Do you dabble in photography, from being a novice at it to being an expert photographer? Then you have to checkout our website of the week - ViewBug.

After signing up, users can upload and share their photographs with like minded people and even sell their photographs on the site. ViewBug hosts regular photography contests based on various themes, which are judged by a panel of eminent photographers. Viewbug has given away more than $50K in prize money so far. We were fortunate enough to talk to Jimmy Lozowsky and Ori Guttin, the co-founders of ViewBug, and understand the idea behind the site and how it has evolved.

Checkout the interview below:




Jimmy and Ori please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us about the concept behind ViewBug? What inspired you to start ViewBug?

As amateur photographers ourselves, we are both very passionate about photography and, after graduating from the University of San Diego, we wanted to merge our love for photography with our entrepreneurial skills. We basically just created what we wanted, which is: an online community that would be welcoming to all levels of photographers and that would inspire one another to continue in the medium and constantly evolve their own skills. Although there were some photography-related websites available, we didn’t think there was one that hit all of our needs. So in 2007, we were able to create and launch ViewBug as that online community to inspire passion in photographers.


What is the total user base of your site? What are the average number of participants in each of your photography contests?

When ViewBug launched, we focused primarily on photography contests and we have since hosted the most photography contests of any site. We focused on photography contests because we felt it would inspire our community and create a healthy sense of competition. Our community is growing daily as we host about two contests per week with an average of 2,000 entries per contest.




























What differentiates your site from other photo sharing and selling websites like 500px?

We like to think that it’s our community. Our members are incredibly welcoming and thoughtful; they share their views and their art with one another in a respectful manner, and their talent is inspirational. We also think our main differentiator is our contests, which we host frequently and for all levels of participants. In the coming weeks, we will have a completely redesigned website that will allow members to fully customize their experience and view the site the way that they want to, and that will be an experience that is unique to ViewBug.


What safety features do you use to ensure that user uploaded photographs are not passed off as their own by other people?

We use different safety features. We provide right-click and drag protection for the member's photos and we never display the original full-size uploaded image. We also give the option to our members to use watermarks to protect their photos. They can use either ViewBug's standard watermark or their own.



If I am not mistaken, you started up with having videos and music also, as part of all the stuff users could upload to ViewBug and share. But now you are sticking solely with photograpy as the medium of expression, to share and sell on ViewBug, could you tell us why?

Our philosophy has always been to listen to our members and follow the direction of their needs. The community started focusing more in photography and we decided to focus solely in this art expression.


How do the sellers on ViewBug get paid? Is it mandatory to have a PayPal accout? What is the monetization model for ViewBug?

Sellers are paid via PayPal.

ViewBug offers free and paid memberships. Our upgraded memberships allow members to take full advantage of the photo contests by being able to enter unlimited entries in any contest all year long, upload unlimited number of photos to their profile, browse ViewBug ad-free and receive more exposure.
















Being photographers yourself, what is your favourite genre of Photography? Which is your favourite camera and lens combination?

We love all types of photography but we have a special place in our hearts for black and white images. We are always interested and excited to see the new trends and experimental techniques and are thrilled that more people are getting into photography and are becoming more and more creative. We like the Canon D series and lenses 18 -200 mm.


What are on the top shelves of your inspiration library right now? This can be anything from blogs, books and magazines to vintage catalogues/manuals, etc. What photographers do you look up to?

We love browsing photo magazines and books; yet our biggest inspiration is to browse ViewBug on a daily basis... we can literally spend hours just viewing all the different photos uploaded to the site and the techniques used by our members. In regards to photographers, we look up to Annie Leibovitz, Dave LaChapelle, Man Ray, Helmut Newton to name a few.


Thank you for taking the time for this interview, it's a great site you've got there, and we wish you the very best for the future. 


www.viewbug.com