Beauty of the Curve @beautyofthecurve - Tumblr Blog

The End.

This blog is about 10 years old and is now retired.

In reality it probably died in 2018 when one of the Tumblr CEOs in its string of many acquisitions killed the platform by banning the nipple etc. Since then about 50% of my work was flagged as restricted and hidden and in many cases just silently deleted. This really killed my motivation to upload new content, not knowing what might stay up or be removed.

Initially as time passed I mulled over the idea of starting afresh on a new platform but I never actually got around to doing it, I think because a big part of Tumblr was the community. With restricted content being the 'norm' outside of Tumblr this really meant a stand alone web site and it just never really appealed strongly and so it just never happened. Time has passed, I recently turned 50 and this era of capturing the beauty of the curve is over for me. I would like to thank all of the models who participated in the project and those who appreciated this creative endeavour and commented and shared positively. I'd like to thank all these people but I know none of them will be reading, because it's 2025 and no-one uses Tumblr any more! It was fun. RIP Tumblr. Goodbye.

#tumblr #rip

This could be the end

This is the official Tumblr policy now. So, unless things change, it looks like it could be the end for this blog and any like it.

It’s ironic that Oath (Verizon) CEO says “A better, more positive Tumblr” when what they are in fact doing is killing off creators.

I’m unsure yet whether to simply let my content go to digital heaven or move it somewhere else.

#tumblr #oathsuck

On my Instagram I see far too often people photographing the homeless.

And I wish they would stop it.

If you photograph a homeless person then you’re photographing them in their home.

Don’t give me some shit about ‘documenting life’, that is, unless you’ve spent the time to sit and have a chat with them and got their story and made a proper piece of work out of it.

Taking pot shots of someone in this way is cheap and lazy.

One (wo)man’s misfortune is not another another (wo)man’s ‘art’.

Grrrrr.

#me #photography #rant

i-charmaine-deactivated20151105

Attention: David Karp, Tumblr founder & CEO, and Yahoo! Inc

On June 1, 2015 we, the Photographers on Tumblr, held a Protect the Creators (PtC) campaign. We, creators of original content, want(ed) to get the attention of Tumblr staff and management. We want(ed) the people who run Tumblr to make the necessary changes to this platform that will protect creators’ original work.

Such protection would make it impossible for rebloggers to alter or remove any part of the original post (title, caption, description) and simultaneously ensure the source link is permanent and irremovable.

This is not an unreasonable request, Tumblr has code changes all the time. Yet nothing seems to have changed in terms of tightening up protection for creators of original content. Worse still, when creators have reported offences, their request for corrective action has been ignored. Are the creators not central to what Tumblr is all about? What would Tumblr be without original content? It would just be recycled content from other internet sites.

An ex-Photographer on Tumblr drew my attention to the slogan Tumblr used to have: “Follow The World’s Creators”

Now the slogan is: “Follow the blogs you’ve been hearing about. Share the things you love.”

This too de-emphasises the creators - a point not lost on anyone in our creative community. It makes me uneasy, especially with so little being done to protect the very creators who fuel Tumblr.

David Karp, Yahoo, Tumblr - please give us solutions.

Tumblr is big enough, it’s smart enough, with probably some of the best resources at it’s disposal. Making a few small changes would give many creators here more security and peace of mind. More importantly (for your bottom line), it would stem the tide of creators moving on to competing platforms.

This is what we are asking for:

1. If we are a creator, an original content blogger, and we report a violation of our work to you - whether it is an alteration to the original post, or outright theft - please act on it. Do not ignore us. Please do something. When you do nothing, you are effectively letting the offender know it is perfectly okay to alter others’ original content, while at the same time - perhaps more importantly - you are fostering discontent and anger within the large and active creator community. We need a change in attitude from you, together with how you manage this. If you need suggestions from us on how we think you should manage this, we will gladly provide. So long as the creator is put back into the position they were in, prior to the offensive reblog/post.

2. Make the necessary code changes we need to protect our original work. This should immediately minimise the instances of infringements and work effort required, as referred to in point 1 above.

3. Allow the metadata of the copyright holder/owner of photos to be retained, along with the camera/speed/aperture/iso exif data.

David Karp, Yahoo, Tumblr - please, make this platform better. We know you can.

The question is, will you?

(My thanks go to the ex-Photographer on Tumblr, Pete of tvoom, Fern of qbnscholar and Chas of cpleblow for advice, input and edits.)

P.S. Some people have asked what prompted me to write this post. It came about because of a conversation I had with someone whom I respect, who has stopped using Tumblr. What sealed it, was them bringing to my attention the change of Tumblr’s slogan.

#me