1. What is the point of having say a single photo published for 'years' and a number of rejected photos which appear to the author to be better than the published one?

2. With all due respect to the 'curators' (they are only people with taste) why would their judgement be of any significance at all (at least to me)?

3. If I cannot publish what I like in my '1x published portfolio' why then Ralf and Jacob or the 'curators' have that privilege?

4. If it is 'theirs' online gallery how much is that different from say my favourite list on Flickr (where I am the 'curator' and even need not to own the site to be able to express my personal taste in photography)?.

5. What is actually the 'purpouse' of 1x?

Thanks (in hope that no one has been offended :) ) 

Yes you may ask, you probably won't like the answers, but you certainly may ask.

Actually all the practical answers to your questions are in the FAQ's which are certainly available to you before you join and/or pay for advanced membership.

The conceptual aspects of your questions can simply be answered by stating that it IS Ralf & Jacob's site and they made it work the way they wanted to. It is what it is...

So to some specific as I see them:
1. Nothing about keeping the older photos prohibits a photographer from submitting his or her newer "better" stuff. The limits on submissions have nothing to do with what's already accepted. But, there is a possibility if you had something older that you really were embarrassed by and you asked nicely of Jacob he might at least entertain the idea of deleting it.
 
2. With due respect to you they ARE the curators of this site as assigned and tasked by Ralf & Jacob, see above... If you join here then they DO have significance and you have agreed to that significance by the act of joining.

3. See above, it's their site not yours.

4. It's no different AT ALL, well except that one is yours and one is theirs...

5. The "Pursuit of the Sublime" is the stated purpose. For each of us, it's different aspect of this community project that we enjoy. You should spend some time here you might find the purpose for you and if not, then just leave.  BUT, give it a try, I did and I'm glad I did.

Where did you get the idea that either Ralf/Jacob or the "curators" have this privilege?  My big rejections pile would seem to indicate it's otherwise.  Ralf/Jacob haven't had anything published for a real long time. 

I will never be able, to explain better than Susan Brandt Graham in posting 86 in this thread:

Pretty sure Robert was saying why should Ralf & Jacob or the curators have the privilege to choose the images for HIS 1x published portfolio, not for theirs.

Yes. Thanks for calrification Clyde.

Ahhh, OK, got it!  I totally misunderstood :) 

Thanks for the reply Christoph. I would say that Susan's Brandt Graham point I agree with is that perhaps it is better to have any than no selection process, but it would seem to me that only if you genuinely value the 'curators'' taste better than your own you can truly enjoy in the art-work being selected (but say if one rejects Leonardo you like a lot as 'not fit for their gallery' wouldn't you rather enjoy some of his masterpieces elsewhere than say 'argue' with the 'curators' why they dislike Leonardo, unless the argument is constructive, 1x Critique doesn't seem to me to be the place as the 'curator' who rejected the photo does not discuss why he or she thinks it is 'bad').

Hi Robert

Can I throw my two penny worth in here, as a new (free at the moment) member. In my short time on 1x and having seen and read many posts on this or related topics, it has become clear to me that if you enter this process, either free or by subscription, you need to realise that getting images accepted is not the be all and end all. In fact if you do get anything accepted it is only because it satisfies the taste of a few 'select' people or those same people believe it fits with 'the vision' of the website. These people are not the final say on what is and what is not a good image, they're just one perspective.

If you go about your photography with the objective of getting published in 1x then you are going about it in the wrong way. By the very nature of the selection process you will be altering your 'style', if you have one, to suit 'the few', and if you haven't got a style you soon will have so that you 'fit'.

I have yet to decide whether to pay a subscription after my trial period is up but if I do I will probably make good use of the Critique section, as already I have found this invaluable, and the Forum. I will certainly keep submitting images but only those that I have taken which I think have a chance, knowing, or thinking I know, what the curators are looking for, so it will probabaly be very few. I will not change what I like doing but I may take additional shots (in my case not just Landscape) that could hit the spot, more to test the water and experiment than for the fame of publication. I will also hopefully improve as I go along with feedback from the many better and more experienced photographers on here.

If you think improving your photography is measured by how many Gallery submission you have then I believe you're wrong. Some of the images on here are superb, some I wouldn't give wall space to, some I don't even class as photography (though that's not necessarily the brief here), but it's all subjective and about individual taste.

And I'm pretty much convinced that vision changes just about as often as the sun rises and sets...and/or who within that small set of people happens to get your image to review. It often feels very much like a moving target than can actually change shape as it moves...a shape shifter if you will.

Is that how it works? I'm discovering more each day. So it's not a group agreement but rather an individual's decision, which probably depends on which side of the bed they got out of? I think you have better odds on the Lottery.

I don't think it works one way for ALL photo's. But there have been reference made by curators in these forums about individual images getting "assigned" to individual curators. I think they all have a say, but one person guides the process for individual images, ....  maybe....not sure even the curators really know how it works...

Clap, clap, clap - very well said!!!

"better"? no there is no better.But I of course know that their view is experienced and well trained. But that is not the aspect. Their view is the view of other people. To me important, as I am not "objective" with my workand so cannot know how others see or feel it. And of course again not all others. But to me respectable and well trained people with an outstanding feeling for images of all kinds.

