Photos SharpByCoop's Gallery of Handmade Knives

^^^ I'm catching up to my Instagram VISUAL posts here on Bladeforums. That's enough for today. I"ll do more tomorrow.

Thanks for viewing.

Now I have some AUDITORY news:

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What a *Privilege*! Bob Demarco reached out to me from @TheKnifeJunkie, and we chitchatted for almost and hour. I dodged many of his questions ;) and yet added stories he never saw coming.

Click: LINK TO MY PODCAST ON KNIFEJUNKIE.COM

Learn about why I do not purchase knives much anymore…. (Hint: that itch gets scratched every afternoon!)
Learn my views on trends, past and pending.
Learn what an ‘Urban Folder’ is….
Learn about the *inside* scoop on my camera/knife logo.
Learn my views on CNC and hand-mades
And more….. Bob Demarco and his partner Jim Person present a new interviewee every week. We may do this again in the future, I hope!

If you DID listen to the whole thing, comment below, please?

Thanks to ALL!

Jim ‘Coop’ Cooper
 
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I want your advice.

I have NOW learned that my linking to my Instagram posts only works for a month or two, then the images go silent. :(
(Thanks for the pointout to the dead links @Matthew Gregory ) I have since fixed and replaced all those dead posts.

So I am back to my time-proven and time-consuming method of uploading to my Fototime hosting account and going in there and getting the urls' etc. (If I want to use Bladeforums as a host the images HAVE to be smaller until the forum software is upgraded. Hello..??!)

I just checked: I had three responses in the past SIXTY posts I spent mucho time placing. Three. It appears this Gallery has done it's job and run its course.

Bladeforums is NOT what it was from ten years ago. There are a LOT of post and run threads from makers who simply don't comment or contribute to anything but their OWN work here in this forum. (Yeah, yeah, yeah: if I support another maker, then by default it minimizes MY work. That's limited thinking, and I saw this in my own field.)

Yeah, I said that. I can: I've been a contributor to this forum for almost 20 years. It is supposed to be a dialog community. I'm not mad, but for sure I'm frustrated.

I will say that the 'view count' appears to grow. It's got double the next thread (Show me your Camp Knife/Chopper), and second to that in responses. Is that a valid metric?

I spend daily time posting to Instagram. I get traction for my clients in THERE. People pay attention and comment. Let's face it, it has become THE source for visuals. Inescapable.

My mission is to promote my clients. My work, by extension, promotes itself.

Just throwing this out there in an otherwise empty hallway... ;) Thoughts welcome.
 
I was so excited to see activity here!! I check here weekly and am and have been disappointed there have been no posts or updates for months. I find your pictures to be works.of art aside from the knives. I for one would be extremely disappointed if you dont continue with this thread! Just my two cents!!!
Either way, thanks for taking the time, effort and consideration to post here for all us dreamers to oogle!!

James
 
(Late) Mornin' Jim. As always, I love getting notified of new posts to this thread. The one I got this morning may have been the first since a year or thereabouts. Had a horrendous surgery in Jan., the recovery for which is just now coming to an end. Not sure what I might've gotten from you during that time, and also not sure what I might've tossed without really looking at it. If that happened, my sincere apologies. I've never said anything about your work or about this thread except for how much I enjoy seeing the new stuff you post. That still holds true, and as long as I see the notification, I always come to the site to look at whatever you've posted. I don't always post in reply to new stuff though. My bad. I should because I am sincerely grateful for all the free eye-candy you have provided for as long as I've been a member here, which I'd estimate is ~10 years or so, maybe longer.

I'm not signed up with Instagram or Facebook or any of the major social media platforms. I really only log onto two sites anymore, here and another lifestyle-specific forum (specific to Harley Davidsons and riding). I do participate at the latter site on a regular (usually daily) basis, and very rarely here anymore. Don't have an explanation for not coming here more often. I guess it's just a developed habit to focus on bikes more than knives anymore, but for whatever good it does you, I will promise to logon and make a post about every new posting of yours that I see from now on. If I'd have known how frustrated you were behind the lack of postings, I would've been doing it all along. Would hate to see you shut this down, but I would fully understand. I am not one to be selfish with other people's works. If you do go elsewhere, have a wonderful and fulfilling life and online presence. If not, I'll see you very soon after the next new-post notification I get.

