Hey everyone,

I haven't been very active on dA lately, but all that is about to change. I'll be going through my message centre over the next few weeks and seeing what you've all been up to during my absence.

In the meantime, I'd love it if you could help me decide which of my photos I should offer as prints.

If you had a voucher to buy 3 of my photographs, which would you pick?

I'm really looking forward to hearing your opinions! Use the comments to tell me which 3 you would recommend from your own gallery, too.

Thank you in advance! And fill me in on what I've missed over the past few months

EDIT: Putting "Crow" up the top of my journal was a bad move, the +fav count has almost doubled! You bastards






I've been silent on this matter for long enough. My "WTF?" levels are reaching dangerous levels.

I know I haven't been very active here lately, for too many reasons to count, but I do keep a bit of an eye on my message centre. And aside from the occasional exception, I'm always completely dumbfounded by the deviations that are being singled out as +favs.

My most +faved deviation, by FAR, is this piece of crap:



I quite like it despite its lack of focus, but it's completely mediocre in just about every way imaginable. I like to think I've improved since then.

Coming in second is my Goose Feet, which is more understandable. My chronic laziness has meant that its stint as a featured deviation has lasted about 2 years now, so it was bound to attract a little more attention. This is the sort of shot I expected people might like.



Following those two are a string of crappy snapshots, most of which reside in my scraps. The common denominator appears to be the cuteness of the subject, rather than the quality of the image. Also, the trend seems to be for complete strangers to +fav a single shot and move on, seemingly without checking out what else is on offer (if my "recent visitors" list is anything to go by).

I'm discouraged, to tell you the truth. I have stopped submitting here as frequently because I'm trying to be more critical about my own work, and only submit the stuff I'm truly proud of. And when these more challenging images are overlooked in favour of the cute animals in my scraps, it makes me wonder if I'm really improving at all.

I do understand the value of a simple snapshot, much as I understand the appeal of a pop song whose 4-word lyrics repeat 150 times. I suppose I just aspire to something less disposable. I also believe that we should be free to +fav the things we like, whether they're exceptional in terms of technical skill or just pleasing to the eye. What I object to is my stats resembling a petfighter.com profile. KnowwhatImean?

I mean, even my one and only Daily Deviation resides in my scraps! Perhaps I have it all backwards?

In the spirit of trying to turn this rant into something productive, let me suggest a few deviations that are rotting away at the bottom of my stats.



There are even some super cute animals in there, for those just looking for a new wallpaper!

Look, I have a pretty healthy sense of humour about all this, but the underlying message still applies. I guess it's something we should all keep in mind when visiting another deviant's gallery: if you arrive there via somebody else's random favourites, take the time to have a look around the rest of their gallery as well and make critical decisions about what you +fav. If we don't, the "most popular" deviations on the front page will continue to be (for the most part) pretty average, and I'll have to write another whiny rant.

AND NOBODY WANTS THAT.

Thanks for letting me complain

New blog - Scarlet Words