I try to be a photographer, I try to be a good photographer. The best way to become better is making photo’s and show them to people who’s opinion you care about. Another reason for me to show them to people who’s opinion I care about is fishing for compliments.
And that is where things often go wrong for me 🙂
It doesn’t work, compliments should be given because you deserve them, not because you want them. And I can say that I need a lot of validation all I want, it won’t make things any different.
And because of something that happened recently I realized something. Getting criticism from certain people is a sign that I am indeed getting better at photography. I’ve done a fotoshoot with a friend of mine. And I posted those photo’s to an IRC channel which I frequent (#fotografie at irc.tweakers.net).
The first piece of criticism was hard, I had difficulty coping with it. It seemed so over the top. Just negative criticism to be negative. Some other people offered real suggestions on how to improve myself a next time. But even those I felt were just too negative.
And then, a couple of days later I realized something. Other people, other photographers, people who I see as good, also get criticism. And even they have sometimes (often) trouble dealing with it.
I should be glad that people take the time to critize my work, and that they want to help me get better. Every time someone takes the time to point out mistakes I made, it’s because that person wants to see me become better.
What better way to learn, then to make mistakes?
Oh, and, please, go look at those photos and ‘validate’ me 😛
Uhm, your link is b0rked. And it’s a good thing you don’t ask my opinion about your photos that often, because to be honest, I have little to say about them. I’m no photographer 😛
But you should really learn to cope with the criticism, because it’s what they say, not how they say it which counts.
Critic: “HEY ASSHOLE, MAYBE YOU NEED TO FUCKING LOWER YOUR [x] AND MAYBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS WON’T BE SO SHITTY!”
You: “Thank you. I’ll try that.”
Critic: “BAH POOP CUNT!”
You: “…”
Well, okay, disregard the last two lines. But other than that, you get the point, I hope 🙂
I’m no photographer either and whatever I do attempt to photograph isn’t people, I only do landscapes.
And then I only have eye for composition, not technicalities.
Your photos look fine to me but I think you’ll be better off getting criticism from people who know what they’re saying.
you should also remember that it’s always easier to point out negative things.
When you critisize other peoples work or whatever, don’t you also find it easier to mention what you don’t like about it/them?
Everyone will feel the same way as you do, getting compliments is nicer, but it’s important how you react and what you do with the negative comments
You shouldn’t feel down about the negative comments, but use it, exactly what you said… 🙂
oh and what voh said; the link is indeed b0rked
Link is fixed, well, should be fixed.
I often see criticism as a personal attack and therefore feel down about it. While in fact most criticism I get isn’t meant to be personal, just a hand reaching on how to improve things. Not just with photography, but with everything I do 🙂
And yes, it is easier to say what you don’t like, then it is to say what you do like. I am aware of that, it is something that I am trying to either avoid, or when I do have negative criticism, I try to word it in a positive way, or add some positive remarks with it.
It’s just hard 😉
Ah, critique
http://simulatedcomicproduct.com/2005/06/06/critique/
Remember it’s always only opinions.
I can look at the most expensive painting, the creator being praised by all the experts.. and I still think it’s awful, the angle is off, the colours are just not right and so on. Mass opinion, expert opinion, so what..
If you wish to sell your work, be sure to find a balance between your view and that of your client.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder my friend.
Speaking of opinions: the impression you made of our (mine and Susanne’s) wedding are very nice indeed. The (few) worst I see are good but only a little interesting. Others are true gems.
I may be biased of course, but I’ll happily ignore that.
The updates, they are demanded.
Required, even.
Just do what you like, what you think is good and beautiful, the rest wil come…
I have a completely different point of criticism; who’s should be whose…
And another one; an apostrophe is allowed in your website field, although you remove the character from the url. The website linked to is: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/who's.html