Mod here.

We’re not looking for accidental photos, as in “I yeeted my phone and accidentally captured A Renaissance™”, because those mostly don’t exist.

We’re looking for well-composed photos that, as the photographer was pursuing a nice photo, also accidentally copied the rules of Renaissance painting, which does sometimes overlap (as a happenstance) with the fundamentals of good photography.

We remove a shitload of photos that are objectively gorgeous and technically astute, but don’t look like paintings, so trust me, there’s a difference.

As I understood it, they’re not doing it the old fashioned way because they’re trying to breed alpacas who are more resilient against climate change, and it’s easier to send a jar of spunk than to send an entire male alpaca.

We’re being more lax this time around, at least for now, because the community is small.

We had to be stricter in the subreddit because the volume of posts was insane and anytime something didn’t quite “measure up” to peoples’ (absolutely batshit insane) expectations, the comment section demanded mod blood sacrifices.

So if something doesn’t quite “measure up”? Eh, no big deal. We’re not writing down the usernames of the naughty users that post something that’s 20% too baroque.

Lots of old timey artists “cheated” by using out of boundary light sources to light their scenes, this is not the “gotcha” you think it is.

You know that hippies still wear snoods, right? The rest of her clothes are modern but distinctly hippie-styled, so this is either the world’s laziest renfaire costume, or it’s just a hippie wearing clothes like a hippie does.

Yeah, it’s a habit that I know makes me look old but it’s just not a habit that I’m particularly motivated to change when there’s so much better things I can be spending my limited attention on.

I type using an actual keyboard, not on my phone, and the misspellings are my own fault, typing the wrong thing.

What has Kanye ever done that’s positive for Bipolar disorder? He made having a mental illness feel more terrifying (graphic depictions of being hauled into a mental hospital) and more isolating for people diagnosed with the disorder, not less. He even resists treatment and resists taking meds because he spouts the absolutely unfounded conspiracy theory that being medicated makes you less creative-- Which is utter, utter, utter DANGEROUS bullshit and a massive disservice to people like me who went unmedicated/under-medicated when I was younger and do you know what I did with all of that extra energy? I didn’t use it to make art, I was too unstable to make art. Instead I had breakdowns and outbursts.

If you need a bipolar hero, look to Carrie Fisher. No, don’t make her the sub’s icon. Actually stop and learn from her, because upon diagnosis she was set realistic expectations for herself, she took her meds, and she began to give generously to mental health charities, gave her time and media advocacy for people with bipolar disorder, and was so charismatic and relatable when talking about the illness that mystifies normal people with gems like this:

Carrie once described her manic periods to the Los Angeles Times as “feeling like my mind’s been having a party all night long and I’m the last person to arrive and now I have to clean up the mess.”

Like damn, that is relatable as hell but isn’t scary to normal people. It describes the struggle in a way that is managable, if challenging.

When I introduce myself and it comes around to disclosing my mental illness, all I need to say is, “You know, like Carrie Fisher” and you can see a lot of fear evaporate from people’s faces. Like, they know that Carrie Fisher was a handful, but still a great person.

Meanwhile, Kanye is out there calling Bipolar Disorder a superpower, harassing his ex’s new boyfriend, screaming at anyone who will listen that he’s a genius, completely unable to disentangle his bipolar-induced psychosis from his own ego.

If you are new to having bipolar disorder, please go watch or read some stuff that Carrie Fisher has done and ignore Kanye. He’s not here to help you, only himself.

