This is a great list of really great people to follow here.. there is a bit of everything for everyone..
Reshared post from +Thomas Hawk
2,000 Kick Ass Photographers on Google+
Part 4 of 4 (Ro-Z)
Part 1 of 4 (A-Ev) here: http://goo.gl/Z333g
Part 2 of 4 (Ev-La) here: http://goo.gl/dX7lR
Part 3 of 4 (La-Ro) here: http://goo.gl/MP1Q2This is the fourth time since joining G+ almost a year ago that I'm sharing my photographers circle. I shared it with 500 photographers, 1,000 photographers, 1,500 photographers and now 2,000 photographers. I have to break my circle up into four 500 photographer circles as that is the G+ limit. Each day this week (Mon.- Thurs.) I'll share a different circle. Today is the fourth circle and includes photographers with the last name's Ro-Z.
A few notes about these circles. I always get hated on when I share them by people. Inevitably if I include 2,000 people, I will leave 50,000 people out. This is not intentional or personal. This circle is not "the best" photographers on G+ or in the world. It doesn't mean if you are not in my circle that you are not a "quality" photographer.
This list is simply photographers that I've stumbled across for whatever reason over the past year and have chosen to follow their work. In some cases I've gotten to know the photographers in this circle personally — through photowalks and trips, hangouts, in real life, etc. Many of these people are or have become my friends. Most of the photographers in my circle though I don't even know. They are just people whose work I admire and want to consume — I hope many are future friends. 🙂
I use some objective criteria with this circle but I use a lot of subjective criteria too. This is, afterall, my own personal circle that I look at and +1 from every single day. My aesthetic taste and personal preferences may be very, very different than yours. This is ok. Art is subjective. That said, here a breakdown of my own preferences and biases that influence who I add into my circle.
1. I like people who are active on G+. If you haven't posted one of your photos in the last month you probably are not in this circle. I use a script to uncircle inactive people regularly.
2. I like photographers who mostly post their own photographs. I dislike clutter and "dumb stuff" in my photographers circle. Excessive reshares, circle shares, memes, gifs, youtube videos, posts not about photography, web links, etc. make me uncircle or move people to a different circle.
I also like photographers who regulate how much of their photography they post to their stream. I don't want to see 50 shots in a row of someone's vacation. I think about 5 photos max a day feels about right to me.
3. *Controversial* I dislike signatures and watermarks. You will find photographers in my circle that use them. It's just a bias, not a hard and fast rule. I mostly want this stream to be as watermark/signature free as possible. I totally understand and respect your reasons and decision for using watermarks/signatures. I hope you equally respect my decision to not want to consume photos mared up with them. Please don't turn this into a discussion about watermarks/sigs, I've spent the last 10 years thinking heavily about this issue. It's just a personal preference and bias.
4. I like people who are active, positive, helpful, enthusiastic G+ community members. I dislike people who are rude, mean, complainers, trolls, harrasers, etc. If you say mean things to people, about people, about their art or their work I don't want to follow you. I'm fine with debate and disagreement. It should just be done respectfully — there's a huge difference between respectful disagreement and rude behavior. Not only will you not be in this circle if you are rude, I'll probably block you too. I want to surround myself with positive uplifting people.
5. I like people who directly post their work here on G+. If you primarily post links to Flickr, 500px, your blog, etc. I probably won't follow you. G+ photos are larger and I don't want to have to leave G+ to consume a photo. I also want to know that you are invested in the conversations around your photos here.
I haven't included myself in these circles but I have included +Photo Talk Plus which is the weekly hangout show that +Lotus Carroll and I do on Wednesday nights. I've also included our two show sponsors +SmugMug and +Blurb Books. Thanks to everyone who supports the show.
I'll share my circles again when they hit 2,500 in the future. Thanks to all photographers on G+ (not just the ones in my circle) for making this such an amazing place for photography on the web.