You haven’t joined? Why not?
Why should you join
If you’re looking for a community where you can engage, ask questions, help others and get help from other photographers this is the place for you.
We realize there are many online photo communities out there to choose from. We really want to extend what we do here at Photofocus through our online community.
What makes our community special?
- We’ve got polls, posts and questions that can bring more people into conversation in a space that’s all our own.
- We’ve got Topics to organize our activity, Search to find what we’re looking for and Save Post for you to quickly come back to your favorites.
- You can direct message. You can also post and have threaded conversations.
- We can organize virtual sessions and events.
- We can keep conversations and messaging going before, during and after our events.
- If and when we want them, we can also organize smaller groups.
In other words, we’ve chosen a spot designed to grow with us over time.
What you should expect from Photofocus
We’re aiming to make your experience awesome. We want you to get five key things from the Photofocus Community:
- Get exclusive content and conversations you can’t find anywhere else.
- Meet people who share your interests who live near you, who do the same things, or who care about the same topics.
- Make better, more well-informed decisions about photography.
- Swap stories, experiences, and ideas around our shared love of photography and video.
- Find a little inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, great images, and expert perspective each and every day.
To make this a reality, we’re going to need your help. Every time you contribute a photo, experience or idea, you’re building a knowledge base every member of this community can tap to make better decisions. And when you invite in as few as two new members, you’re adding rocket fuel to what this community can accomplish together. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Are there any perks?
Beyond learning, friendship, sharing and helping each other, Photofocus also adds exclusive content. Free and early access to courses as they become available. You will also have access to our authors. It’s much easier than posting comments on the articles on our site — and much more personal.
You have the opportunity to be featured on Photofocus.com as the weekly Community Spotlight member. We share a few of your images and your photography story with our audience.
There are genre-specific groups you can join whether you’re proficient in one type of photography or want to learn more about it, joining a group is a great way to dig deeper into those specific topics. We also have a weekly challenge group if you feel you need something to photograph each week. It’s a fun way to just get your camera out and create. Then share with others so we can see how many different ways you interpret a topic.
Every Monday, a new macro theme is announced in the Macro group. It’s just another way to push ourselves creatively, get unstuck if we’re feeling stuck or try something we’ve never tried before. On Tuesdays, our community shares their own tips based on a certain subject, which could be tripods, printing, lenses, etc. Sharing our knowledge with each other helps us all learn and grow as photographers. We will continue to add to themes and groups as we grow.
Other reasons to join
Let me tell you my Photofocus story. I first met Levi Sim at a photography conference in Chicago. I joined the Photofocus group on Facebook, and on and off just sort of paid attention to what went on there. One day, Levi posted that someone was going to be in Chicago for the day and was looking for someone to go out shooting with. That person was Bryan Esler. That was back in December 2014. It was cold and snowy, but we had a blast (I won’t even mention Bryan’s shoes).
What are you waiting for? Come on over and join us!
Then I’d run into Levi at other photo conferences on and off. During the 2017 Photoshop World Conference in Orlando, Levi was leading a Photofocus photowalk. I was heading back to my room to take a nap, or so I thought. Levi and his group caught me and insisted I join them. Along the way, he asked me why I wasn’t writing for Photofocus. My reply: “I’m a photographer, not a writer.” But, here I am four years later. Here Bryan is, the managing editor.
My point, all of this happened because of being part of the Photofocus group. We’re expanding this, moving on from Facebook so that we can offer more options, have more control over what we can do and create a much better space for our members than Facebook allows for. You never know what opportunities can arise. We are always on the lookout for new contributors to our site. This is one way that can happen.
Sign me up!
All you need to do to join is click here. It’s easy. It’ll be fun, I promise as the Community Manager and someone who is not ever all that serious. If you have any questions about any of this, just comment here or contact us.