Thank you!!! <3

Image Transcription:

[ Half a dozen dark-clothed figures stand some distance away from us in the badly damaged, grandiose white and gold marble halls of a Baroque-era church; safety-orange-striped hazard tape marks hazardous areas, and most of the figures wear safety orange or white hard hats, surveying the damage in soft diffused sunlight. To the left, in the distance, Corinthian-style columns tilt at a worrying angle barely able to hold up a heavy-looking interior cupola richly decorated with gold leaf. Figures directly below in orange hard hats survey the damage to the pillars but they are partially obscured by exquisitely delicate-looking low fencing, which hazard tape is pulled across and in front of. In the distance in the center of the image, decorative niches that are twice as tall as the figures in the image are partially destroyed, revealing joists and supports, and whatever they housed has been removed, although a lone white marble cross remains perched delicately above them. A gigantic gold chandelier fitted with electric candles hangs above, having received little damage, though because it is unlit it’s not apparently clear if it managed to remain functional. To the far right, a large square structural support with a small gold electric sconce seems undamaged, but a very large pile of rubble at it’s foot suggests that the roof it supports may no longer be intact. The figure at the center, facing away from us, appears to be wearing a priest’s cassock, helmet-less, his arms hanging limply at his sides as he gazes upon what is left of his church. ]

Well, in the interest of the visually impaired, I’m gonna give it my best shot in a separate comment!

You may not have had the default feminine childhood that AFAB people like myself had, but I have seen trans women work so much harder and bust their asses just to be called “Ma’am” so in my eyes? You’re absolutely a real woman. You just played the game on hard mode while the rest of us were on easy and normal mode.

You’re as real a woman as any of us.

You worked for it rather than inheriting it.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know!

If someone snaps a photo of a subject in good light, because the photographer instinctively knows what will make a good photo, but the subject is just doing their normal everyday things? We still consider it accidental.

Remember that we’re not looking for photos that were accidentally taken, like the camera was yeeted through the air and this was the last photo it captured before it shattered. That’s not what Accidental means in our context.

It means a situation that was already happening, but the moment that a photographer caught just happened to resemble a painting from the 14th-16th centuries.

We draw the line at people purposely recreating Renaissance vibes with costumes, or people doing a pose that is heavily associated with certain Renaissance paintings, or elaborate lighting rigs used in professional photo studios made specifically to replicate the lighting in Rembrandt’s work (for example).

If the photographer was trying to make the mother and child recreate an exact Renaissance pose, they’re doing a terrible job at it, but the overall effect is Renaissance-like.

Our reward circuits go off when someone mentions taking a rest.

Bee reward circuits go off for things that we would consider work.

Basically, the whole time they are face-first in a flower slurping up nectar and gathering pollen, the thing going through their tiny brains is “Fuck yeah I needed this”.

If you gave a bee the day off the general sentiment would be “What the fuck man, this is bullshit, I demand you let me go and collect nectar right fucking now!”

Banning vs. not banning are not hallmarks of leftism, rather it’s the difference between communities that are making an effort to be inclusive (a hallmark of leftism, btw) versus communities where the mods are so tired and overworked that it’s easier to ban people than adapt to the disruptions they may cause (a capitalist reflex that prioritizes being palatable to everyone over being fair to everyone because it’s more time-efficient to be blandly palatable and to enforce case-by-case fairness).

So yeah, from a certain point of view, because of the simple fact that you are being tolerated marks Lemmy as a more leftist platform.

Isn’t it weird how if you dig up old news articles of celebrities who have always been in the spotlight, you find headlines like “Jon Voight welcomes baby daughter, names her Angelina” and somehow all of her baby photos, childhood photos, etc. show them as girls “before anyone invented trans people” and absolutely zero evidence that they were ever male?

https://pagesix.com/slideshow/angelina-jolie-photos-through-the-years/#1

We probably wouldn’t delete it, just leave a link at the top explaining we’ve migrated and lock it so it isn’t accepting new posts.

I wouldn’t want someone who submitted a treasured photo and got a bunch of positive feedback to lose it forever in the name of ruthless efficiency.

Me, the one who set up the community, seeing my community here, realizing I’m doing a piss-poor job at publicity: https://i.imgur.com/BZNPOxb.jpg

I think I did pretty well reciting it from memory and swapping out the details.