Nice read there VMR and Ravi!
Friends, reflecting back on Ravi's comment on CNP helping with his visions, I would like to highlight couple of points about CNP -
No pre-screening policyNot sure whether you as a member of CNP have noticed the important policy that we have - no pre-screening. There are some good photo forums which showcase only the 'best'! Who decides what is best? The moderators of the forum who pre-screen the posted images and allow only those that they think are worthy of showing. We in CNP decided early on that pre-screening is a flawed approach. Over the years forum will lose freshness and will not promote or encourage every individuals' unique perspectives/visions. We made a conscious decision to err on letting every image which a photographer want to share than forcing we moderators' visions. If everyone agrees with every posted image here in CNP then it is an indication that we have stopped growing as a forum!
There is a negative side to it - we hear some good jokes like -
if you have made bad/blurred accidental images post it on CNP, the 'good' sharp images can be posted in other photo forums. 
We have made conscious decision to live with such criticisms!! In nature photography it takes years to cross those
nice background beautiful sharp portraits stage in life. If one continues photography for long and courageous to question his/her growth as a photographer then opinions will change! When we want to do
our photography and not Art Wolfe's or Frans Lanting's photography things will get more challenging and interesting!
Where are we now?6 years have passed. I just noticed the image ID of the latest posted image being
10348!! Yes, our members have shared over 10,000 images during last 6 years. It is a commendable job considering the emphasis we have on creativity and art. Where we are now on this journey? What else can be do? Should we? What next? Several questions.. While personally I see some stagnation in my own visions as photographer I strongly believe the foundation of the forum with emphasis on creativity and art is rock solid. Creativity and art will not end. We will see new visions, forever. I am very excited to see newer visions of the members. We need to be courageous to take meaningless critiques about
meaninglessness of our images!
Once in a while I browse different nature forums/photographers' personal websites having some emphasis on art and creativity. I now see lots of images which we considered creative 3-4 years back. We don't consider them creative any more as a forum since we are used to seeing them.
Friends, I think we are ahead and setting benchmarks. Today's visions of ours will be considered very creative a few years from now. Be brave and show us your visions, today!!
