and principles of design when composing your pictures is a very good start. You can think of these as the building blocks of art and design.
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For example, among the elements of art that you can consider are lines, shapes, colors, texture, form, value, and space.
Meanwhile, the main principles of design focus on balance, emphasis, movement, pattern, repetition, proportion, rhythm, variety, and unity.
“Breaking these rules is okay, too, so long as you do it in a way that works for you. Sometimes, being artistic comes down to the individual and how they view something they're creating," he told Bored Panda.
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The Facebook group itself is fairly new as far as online communities go. It was created in late July 2022. In less than two years, the ‘Unspectacular Subject Photography’ project drew in just shy of 92k members.
It continues to grow to this day. Just in the last week, 6k new Facebook users joined.
The members of this community are incredibly active. At the time of writing, they made a whopping 10k posts in the last month alone. It just goes to show how many creative people are out there! What also helps is that the Facebook group sets a low barrier to entry.
Not all of us live right next to spectacular views of nature that we can photograph. But all of us are surrounded by lots of simple and common items.
