Join our zoo community

Dating Photographs

Discussion in 'Animal Photography' started by snowleopard, 10 Jan 2009.

  1. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    1 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    7,690
    Location:
    Abbotsford, B.C., Canada
    We have an amazing resource of photos here at ZooChat, and the grand total is now around 28,000. There are far more postings and comments on the gallery than the actual written threads, and obviously the interest is there for all to see. Every once in a while I bring this up, but would it be possible for everyone who posts photos to date the photographs? I've got over 6,000 photos here on ZooChat and almost all of them have the month and year of when I took the shot, and it helps when assessing the zoos.

    Often there are exhibits that have been renovated or completely demolished from zoos, or animals might have been born or recently died. An enclosure photograph that shows 6 white rhinos might be irrelevant as it could be out of date. The zoo might have had 2 rhinos die or transferred the animals to another institution. Sometimes I see photos that show animals or exhibits that are no longer in existence, or have been drastically altered. If there is a baby animal in a photo and there is no date on the photograph then that creature might have died, been sent away to another zoo, or could be an adult now. There is no way of telling without a date, and even if one does not know the exact date then an approximate estimate would be terrific. Cheers!
     
  2. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    13 Jun 2007
    Posts:
    23,440
    Location:
    New Zealand
    I always date my photos. The way the gallery is set up now the date the photograph was taken is automatically shown in the stats under the pic. Doesn't work if its a scan though, or for certain other reasons.

    Also I'll add that it helps if you date them with the month written out (eg, 4 August 2008 rather than 4/8/2008 because people from some countries would see that as 8 April 2008)
     
  3. djaeon

    djaeon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    14 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    144
    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    I agree that dates are important. I don't like having the date stamp on the actual pictures, so I always add a date in the title.
     
  4. PAT

    PAT Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    16 Jan 2008
    Posts:
    1,557
    Location:
    Victoria
    When I read the title of this thread I thought you wanted to turn Zoochat into an online dating website.
     
  5. MARK

    MARK Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    7 May 2005
    Posts:
    3,433
    Location:
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    We have asked our members a number of times to add dates to their photos, it is a big help when looking at exhibits as time passes so do the animal exhibits and the animals within them
     
  6. djaeon

    djaeon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    14 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    144
    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    Hahaha, I thought the kinda same thing when I first saw the title;) I was expecting photos of people on dates at zoos.
     
  7. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    1 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    7,690
    Location:
    Abbotsford, B.C., Canada
    It would be kind of cool to see people get together for dates on this website, as then there would at least be some common interests for the zoo nerds. I'm married and so already have someone to stroll around zoos with...I'm the zoo nerd and my wife is the one snapping photos.