Usually we’re behind the camera looking through the viewfinder, but today we step in front of the lens to share what we’ve spent the past few months crafting. A platform for anyone that has a passion for photography, built by photographers for photographers
With the advent of DSLR’s in the mid 90’s & the launch of smart phones 20 years later, that are nowadays capable of achieving results arguably indistinguishable from modern mirrorless cameras, the number of images & the way people share them has exploded, photo communities catering for this explosion have come & gone or morphed into media platforms far removed from their origins(yeah we’re looking at you instagram™)
We feel there’s still plenty of space in this vast, ever evolving & varied industry for yet another photo community, one that adheres to our fundamental vision of a community built around quality photography, our name even evolved from that vision
Our portmanteau combines “LENS” representing photography & “HOOD” for neighbourhood, a name that seems obvious to us now, but took us weeks of staring a whiteboard covered in scribbles & posit notes before we had that aha moment (more on that in a future update)
You’d be right in thinking that surely all “photo communities” have that basis no? To a degree yes they do, yet that’s just it, to a degree… without doubt it’s a key part of their strategy, yet it’s to build something else, a media platform, so not a core value per se
To us everything we do is designed around community & photography, we actively encourage our members to make connections, not to chase likes & follower counts (as there aren’t any) but to generally make connections, we’re not interested in building a sticky media platform designed to keep you glued to a never ending *timeline (that’s why we put you in total control of it), we want you to click with others on LENSHOOD, then go out & click in the real world
Social media platforms utilise algorithms to optimise media engagement via adverts & influencers, pushing likes & follower counts… they have no interest in users choosing their own connections or actually being social, we’re the opposite of that
where everyone clicks is more than a tagline, we stand by it, we’re a social network first & foremost, not a media platform disguised as a social network
we hope that’s what you’re looking for too, if so, come join us & connect with your hood
*Timeline, we name ours “roll”
