150 unmissable photography sites

Always on the look for good photography web sites, not only did I recently discover pixiq but I also found their article on 150 unmissable photography sites with the link here very interesting. The list has some definite finds but there are some others that leave something to be desired. However, the reason I bring this up is the discovery of the web site 1x. It is a rather unique gallery and social network of photographers but with a slight twist. The images displayed are handpicked by a professional curator so the images presented tend to be more artistic nature rather than the standard fare. This for me is great because my objective now is to look at photography as a more artistic endeavor and not just the capture of a nice subject, pleasingly presented. Consequently, this web site is full of inspiration and great images. What I find rather telling, though, as I wonder through the images presented, is the almost total lack of landscape icons, i.e., must shoot sights. With maybe the exception of the Golden Gate Bridge, most of the images have to do with a persons creativity in working with every day subjects. There are some mountain and ocean views, but by and large, virtually all have very little identified subjects. Another interesting element of these various photographs is that they are, for the most part, very simplistic. But this I mean that they predominately have one major subject and stick to that subject. The lesson is, get out and shoot where you live. Don't worry about making it to the big places for another image of Yosemite Falls, not that visiting Yosemite isn't major cool, but it most likely will not improve ones lot as a photographer.