"It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary." - 365 Project, Day 111

There's a website called 500px.com.  It's another one of those photo sharing sites, like Flickr or Picasa, only this one concentrates on the more serious photographer.  Indeed, the sites bills itself as being somewhat of a portfolio site and encourages people to post only their best pictures.  This definitely shows on the intensity of the pictures.  Some of them are very professional-looking and a lot of the photographers are pretty serious.  (I put up pictures taken with my Canon S95, and that seems to the least expensive camera used on the site by about $1500.)

I only post this because it's forcing me to step up my photography (today's picture notwithstanding, of course.)  I just see these pictures and tell myself that I could do something at just the same level, or better in some cases, and all it takes is a bit more patience and a bit more involvement on my part.  This site is giving me a slight drive in becoming better, which, I suppose, is pretty healthy.  I'll have to get my S95 fixed soon for reasons that aren't quite important, and I'll be without a compact camera for a few weeks.  It'll be different but it's going to force me to carry my 7D a lot more.  That, in turn, will hopefully make me want to explore new streets and different possibilities.  In turn, I may (or may not) have more appropriate level of pictures to post on 500px.

I definitely enjoy the two other pictures over mine today.

Frank

His note: Was out on this gorgeous morning.  Took a shot of this patio as two pedestrians were walking across the street.  A serene quiet scene and everybody seemed to be enjoying the morning.

Shannon

Her note: This is kind of hard to see, but I went for a walk this evening and noticed this lamp post covered in vines.

Pat

What I have to say about it:  This is nothing special, despite my topic for today.  I saw him at 10 in the morning, in the little park outside my apartment building, playing his guitar.  As far as street goes, it's not very good, as I should have gotten much closer to him.  I still like it, and nothing else caught my eye today, despite the title of the post.

I'm not sure about tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll survive it.  There's nothing that seems negative or overwhelming about it.  We'll see where I end up in 24 hours.