The American Landscape

This months project in the Project Forum is The American Landscape or Americana. Drop down and post some shots. Fireworks pictures are welcome as well.

http://forums.photographyreview.com/...769#post473769


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5265/...5ea4bb45_b.jpg
BNSF by Cosmonaut's, on Flickr

Greg, I am afraid I must take issue with this topic. There are a number of very good people who are active in this forum who do not live in"America" and thus would not have a snowball's chance in you know where to capture an image of "an American Landscape or Americana". I would hope you might see the value in generalizing this to Landscapes and whatever the international equivalent of "Americana" is.

WesternGuy

Here's a thread on improving the photo project:

http://forums.photographyreview.com/...ad.php?t=71104


You know what Western Guy, you could go take some pictures of McDonald :p:D

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Originally Posted by WesternGuy

Greg, I am afraid I must take issue with this topic. There are a number of very good people who are active in this forum who do not live in"America" and thus would not have a snowball's chance in you know where to capture an image of "an American Landscape or Americana". I would hope you might see the value in generalizing this to Landscapes and whatever the international equivalent of "Americana" is.

WesternGuy

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Liz brought that to my attention early own. Please feel free to also post images that are unique to your country. Something that makes you proud of your heritage. Thanks for reminding me.

Out the car window, somewhere in Wisconsin at the end of March.

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Originally Posted by WesternGuy

Greg, I am afraid I must take issue with this topic. There are a number of very good people who are active in this forum who do not live in"America" and thus would not have a snowball's chance in you know where to capture an image of "an American Landscape or Americana". I would hope you might see the value in generalizing this to Landscapes and whatever the international equivalent of "Americana" is.

WesternGuy

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And I must take issue with you taking issue... :)

If I was regularly visiting a Canadian photo forum, and they decided to run a Canadian-themed photo project, I would not complain. Why? Because I would be a guest.

This is not meant to be some Jingoistic "America's way or the highway" rant. We just need to keep perspective that even on the universal interweb, there will be places we visit that have their own cultures and their own sets of rules. This is a website based in America, and if the people in charge want to run an American-themed project, that's their prerogative.

Maybe I'm being old-fashioned here, but I'm always really aware of the country of origin for online communities and I try to respect that when participating.

Nothing against you WG, or Canada for that matter. I've just lived in three different countries and am really sensitive to how easy it is to forget that ultimately, we're all just guests in someone else's home.

Greg,

Love the shot. But I love trains, so I might be biased... :)

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

This is not meant to be some Jingoistic "America's way or the highway" rant. .

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Funny :D :D

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

And I must take issue with you taking issue... :)

If I was regularly visiting a Canadian photo forum, and they decided to run a Canadian-themed photo project, I would not complain. Why? Because I would be a guest.

This is not meant to be some Jingoistic "America's way or the highway" rant. We just need to keep perspective that even on the universal interweb, there will be places we visit that have their own cultures and their own sets of rules. This is a website based in America, and if the people in charge want to run an American-themed project, that's their prerogative.

Maybe I'm being old-fashioned here, but I'm always really aware of the country of origin for online communities and I try to respect that when participating.

Nothing against you WG, or Canada for that matter. I've just lived in three different countries and am really sensitive to how easy it is to forget that ultimately, we're all just guests in someone else's home.

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There is nothing wrong with being aware of the country of origin for a website, but if you look at the name of the site and all of the people here, I would not term this an "American" website regardless of where it is hosted, nor do I regard any website as being an indigenous website unless they explicity state that they are in fact "American" or "Canadian" or "British" or any other "country of origin". I originally joined this site because it was for photographers (of any nationality - not just Americans) and from my initial review of the postings and comments, it seemed like a very friendly and helpful site to be a member of, unlike others where trolls abound...

I feel strongly that in this day and age of the Internet that all forums should celebrate the "inter-nationality" of these types of forums and keep in mind the fact that when they "open their doors", so to speak, they can no longer claim to be "american" or "canadian" or any other "nationality", etc. - regardless of the country of hosting. I do believe that it is necessary to be sensitive to the cultures of the website and its origins, but I also believe that the "hosts" and participants have a responsibility to be just as sensitive to the cultures of the posters and active participants in the site, otherwise they run the risk of being labelled with a label that they may not wish to be labelled. I was interested to note that even an indigenous member of the forum brought this to the attention of the OP.

Personally, as a Canadian I did not feel that I was a guest here at all, until you pointed out that that is in fact what you consider me to be. I always felt that I was a full participant and I was quite happy to participate as, what I thought was, a full member of this community - to learn from those more gifted than I was and to offer, as the occasion arose, the bits of my relevant experience in the hope that it might help someone, thus returning some of the assistance that I had been given. I was obviously wrong in my assumptions. I shall adjust my participation and comments accordingly.

WesternGuy

The only point I was trying to make is that we're *ALL* guests of the people that run this site. That's true for any online community. Nation of origin does play into that. If my parents invited you over for a party, would you complain about the Polish flag hanging outside their door? Then why complain about the subject of the photo project?

Plus, more importantly. you have every right to not participate on the project and especially to start your own thread with whatever subject better resonates with you.

Americana, besides being a legitimate and long-standing subject for a lot of artistic expression, would also be a lot MORE interesting in, with a little imagination, interpreted by people in other countries. American influence can be felt everywhere, and often times showing "Americana" through the lens of a foreign culture can be that much more eye-opening, wether it's bootleg Levi's in a Polish gipsy market or a Chevy Camaro in an Italian alley.

The subject is limiting only if you make it limiting. I, for one, *wish* I lived in another country right now, it would make me a lot more eager to participate in this project.