Who Are You People, Anyway?
This summer I am trying to get a better grip on just who visits this site, and how you use it.
So I will drop in the occasional two-click, one-question poll. I am using Google "Plus 1's" because you can't game The Google.
This week, an update of an earlier survey which revealed us to be, depressingly, 94% male. Please, let it be more balanced this time. (UPDATE: It's not looking good.)
Click here to stand up and be counted for your gender.
Many thanks,
DH
So I will drop in the occasional two-click, one-question poll. I am using Google "Plus 1's" because you can't game The Google.
This week, an update of an earlier survey which revealed us to be, depressingly, 94% male. Please, let it be more balanced this time. (UPDATE: It's not looking good.)
Click here to stand up and be counted for your gender.
Many thanks,
DH
__________
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Posted at 5:50 PM.
37 Comments:
My most sincere apologies for being a gentleman.
I'm a big fan--and a FEMALE! I feel special. Thanks for all of the wonderful information.
Woman! Too many women just rely on their creativity and don't see the point in technical knowledge. Not me. I love the technical/challenging stuff.
Do you have to be a Google+ member to +1 something? There's nowhere for me to +1 the current poll results.
@Unk-
You do not need a Google+ ID, but you do need to have a Google account. Which you do, as you apparently used it to comment. If you hover near the comments, you should see a +1 to click.
Thanks,
D
David,
Next month can you run a single / taken poll along with the boys and girls ;)
~fellow Strobist addict
@Unknown - yeah you need a Google+ account to actually +1 something, I have a Google account but not a Google+ account so there's no +1 button for me.
Hi David!
I usually don't feel like like answering lengthy polls on the Internet.
Please know that I'd totally do it for strobist though.
Favourite pizza, lens, camera body, percentage of income from photography and so forth.
Cheers,
Eric
@David
It looks to me like you need a Google+ account. I'd never used Google+ but have a Google account. It didn't show me the +1 until I'd upgraded to a Google+ account.
Hmmm - as a male, should I fake statistics and give no sign of life at all?
P.S.: Google's non-robot check sucks big time. Even with repeated alternative images, which human is supposed to be able to read that crap?
I'd +1 the Male choice, but it won't let me. And I make no apologies for being male.
Another male here. And how do I use the site? Research and inspiration. The way it was meant for it to be used. :)
I've been a fan for a few years now starting with 101. I've learned a lot mr. Hobby. Keep it coming.
I reject the idea of being categorized into one of two rigid gender ideas.
I'm a male. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to +1 the Google site. I have a Google account and was signed in, but I don't have a Google+ account.
Hey Greg-
I could be mistaken. You may need a Google+ account to +1 something.
Another survey suggestion would be something to the effect of whether you make a living off photography, make some income, or if it's a checkbook draining hobby. I'd also venture to guess that a significant portion of people here are in the IT profession.
I just wanted to say hello from one of your female readers - and thank you to Sarah Mattingly, another of your female readers for introducing me to your site a few years ago. (Come on ladies - let's get the word out to our female friends about Strobist!)
It's so cool to read comments from fellow lady-strobiste (it's pronounced like it's french because we're fancy).
It's still a bit of a sausage fest, but give us time: at some point you'll realize the place has flower curtains, pink sofas and smells like a perfume truck exploded in the front yard.
*evil laughter*
Female... but don't use Google+. Love your site. Have learned a lot. Thank you.
Been using your blog for inspiration and education for some time - and for me its important in the same way as McNallys and Kelbys books. Those are the tree sources I lean on. Since you are the more dynamic one it is this blog I read most often. Thank you :)
I'm female. Have read lots and lots here and have tried many new things. Often use it as a source of information by searching the blog. Even tried some DIY. Originally came upon it through flickr.
Thanks for all your hard work and good info.
Oh, yeah. And I read your blog every day.
Total chick strobist groupie here!!!
But I'm not on google+ and couldn't vote.
Another female here without a Google+ account. I read the blog and and attended the Bus Tour in Los Angeles.
I am another female without a Google+ account. I read the blog an dalso attended the Bus Tour event in Los Angeles.
I don't know how to break it to you David, but guys love gadgets. Playing with off camera flash is playing with "gadgets".
@ James
I completely disagree. Well, maybe not completely, as I can see for some people off camera flash could be gadget porn at its best, but still.
I'm probably one of the least technical-detail oriented photographers on the market (I still have my dumb moments here and there, like when I spent 20 minutes on set changing batteries and cursing before realizing one of my pocket wizards was on the wrong channel), but the reason I started working with off camera flash is because it was the only way to achieve the kind of image I was going after.
It lets me control light, which lets me control the photo and if to do so I need to actually learn stuff in the process... I'll do it. Strobist to me, when I found it years ago, was great because there was this guy talking about technical stuff in a language I could understand (basically weird humor, low budget stuff and lots of trial and error).
If strobist was about gear porn I'm pretty sure a lot of people wouldn't be here.
(still, even though I technically have 2 X chromosomes, I admit I still enjoy my dose of soft-core tech talk)
Perhaps the women could offer examples of their favorite photography site or blog. Would example postings from those answers assist in choosing future subject matter? What would be the cost -if any- to a more varied fare on this site?
@Terry-
You probably weren't here in 2009, but we discussed that kind of stuff at length in a port back then.
Long story short, I am not ready to start trying to choose content based on what I would think would appeal to women. Similarly, I pretty much avoid all of the typical male-centric cheesecake that gets suggested to me on a near daily basis. God knows there's enough of that on the web already.
The real question is, why aren't more women interested in lighting? I have given up trying to guess, but that doesn't mean I am willing to throw them under the bus to cater to a readership that is still overwhelmingly male.
My plan going forward to to try to stay gender-agnostic on the site and let the chips fall where they may.
Sorry. POST, not PORT.
Hey David,
Thanks for the shout out. Glad you enjoyed a slice of my cheesecake.
Scott
Hokey Smoke Bullwinkle!
211 comments in 8½ days?
Man, you lit the fire.
...now reading all posts off-line.
Hokey Smoke Bullwinkle!
211 comments in 8½ days?
Man, you lit the fire.
….reading all posts // off-line.
I don't have the + thing that is needed to record my presence. I am in whatever percentage there is that is female. I come here because I learn a lot from the posts and often from the comments as well.
What drew me here initially was to find out about some DIY stuff that I read about in a book by Scott Kelby that was a few years ago and I still visit pretty regularly.
I don't get enough time to put it all in to practice but I'm storing up knowledge for when I do have that luxury.
I know this poll question is past, but I finally figured out how to enable Google Plus and all the other stuff to make it work! Yea for me! I am in the Female category and read your site every week. I work another FT job and do photography for love every chance I get.
Best, K
I sent a few girlie food bloggers here for lighting and they said, "Like eewwww, like it's way to hard..." Use your best Valley Girl voice here. And then they asked me for all the Magic Settings.
I on the other hand, am a lifer here. -Libby (yes female)
I am a female AND I attended the Bus Tour--loved it! Back in the day, attending a photography seminars meant that you saw a beautiful slide show and went home without really learning anything. Thanks for being part of this new movement to inform instead of humiliate. Love your blog and read it often.
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