About Vazaar

What does the word "Vazaar" mean?

Vazaar is a visual bazaar!

So, what's the point of this site?

Vazaar is a worldwide community of people who enjoy the challenge of photography. We regularly create new topics of interest to get the creative juices flowing. New topics are decided by a vote. Once a new topic is activated we upload our photos and share our own interpretation of the subject, then we decide which photos will be featured. Only 20% of all the images on Vazaar will ever be featured.

Every member of Vazaar is a photo editor and all users can choose which photos are featured next. We have no panel of judges, (which actually seems to work!) The Vazaar website constantly tallies up the votes and automatically features around 1 out of every 5 photos. Once an image is featured in a topic, it also appears on the Vazaar homepage for all to see. All featured photos are archived, so you can go back in time and see the entire history of the site. There are also RSS feeds, so you can follow along in your favorite news reader.

Since only 20% of all photos will ever be featured, we offer some tools to help our lesser-known photographers get feedback. Any user can request critiques of their photos. A critique is a way to say, "Hey! I'm looking for some honesty... Lay it on me!" Our system encourages active participation in the critiquing process by awarding critique points. The more critique points you earn, the more critiques you can get. Read more about critiques...

If you're not interested in any of this critique stuff, then you're perfectly welcome to not use that feature. Only people who ask for critiques should get them.

Both professional and amateur photographers come together on Vazaar to interact with each other. We like the fact that we have such a wide spectrum of photographers and we do our best to leave our egos at the door.

Who's responsible for all this?

Vazaar was built by Brandon Stone. He has been making a living on the web for over a decade and has a passion for photography. Brandon is responsible for a number of community photography sites, including: Vazaar, Photoblogs.org, Camerapedia, and WeeklyShot.

Brandon relies heavily on feedback and support from the online photography community. Without them, none of this would exist.

What is the future of Vazaar? What do you have planned?

We're still in the middle of building everything around here, so we maintain a public development queue where you can see what's on the horizon.

How do I join?

Check out the sign up page!

What does it cost?

Nothing!