I wanted to write a blog about the WalkInBristol Instagram site's Endless Friday - "Pic of the Week"posts long time ago, now here it is... :)
So.. Whose are follow the WalkInBristol on its Instagram site already knows:
every Friday I share 10 photos (sometimes more..) about places in Bristol's postcode area, which NOT I MADE .
These pictures are a lot of talented (amateur, professional and artistic) photographers' photos.
It made some questions and I try to answer to these questions in this blog.
Why is it calls "Endless Friday" ?
It has got a "funny" story : I am Hungarian and if I don't know or I am not sure something what it means in English language , I prefer to use the Google translate.
I wanted to translate the "végre péntek van" Hungarian sentence, which is means "It is finally Friday", and I didn't realize my phone had the autocorrect on and it changed the "Végre"(Finally) word to "Végtelen" (Endless), and I didn't realize it until the first three posts...
When I realized this mistake , I didn't made a change in it, because I work Monday to Friday, and when the Friday and with it the "almost weekend" feeling starts, I feel the Fridays are really endless on the workplace...
Why do you share these photos on Fridays?
Basically, because this is the day, when I have more time to it after work and a lot of people works Monday to Friday , the weekends are their days off, when they have time to take a walk, take a trip or made photos - with these amazing pictures I want to show some pieces about Bristol, and inspiring them to visit these places on the weekend.
Why do you share other people photos and not yours?
It is a little bit complex, but I try to answer it in two points - the sequence is doesn't matter :
Monday to Thursday I share my own photos (RichieS - Walkinbristol), the Friday is for the Endless Friday - Pic of the week post, Saturday I make post very rarely, because most of the time this is the day, when I can go out for a walk, and Sunday is the day of the "Turn back the time..." post, when I share an older photos from the tagged #walkinbristol photos, which I didn't share earlier on the Pic of the Week post - I wanted to show some great photos about the recent past of Bristol and give another chance to a photographer, who made a fantastic and inspiring photo, but his/her photo on that week, when he/she posted the photo, it didn't fit to the 10 photos.
When I started to make the WalkInBristol website (and Facebook page and Instagram site) , I didn't realized how many interesting places are in Bristol, and how many time I have to visit these places. I work Monday to Friday a physical work, sometimes I am too tired or lazy to go out on Saturdays after when I do the weekly things, which I didn't have time for during the week or the English weather doesn't support my walk. I had health problems on the last few years , sometimes I had just mood or time to take a short walk in my local area (which is one of the most beautiful places in Bristol , but I have a lot of photos about its beauties) or I have mood to do my other hobbies (reading, amateur mix of musics, watching movies and series) - so sometimes not easy to make new photos from new places (the beauties and the life of Bristol) for me, but I wanted to show these places, and came the idea to my mind of the Endless Friday - Pic of the Week post. Bristol has got a lot of talented amateur and professional photographers, who lives are in the Bristolian postcode area different points, they make brilliant and inspiring photos, some of them can't/not confident in his/her talent, some of them hasn't got enough support or praise to his/her talent, why I don't show their amazing work in a post? It can be a little bit extra support to them.
Don't you feel that your post is actually stealthy?
My answer to this question yes and no at the same time.
Yes, I feel it, because the Endless Friday - Pic of the Week's photos are not my works, and no, because I write and admit this in the description of the post, and I try to mark the photographer in the post's description and on the photo, thus following the rules of the Instagram.
If I cannot mark the photographer in the description of the post or in the photo, then I will not take the photographer's photo into the post, no matter how much I consider their work worthy of recognition.
If for some reason a photographer does not want his/her photo to be part of the post, he/she just has to write to me and I will remove the photo from the post and I will not try to share any photos of that photographer in the future posts (there have already been examples of this) - it is not easy to choose 10 photos from more than weekly 100 photos, but for me the first thing is to appreciate and respect someone else's work and decision.
I have several times offered to those whose current photos I share in the "Endless Friday - Pic of the Week" post that if they have a possible exhibition or photography course planned, or if they want to sell their photos at a specific place and time, possibly on their own website , they are free to write about it in the comment section, and if they have a link, I will be happy to share it on the WalkInBristol Facebook page as a kind of compensation, in fact completely free of charge.
If I see a photographer's post about his/her own event ( who I follow and whose photos I often share in this post) , I automatically share it on the WalkInBristol Facebook page.
If not you make the photos of the Endless Friday -Pic of the Week post, how do you feature in these photos ? How is the selection happening?
