I only became truly active (submitting, voting, commenting, spending time in the forums) in the last few months, but feel like I've been here forever. I find I'm on the site for a minimum of an hour each day, and often for much longer.
Since becoming a member, I've...
...learned a LOT from different people in the forums ( Bear_Music and NikonJeb are just two out of hundreds of users that are active and will teach you much more than most paid photography teachers),
...learned about different cameras, lenses, software, techniques, etc. through the Equipment and Learn sections,
...joined the 2010 Free Study Marathon, which should give me an incentive to submit more, comment more, and try harder,
...participated in dozens of (and was a witness to probably hundreds of) different discussions and debates on topics in the forums, ranging from photography to religion to websites,
...participated in 11 member challenges and 4 open challenges,
...gotten some valuable feedback on images as part of side challenges (including my Film collection!) as well as a panorama on which I requested a critique,
...had the joy of browsing the site ad-free for a year,
...gotten the Brown,
...convinced myself to join every possible challenge I can, even if my image sucks and will bring my average down,
...and learned in a lot of other ways that would make this list too long for any sane person to read...
So of course I'm renewing - for the extra challenges and feedback and ad-free-ness, but also because I want to say "thanks" to a site and community that has taught me so much more than any other, and which hasn't really asked for much in return. So now I'm good through 2010! |