Moderator Interview: Homer Laffoone of Shutterday
We now offer up to you, a second in our series of interviews of the People behind the Curtains.
1. Who are you and why are you doing this to us?
I am the face of a loose confederation of like minded photographers/photobloggers who felt a terrible hole in the weekend with the apparent demise of Nariman's iGizmo/Pxite. At the time we weren't aware of Xerraire's very fine Saturday meme 'Unique Exposures' and in a fit of drunken revelry sat back and decided that perhaps we could create a photomeme that not only challenged but INSPIRED other photographers. We've since given up on that because people don't want to take photos to post, they only want to post what they have or better yet, link to something already on their photoblogs.
We've also learned the best and worst parts of running a photomeme and that is dreaming up some theme that We ourselves have no photos of nor can we imagine what might be posted and seeing such brilliant submissions (Shutterdayers by their very nature are more brilliant than most.) The worst part, which isn't even really that bad but just educational is the lack of feedback that photographers give other photographers either through votes or comments. We've seen this with our Weekly Shot entries and it gets discussed ad nauseum in the newsgroups. We find this to be completely different from our experiences with flickr which is much more interactive.
2. Who writes Shutterday? Who chooses the theme?
One of us just does it. Usually completely without consulting the others. When I say loose confederation I mean very loose.
4. What is with the music lyric?
That was a mistake and never intended to be part of Shutterday. I, Homer K Laffoone, am no torch singer, but do sometimes find inspiration when listening to some music or other and by way of not seeming completely nuts, I had listed the line from the song on a couple of themes, and a bad habit once started is hard to break. Hopefully it'll break soon because it's a complete nuisance and unless anyone knows the song in question, it's quite lame to see it sitting there.
5. Where did you get the name Homer K Laffoone?
We decided we needed a really good name because Homer is more a part of them photomeme than say Carlo Ferroni, Dale Hudjik, or even Marc and Nick are of theirs (In fact, most of the other moderators decently keep themselves out of the limelight, for reasons which we are slowly learning), and found this one that no one was using and then had to add the K after I got embroiled in the Anna Nicole Smith saga.
6. Do you know Kerrin?
Yes we do. Although we don't know if she knows it or not.
7. What equipment do or have you used? Are there any manufacturers you'd like to praise or bad mouth here?
Canon and Panasonic as you can tell by our BLATANT advertising. We can't disclose our earnings but let's just say it's a VERY VERY good deal for Canon and Panasonic. We are constantly trying and failing to get some swag out of them.
8. What other hobbies do you enjoy or enjoy inflicting upon others?
We make calls asking shopkeepers if they have Prince Albert in the Can.
9. Where else can we see your photos? Do you have any side projects?
I'm ashamed to say I use flickr exclusively, but post to many groups. Side projects? No, have you seen my name elsewhere?
10. Do you wear glasses? If so, describe them, if not, why not? Don't you like glasses?
I have a pair of rimless glasses that I wear very low down on my nose so I can look over them disapprovingly. I can't actually SEE anything disapprovingly, but I can stare at the blur in it's general direction.
11. What are you wearing?
A look of contempt.
12: Anything else you'd like to add?
Thanks for keeping us honest. It's easy to fall into the complacency of just listing a different color every week. Although I would like to mention the thing you complain about with photomemes repeating themes. We photomeme moderators only get together one a year in some neutral city like Rome or Buenos Aires but it's usually such a bacchanalian orgy that we can barely remember what was discussed. There are, in many ways, a finite number of themes WHICH PHOTOGRAPHERS WILL PARTICIPATE IN and sometimes they are just similar if not exact. So if something repeats something just take something else and post it. It's supposed to be a challenge!
1. Who are you and why are you doing this to us?
I am the face of a loose confederation of like minded photographers/photobloggers who felt a terrible hole in the weekend with the apparent demise of Nariman's iGizmo/Pxite. At the time we weren't aware of Xerraire's very fine Saturday meme 'Unique Exposures' and in a fit of drunken revelry sat back and decided that perhaps we could create a photomeme that not only challenged but INSPIRED other photographers. We've since given up on that because people don't want to take photos to post, they only want to post what they have or better yet, link to something already on their photoblogs.
We've also learned the best and worst parts of running a photomeme and that is dreaming up some theme that We ourselves have no photos of nor can we imagine what might be posted and seeing such brilliant submissions (Shutterdayers by their very nature are more brilliant than most.) The worst part, which isn't even really that bad but just educational is the lack of feedback that photographers give other photographers either through votes or comments. We've seen this with our Weekly Shot entries and it gets discussed ad nauseum in the newsgroups. We find this to be completely different from our experiences with flickr which is much more interactive.
2. Who writes Shutterday? Who chooses the theme?
One of us just does it. Usually completely without consulting the others. When I say loose confederation I mean very loose.
4. What is with the music lyric?
That was a mistake and never intended to be part of Shutterday. I, Homer K Laffoone, am no torch singer, but do sometimes find inspiration when listening to some music or other and by way of not seeming completely nuts, I had listed the line from the song on a couple of themes, and a bad habit once started is hard to break. Hopefully it'll break soon because it's a complete nuisance and unless anyone knows the song in question, it's quite lame to see it sitting there.
5. Where did you get the name Homer K Laffoone?
We decided we needed a really good name because Homer is more a part of them photomeme than say Carlo Ferroni, Dale Hudjik, or even Marc and Nick are of theirs (In fact, most of the other moderators decently keep themselves out of the limelight, for reasons which we are slowly learning), and found this one that no one was using and then had to add the K after I got embroiled in the Anna Nicole Smith saga.
6. Do you know Kerrin?
Yes we do. Although we don't know if she knows it or not.
7. What equipment do or have you used? Are there any manufacturers you'd like to praise or bad mouth here?
Canon and Panasonic as you can tell by our BLATANT advertising. We can't disclose our earnings but let's just say it's a VERY VERY good deal for Canon and Panasonic. We are constantly trying and failing to get some swag out of them.
8. What other hobbies do you enjoy or enjoy inflicting upon others?
We make calls asking shopkeepers if they have Prince Albert in the Can.
9. Where else can we see your photos? Do you have any side projects?
I'm ashamed to say I use flickr exclusively, but post to many groups. Side projects? No, have you seen my name elsewhere?
10. Do you wear glasses? If so, describe them, if not, why not? Don't you like glasses?
I have a pair of rimless glasses that I wear very low down on my nose so I can look over them disapprovingly. I can't actually SEE anything disapprovingly, but I can stare at the blur in it's general direction.
11. What are you wearing?
A look of contempt.
12: Anything else you'd like to add?
Thanks for keeping us honest. It's easy to fall into the complacency of just listing a different color every week. Although I would like to mention the thing you complain about with photomemes repeating themes. We photomeme moderators only get together one a year in some neutral city like Rome or Buenos Aires but it's usually such a bacchanalian orgy that we can barely remember what was discussed. There are, in many ways, a finite number of themes WHICH PHOTOGRAPHERS WILL PARTICIPATE IN and sometimes they are just similar if not exact. So if something repeats something just take something else and post it. It's supposed to be a challenge!
posted by memeshame at 11:44 AM
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