Well, the answer will be a bit long.
Every single day, I check the photos which are taken in Bristol on the Instagram, of course the first ones are those photos which are marked Walkinbristol , as well as the photos of those photographers, who I already follow on Instagram.
Instagram also allows you to follow Bristolian places, which is included in my settings.
If I like your picture, I use the like, if a photo is impresses me, I also make a screenshot of it, I rarely make a comment, mostly because I look through the pictures once a day, but then I need to check a whole day's uploaded photos, and that takes quite a bit of time.
Endless Friday - Pic of the week is limited to the period from Friday morning to Thursday night, which means that a picture uploaded on Friday morning can only be included in the next week's post.
In the name of justice and equality (and to narrow down the basic selection), I made a basic rule: the photo of the photographer whose photo I shared in one week earlier cannot be included in the selection of the following 1, sometimes 2 or 3 weeks, no matter how good is his/her new uploaded shot to the Instagram, - an exception is if I make 2 posts due to the amount of pictures or inability to decide (this rule also does not apply to the Facebook page, you can appear there, but not in the Endless Friday - Pic of the Week post).
The second narrow selection of the week's pictures takes place every Thursday evening (I check the photos and keep no more than 3 of the pictures which are taken in the same location), on that time I have 130 - 200 screenshots on my phone (it depending on the seasons and events in Bristol, sometimes this number is its double), after this 70-80 phenomenal pictures will remain for the final Friday selection , which I cut around one by one and save these photos without names and likes, because I don't want to be biased on the the next day's selection, and I have to choose 10 from these 70-80 pictures, which is not an easy task at all.
This final selection is made based on my own taste, but one place is always reserved: a place to a black-and-white photo - because I really like the black-and-white pictures and I think that in today's loud- colorful world for some reason these shots has unfairly less likes on the Instagram.
I usually have to choose this photo from 5-9 other B&W pictures, and they are all so perfect that sometimes the only deciding factor is the location where it was taken, because I want to present the different locations of Bristol with the selected 10 pictures.
There is an order between the pictures and not a ranking, which may seems random, but it is not, this is also based on my own taste.
Sometimes I start editing the post 15 times, I change one or two pictures at the last moment, because in my opinion, even though I think the photo is perfect, it still doesn't fit well with the other 8-9 photos.
When the post is finally done, I'll delete all the screenshots from my phone, because these photos are not mine...
I hope I managed to answer all the question well...
Before you share someone else's photo, why don't you ask if you can share it?
Basically, because I like to surprise rather than disappoint.
As I described above, the selection takes time, and I only decide on the photos that will be included in the blog at the very last moment.
If I asked in advance, and after I wouldn't select that picture, I would only cause disappointment to someone.
If someone wants to use my photos on Instagram, they don't have to ask me either, just indicate that I took the picture.
However, for this blog, I have requested permission from the creators of the images.
I started to follow the WalkInBristol's Instagram site, but you didn't start to follow back my site. Why?
There can be several reasons for this, I will try to describe the main reasons and their possible solutions
1. I didn't notice the following - the solution is to tag the walkinbristol in your Bristol photos
2. Your account is set to private - the solution is to switch to a public account, I don't usually follow private accounts, because of the sharing.
3. Your account contains no or only very few pictures of Bristol - I'm really sorry, but the WalkInBristol Instagram page is about Bristol (UK).
I would like a photo of mine to appear in the "Endless Friday - Picture of the Week" post. How can I achieve this?
Please, check the answers to the previous question and the easiest way is to take photos in the Bristol postcode area (not selfies) and tag Walkinbristol.
Patience is important, because as I wrote above, I look through a lot of pictures every week, but I'll give you a couple of tips: black and white photos are still my weakness, presenting a well-known place in a perspective in which photos are rarely taken, and pictures of the less Instagram-popular attractions of Bristol (in this the walkinbristol website can help you, Bristol has a lot of "hidden gems")....
That's all for the blog, if anyone has any questions about the Endless Friday - Pic of the Week Instagram post, you can ask it in the comment section.
Thanks to all the people, who take photos in the wonderful city of Bristol, without them the Endless Friday - Pic of the Week Instagram post would not exist, not to mention how much inspiration and advice I got from them to walk, explore Bristol and take photos.
Special thanks to those ( @xrosspurpose , @timbeddoe , @boysinbristol , @bristolparksproject )whose photos I used to write this blog.