{"id":20262,"date":"2014-05-13T23:45:45","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T03:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=20262"},"modified":"2020-04-28T01:06:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T05:06:42","slug":"photographers-how-to-handle-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photographers-how-to-handle-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographers, you don’t know anything"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I am probably the only person who will ever give you the following comments, but then again, I am probably one of the only photographers capable of looking at your work and who knows how little you know.<\/p>\n

You have no idea about posing whatsoever. Not to worry, most photographers don’t know anything either so you are safe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2026 and so began one of the most insulting emails I have ever received. (I purposely didn’t have quotation marks there at the beginning of this post, to not give the game away.) This email\u00a0was from a few years ago. I kept it in an email folder called “Weird and Idiotic”. Yup, I get those often enough that I have a folder just for weird shit like that.<\/p>\n

“reduce the power of your off camera flash by at least one stop…it will improve your results. now your subjects are completely separated from the backgrounds because your flash is to strong…reduce the power and they will look like part of the scene, instead of looking like you “pasted” them into the scenes.<\/p>\n

hope you are not offended…but you could use some schooling.”<\/p>\n

This specific email always makes me smile, especially when I look at the guy’s site. It’s quite bad.\u00a0I would show his website so you can revel in how bad it is \u2026 but I don’t want people to harass him.<\/p>\n

So where am I headed with this? Hmmmm .. dunno, I’m probably headed dangerously close to the “believe in yourself” feel-good territory. But yeah \u2026 fukkem. Fukkemall. Do what you<\/strong> know works.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to respond to criticism<\/h2>\n

It’s a fine balancing act – being confident about your own work, but also knowing where there is room to learn and grow. So, I didn’t post this for validation of any kind, needing people to tell me how great a photographer\u00a0I am, or something like that. I am all too\u00a0aware of my own limitations,\u00a0while at the same time I do recognize the moments when things come together and my photographs are pretty damn good.<\/p>\n

I do feel I am constantly growing as a photographer, and those of you have have followed the Tangents blog, and my wedding & portrait blog, One Perfect Moment<\/a>, over the years, will know that these websites\u00a0have plotted my own progress over time. You’ve been part of the journey.<\/p>\n

Being able to honestly evaluate your own work – it’s a fine balancing act. It helps getting neutral opinions. Neutral opinions from people who are straight-forward and honest enough to give gentle but firm opinions, without being sycophantic or, the other side of the coin, just plain damn insulting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n