There are two ways to think of this, firstly, I could be overthinking everything or that this is quite interesting.
Oh… I am talking about the survey that I have been pushing on to every family member and every photographer I know.
The story started a few years ago. I moved to Ireland and decided that I should put some thoughts down about photography. There are seemingly millions of books that will tell you how, but I wanted to make a book that asks why.
The ‘Why’ has always been more interesting to me. Understanding why people like the things they do, why they go to the places they do and why people like images they do. So, I started to talk to people and research things. This research rabbit hole has led me to eventual dreaded online survey… No one likes doing them, but with the COVID-19 virus running rampant, I am not standing on the high street with a note pad any time soon.
If you have already done this survey, thank you. I know some of the questions were a challenge and maybe quite odd in nature, but I should be able to make some really interesting statements at the end of it all. For example, the last set of questions asked people to list a genre for a given image from a preselected list. Portrait, fashion, glamour, lifestyle etc…
My theory that is being tested is that the less fragmented an image is, the better an image is. The more fragmented the results for any given image, the less popular it is. Once this survey is complete, I will have a set of data that I can use to run more tests. Since the Survey is live, I can already see some data coming through, but I need more help. To get a decent set of results, I need way more people to do the survey, so, if you do have a few moments. Please do head over to www.davekaipiper.com/Survey and fill out the survey.
The questions at the start of the survey were a late addition too, and they are really providing to give some amazing talking points. I can not wait to get everything sorted and report back. For example, would agree or disagree that Social Media is great for photographers? Do you think that Social Media gives us a good indicator of a person’s skill level when looking at fan & follower numbers? One question I thought would have a clear and concise result was about using images. Can people use photos they find on the internet for free ?? The results so far are more shocking than you would think.
At the time of writing, 20% of the people who have done the survey are not sure if converting a photo to B&W is editing. Which I find about right, considering the ages and baseline questions. But being able to say that majority (60%) of people agree that a just a simple RAW adjustment to monochrome is editing and that a good percentage of people agree that we should carry warning labels on edited images is a talking point. It’s facts like these that made me want to put a survey together.
Dave Kai-Piper is a British born photographer living in Ireland. His work is based in the portraiture world with fashion and beauty elements blended together.
