Photo sharing and pixel sharing (Part 1)

I'm old fashioned, I must admit.

Sharing photos. What's it got to do with me being old fashioned?

Physical

I like the touch of paper in my hands. I like it much more than holding an e-book or scrolling through galleries of photos in the screen of my computer. Not that I really need that organic touch, but I feel closer to what I read or see when I can actually touch it.
Electronic devices. Too many distractions all around, jumping from this to that, quick reading, rush quest. I prefer detained exploration. But I digress.

Sharing

It's about choices. There are plenty out there for you to pick the one that suits you better, or even more than one. Flickr, 500px, Google+, SmugMug... even Facebook. In any of them you'll face the "nice compo", "nice capture", "great colors", "please visit my photo-stream" comment syndrome. Not much positive criticism found (some exceptions though).
Does it satisfy you? Speaking for myself, not much.

What we frame and capture is only fulfilled when the viewer completes the photography with his look. A photography (a good one) has a life on its own (of course), but we viewers fill it with our background, our interpretation of the scene. We are biased. We don't see with fresh eyes. You knew that already.
We need to share, and yes, we seek approval (in some way).

The story

Some days ago I had a conversation with Brian Dunlea, a fellow X-photographer. In fact he is more than that, he's official Fujifilm X-Photographer. After a while we ended talking about some of our photos, about the experience of sharing, and then I had that crazy idea. Why don't we exchange photos? Why don't we just print a copy of a photo each one likes from each other's portfolio?
Yes, all this sharing thing involves printing, envelopes, stamps, postmen and real mailboxes. Stupid, huh?
It'd be easier if Brian lived in Madrid or I lived in Cork, but we happen to be more than 2,000km away (Google Maps says it's a car route of 2,562km, so be it).

The experience

Printing your photography is an organic and emotional experience. If it is to be shared, then even more so.
I just ordered the copies for Brian, and they're ready to deliver. A copy of a photo he liked and was the one that caused the whole chat on sharing and a bonus one.
They'll be on their way to Cork tomorrow.
Brian will take care of them.

This is about photo sharing instead of pixel sharing. Isn't it exciting?


What's happening in Cork? Brian will tell us (hopefully).