Regards and Blessings,

Blues
 
I shot musicians and concert events... Let me rephrase. I photographed musicians, a few who may have deserved to be shot, but that's off topic. The work involved in taking, processing, post prep and posting and then posting links is ridiculous. I feel your pain. Your work, Coop, is appreciated. Has the audience for your work changed?

I don't think you're looking for affirmation, just wondering if your hard work is worth the time; correct? Our mutual friend has mentioned a shift in demographic. He is frustrated, also. The average age and disposition of viewer, buyer has shifted and the contact with these customers has shifted. All I have are questions.
 
I am guilty of underliking which is odd because liking is one of the easier things to do on B/F. I continue to be frustrated by the difficulty of posting pix on B/F. If pic posting were easier, I would spend more time on the pic taking. Most of my shots are point and shoot under the single cold water flat kitchen light. It takes so long to set up the light box and then pack it away. I use my 12.9” iPad to “compose” and shoot. I like the large view finder.
I am not inclined to subscribe to Instagram as they were purchased for $1,000,000,000 by Face Book which is one of the purveyors of personal information.
Thank you for your hard work!
 
Jim, this thread is a treasure. I pore over these photos repeatedly, sometimes with my kids. When designing a dagger, I carefully compared no fewer than 60 from this thread.
I don't use Instagram or Twitter and sincerely hope that you will continue to update this thread periodically.
 
EmmaQuinn911 said:
I do not think that advertising can greatly affect the quality of knives, they are either good or bad!
Click to expand...

I very much doubt that anyone believes that advertising can improve the quality of a knife. But it can increase the number of people that see and become aware of the fact that a given maker makes quality knives. This is a good thing for a maker hoping to sell his or her quality knives.
 
EmmaQuinn911 said:
I do not think that advertising can greatly affect the quality of knives, they are either good or bad!
Click to expand...
This is confusing? Your context, please?

Roger clarified my position. I will add that advertising (which, let's face it, is EXACTLY what a professional photograph is doing) CAN greatly affect a knife's perceived quality. If so many like it, it MUST be good!

"They are either good or bad." That's WAYYYY too generalized and subjective to have real merit.

Welcome to Bladeforums. Thank you.
 
I was hoping for some more knife pictures. It's been months. Please, please, please post some of your beautiful work for us to oogle!!

James
 
Thank you James!

When the Xenforo forum software is UPGRADED so I can post directly without spending extra time linking to a host I will. Right now my Instagram covers that need. I only have so much time for this and it's simply too cumbersome. Upload to outside, link, copy/paste, back and forth ad nauseum.... I have to post DAILY.

I know how to do that. I've done if for many years. My energies go into (4) social media uploads EVERY DAY: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
 
Forgive the crappy quality: It's simply a screenshot of the error I get when I try to upload through Bladeforums software.

The bottom RJ Martin image is only 599kb at 1200 pixels wide (original web quality, not here.)

Throttling the upload limit to sizes which were common in 2010 makes it too complicated to post here.

I am beating a dead horse: The latest Xenforo Forum software has settings to resize to a chosen limit. But... Bladeforums does not have it.

I am not separately hosting to Imgur or Fototime to post my daily Instagram updates here.

It's a missed opportunity for the members here. Just sayin. :(


Bladeforums_500kb_photo-limit.jpg
 
Coop, the only reason I visit this section of Blade Forums is to see what images you've posted. And as far as this area being what it was 10 years ago, I agree with you.
To be honest, I usually go to your website to view your images. The days gone by, are exactly that. If you frequented here the past 20, or even 10 years ago, you know what I mean and you probably know why.
Greg
 
Hi Greg,

I post on (4) major social media sites each day. I WANT to post here, but the process is unfortunately complicated. At some point when I don't have to go host somewhere else I'll post my daily images here.

If the software would simply allow 1mb files or resizing I'd stay currently active. Until then....

Thank you.
 
I completely understand. You were the main reason I got involved in knife photography which has spread out to jewelry and other product photography. I am not completely sure if I should thank you, or damn you, for putting such a curse upon me. :D
Greg
 
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