What is a point for you? To know that this particular picture resonates with many other people on average more than your other pictures. So for me the point is knowledge. And it was nice, I assume, when it got published.    For me mainly because they know and feel a lot of things related to art of photography. They are able to compare one work with another and see, which one is technically better or which one is truly original. They are able more than others to distinguish between an artistic intent and a careless mistake. They know what is appreciated in museums, contests, galleries outside of 1X. They have a fair idea what will be widely liked by other photographers or just casual viewers on Facebook. They have an idea what would be liked by a few but liked a lot. And whenever they are in doubt - they have member voting to test waters.
    At the same time they have a vision of the overall "style" of the gallery, to which a particular picture, however appreciated in other serious contests, clubs, or museums, or by the public, might fit or not. It's not one style, obviously, but a collection of many different styles. Not all styles out there. Like the much discussed recently Rhine II by Gursky will not fit here, at least not 950 pixels long by an unknown artist :-) .Rules of the game, I agree with Willem.In a way it's the same. In some other ways it's very different. You don't have a team of experienced photographers with different(!) tastes selecting pictures for your list. Also the 1X selection, the 1X business model, and the 1X artistic photography presentation is liked by much more people than in your case. Of course there are more differences than that.Purpose for whom? And at what moment of day or life? There are different aspects of 1X that various participants enjoy differently. And most enjoy at least looking at the daily selection...

That's how I see it...

Thank you all for your replies. :)

All this was caused by one of my photos recently being rejected (I haven't sent a photo for screening for long time even I still had free slots as a free 1x member, of course I would never dream of paying for 1x membership to get submission slots, even if it was still free I would felt much better by just observing).

The system is as it is, etc., and I guess there is no point in discussing it.

I do apologize if I stirred the things a bit up.

Christoph elect me for the only 1x 'curator' an you will get a completely different 'front page'. (Why would you trust more me than yourself?)

Maybe to see an odd published photo I like?'Elitism' is bad I think, they are just people, most of them even not what would one call 'professionals',  though even then that would not give them the credibility, I guess.Louis XIV of France springs into my mind.

Please note that I may leave 1x and if do not reply to you that may be the reason.

Firts of all, we all only have one live. And if 1x frustrates YOu or does not convince You, it is right to go.I would be sad, but it is ok with me.
I am sorry, not to be able to convey what i try to express.

I do not trust them more than me. I like, what I like, and think "good" what i think "good", equal wether one of curators or all of them reject that image or not.
But this is only one aspect. I do not only want my images to please me. Therefore I do not need a hompeage or a showroom like 1x. To show my images in such places, comes from my wish to share. I think, that all of us who show our images do so, try to convey feelings.
Therefore I need to know, what others feel. Only with that I can try to develop m y style further on. To stay me, but to express me more clear, more convincing to others. Sometimes it is not possible, as I do not want my image to alter they way I have to do, to reach others. More than often it is, and i think "damned, If I would have seen this that way, I would have done different from the beginning" .-).
And while going to critique or to screeing, I learn to know, wether and how this images of mine convey my feelings to others.
Yes, here of course it is of importance who curates. I am deeply convinced, that the crew, sitting here and screening our output is one of the best one can get. And this for nearly free, if You count it in Susans way.

I think, that we two see it from different point. You see it from point of acceptance or rejection. I see it from point of learning, developing.

I do not see me as artist, I am none. I am a photographer. An average photographer (what I am fine with) When I began my acitivity here i collected more rejections, than You can shoot images ever. I liked my images. But while going to critique and sending to screening, I tried to be more intense, more concentrated, more visual explaining. I would never have been able to develop this, without that challenge and discussion. And at the end, I am pleased. Not because of publishings (yes of course ;-)) but honestly even more as I now feel, that I am a bit more successful, to show others, what I want to show them.
And this is, what I mean. Not "better" not "others trusted more" but listenenig to them and thinking, what might be helpful for me and what not.

Christoph

Start calling it not elitism but professionalism and you will have, likely, a much more favorable opinion of it. Then, what's about credibility? You don't have to trust professionals 100%, but their opinion has a certain weight, somewhat akin to the opinion of the mathematics professor versus a mathematics freshman. Surely, from time to time a specific freshman's opinion would be better than a specific professor's opinion but, on average, professors are more knowledgeable and correct. Thus their opinion rightly weighs more. Which is not to say it is always credible, always 100%.

99% of the time, I log on to 1x to see what has been published. The remaining 1% of the time I come to hopefully have something of mine selected.
If the main reason for coming here is to have something published, the Flickr might be more appropriate.

I am back, I think I shall be happy as an observer, came back to fave some of the newly published photos I like.

Good.

Related to me, im not a "professional" nheiter a "amateur" photographer. Im not a photographer at all, i hate photographers. Im just a camera operator .

But, what is the "thing" of a"professional" ? For me just a guy with a camera that earn money from photography in a regular basis.

And a amateur ? A guy with a camera that take photos because he like and didnt earn money in a regular basis.

What is better ? I don?t know, final results are the most important.

At end, why i hate photographers ? Because some days ago i go meet one to take some photos of me for ID card, and they are realy very boring people, i almost kill him !

Not sure if I may add "an operator of a very good camera". :) P.S. In the past I regarded myself as "an operator of my pocket calculator." ;)

Hello King! :)