Last year one of my clients turned me onto 1x, a photography website where you’ll find the usual content: user submitted images, a fairly active forum, tutorials and a workshop calendar. Where 1x differs so dramatically from most photography sites is in their tightly curated image collection. Members are allowed to submit images that are then sent for review to a group of curators who decide whether or not the photograph should be published to their collection. To be certain, image selections are a bit arbitrary but once you view just a few of the published photos there is little doubt about the quality of the work chosen for publication. In my opinion, there is no site on the internet where you will find a more inspiring collection of imagery.
You’ll find a wide variety of photography on 1x ranging from landscapes to action to nudes to portraits to macro and more. Though my primary subjects are landscape and adventure, I also enjoy and learn from all types of photography. Portraits and nude photography allow me to examine light and form, which inspires me to keep my mind open to similar situations in the type of photography I do. If you’re offended by nude photography, it’s easy to filter out all images depicting nudity. If you’re only interested in viewing landscapes, it is very simple to select only the “landscape” category. 1x is very easy to use and the site has a clean, elegant design that does not interfere with the viewing experience.
Something else that sets 1x apart from most other online photo sites is that there is no voting or ranking system that can artificially inflate the ranking of a photograph. The curators select a photo, publish it to the collection, and users can then “favorite” and/or comment on the photo. Photos that receive the most views, favorites and/or comments may eventually make it to the “Popular Photos” collection but this gallery is only one of many that you may choose to view. Popular photos do not rise to the top while other great images languish at the bottom of the heap. 1x also allows you to view only the most recently published photographs, which is the filter I use the most as it always presents a fresh batch of images.
I’ve been a member of 1x for a little over two months. In that time I’ve submitted eight photos for review and had three of them published. I’m told this is an excellent acceptance rate. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know. But, I am excited to have some of my images featured alongside the work of so many other immensely talented photographers. Should you decide to explore 1x, here are a few photographers whose work I admire: Matt Anderson, Tristan Shu, Emmanuel Coupe, Marcin Sobas and Samuel Feron. And, if you’d like to connect with me there, here’s a link to my profile.
8 Responses to “1x: Where You’ll Find the Best Photography on the Web”
Jenn Grover says:
thanks, Bret – this is a very informative post.
Kent Mearig says:
I have to heartily disagree with you, Bret. I’m sure you knew you were leaving yourself open to criticism by making such a bold statement as you did in you title, but I still want to respond with some thoughts.
I was involved with 1x several months ago, and I had much the same initial response as you relate in this post. But “curators” do not make a collection of photography the best. In fact, I would argue that they make it less than the best. Curators do not know the goals or sentiments of the artists who are submitting their work. That was my primary reason for disengaging the 1x community. A visitor to the site assumes that they are seeing the “best” of what a photographer has to offer, and in my case (and in my opinion) they were not seeing my best. I did not appreciate having some nameless person (or group of people) decide which of my photographs viewers should value and which they should not be subject to.
My second issue with 1x is that they can’t even back up their claim of weeding out sub-par imagery. I stopped by the site just before writing this comment to make sure something hadn’t changed. It took me less than a minute to find an image that lacked both technical excellence and unique vision (maybe less than 20 seconds).
Maybe I should write my own post about how to find the “best” on the web. And you had better take it all back!
…just kidding.
I know that your intentions in writing this were good. And if I didn’t value your opinion, I wouldn’t have bothered to comment.
Bret Edge says:
Thanks, Jenn! Glad you enjoyed it.
Bret Edge says:
I’m glad you took the time to comment, Kent! Maybe I’m just jaded but it seems that in my experience every other site I’ve visited or forum I’ve frequented has some really great photography and some terrible photography. 1x seems to consistently offer better imagery than other sites I’ve seen including NPN, 500px and flickr. No doubt there is some top notch work at each of those (and others) but 1x seems to consist of a much higher overall quality than the others. Of course, as you mention, this is all up for debate as art is art, and what I consider to be beautiful someone else might consider to be trash. Thanks so much for stirring the pot!
Kent Mearig says:
It’s true. There really is probably less “bad” photography on 1x than on other sites. But here’s my idea for how you can find the “best” photography on the web, and it’s even personalized. Visit one of the most popular gallery sites (500px might work the best for this), find a photographer who you respect and whose work you love, and then click on the link to their “favorites”.
Check mine out…those 1x curators have got nothin’ on me!
Also, more seriously, whytake.net is pretty spectacular. Use the “Inspire” browsing and just keep hitting “refresh”.
Bret Edge says:
Kent: Thank you for the tip on WhyTake.net! I’d never heard of it but you’re right, there is some AMAZING nature photography on display over there. I spent more time than I should have hitting the “refresh” button and finding some seriously inspiring work. I also went ahead and joined the site. Look forward to finding more great photography there in the future.
Patrick says:
I’ve been visiting 1X periodically for a year or so, I agree that it has first rate photography, and I also like that fact that since it seems to feature mostly European photographers, I’m seeing something different than the more familiar American locations I see at Flickr. (to Kent, I’d say presumably if it is you submitting the photos, whatever they select should be among your best).
Bret Edge says:
Thank you for the comment, Patrick. You’re right – it is interesting to see more photographs of European landscapes and fewer of the popular American locations. If anything, it’s increased my desire to spend some time exploring Europe, Iceland and some other beautiful areas.