Suggestion: Space to share photos as reference
3yr
Serena Marenco
Hi, I really like to take some time every day to draw or paint some scketches.
Before the pandemic I used to personally go around armed with a camera to create my own reference gallery, so that I wouldn't get on rights violation even by accident, I had also planned a trip with some friends and colleagues to visit zoos and natural history museums around Europe when the pandemic broke out and Italy went into lockdown, since then the camera has been gathering dust.
When I can I buy some reference packs from photographers or specialised sites but often the variety of subjects leaves something to be desired (especially when it comes to animals).
I have a lot of photos that could maybe be useful to someone and I would be happy to share them with other students, free to use (after all I'm not a master of photography...) and I'm sure I'm not the only one who takes care of her own references and have some photos to share.
It's possible to have a section where share our references, maybe also make request to other students? (Dunno "Hi, I need horses reference. Did someone have some to share?" <--- something like this)
3yr
I do like the idea, but I think that should be rules should be worked well.
If we're talking about photos took by our own users I don't see much problem, but there's always some kind of problem with copyrighted pictures.
But I think it can work.
Serena Marenco
3yr
I mean, whoever shares the photos must have the rights to them, you certainly can't start exchanging third party photos, for example photos bought in stock or downloaded from the internet, as the idea is really to have a library of photos that we know we can use freely for our exercises, etc.
It wouldn't be a "look how cool my photos are!" contest. a refrence photo can be awful but show a useful angle, e.g. the crooked, cropped photo but catching a horse with its mouth wide open (which is a bit of a tricky thing to learn to draw without references).
If you include your own photos it is because you agree to their free use (otherwise you are under no obligation to do so).
After all, even professional photographers often have discarded photos, which are not suitable for sale but could be useful to a designer.
If someone "outside the industry" were to browse through the tens of thousands of photos in my library, they would wonder why on earth I have whole sequences of seagulls flying, why I photograph weeds or anthills.
I guess I look like a psychopath when I spend hours balancing on a pond photographing carp and I always check VERY carefully that there is no one around when I photograph the carcass of an animal: go and explain to a passer-by that "You don't understand! I've never seen the skeleton of a porcupine before!!!"
I also have galleries of photos taken in some museums, such as the Egyptian Museum in Turin (which I think is the biggest in the world after Cairo): maybe someone needs documentation on ancient Egyptian objects?
I have photos of exhibits at the Britihs Museum, many archaeological sites in Sardinia, etc.
If someone can find them useful, I'm very happy to share them, even if they are not "beautiful photos".
I have a habit of always cataloguing everything because "you never know".
Many of the photos I have on hand will probably never be of any use to me, because it is not certain that I will ever work on a project where they will be useful, but maybe there is someone here among the students who needs a reference on, say, Italian baroque architecture, and I could fish out something from my library that might be useful to them and share it with them "I'm glad someone needs them, I've had them in my HD for about ten years and I've never used them".
what would I gain?
Well, that at the same time I could ask "does anyone have any photos of Australian animals?" or "I would like to do some studies of toucans, do any of you have any photos to pass on to me?".
I mean, I've already been begging for travel photos from all my friends on Facebook! ^^;;;;
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