Loose Laces

Walnut Mountain Road--1983

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Ever get one of these?

FlickrMail

From:	FlickrHQ
Subject:	You have been banned from the Nature No Limits Group
	Hi - You have been banned from the Nature No Limits group. You will not be able to rejoin this group unless a group administrator removes the ban. Note: This message has been sent to you by FlickHQ on behalf of Nature No Limits. If you want further clarification about the reason behind you being banned, you'll need to follow up with someone from the group, because FlickrHQ has no say in an individual Group's administration.

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Sort of overwhelms the soul to know I have been rejected by a group that has such high standards.
Got the invite to join this rather plain-jane group yesterday morning from one of my Flickr contacts. Looked it over, joined, and posted one photo of a squirrel. Later, I received the above message.
It isn't the first time I've been banned from such as these. I once received an invite from an artsy-fartsy group, took a look at what the administrator liked, and posted one of my B&W photos that seemed like it might fit the overall theme. Other members must have liked the pic, because I got some nice comments from a few of them. Later that same day, I was banned... forever. I sent an email to the person who invited me to the group asking why. She checked on it and the administrator told her my photo just didn't meet the high standards she had set for the group. She didn't say why I was terminally banned. I went to the administrator's photostream, and found that just about any silly thing I have ever posted was much better than her best shots. She was just a wannabe. I did get the last laugh, though. The administrator must have forgotten who I was, because a few months later she listed me as a contact and nicely commented on one of my photos. Of course I immediately blocked her from commenting on any of my photos.
Crap, I've never claimed to be an artist, and I never will because I ain't one. If one thinks he is an artist, he should put his work before the art community and have it judged by other artists and people whom enjoy fine art. Flickr is not the place for such, especially when one bans other people's work because group members like it. Flickr was, is, and probably shall forever be a photo sharing community. Nothing more. I know many will disagree with this, but they have the right to be wrong.
Even though the little formal training I've had in photography is in photographic art, I still have a difficult time accepting that photography should be included in the fine arts. Of course, there were and are some great photographic geniuses, and I dearly love their work, but I accept it as it is, not what others want it to be.
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