Skip to main content

Whose opinion about your photography really counts?


Every photographer wants to improve. But how do we know we are getting better? Besides looking critically at our own work we listen to the opinions of others.

Allowing other people to judge your work is essential. But you have to be cautious about who's opinion you value. It is human nature to give a negative opinion more weight than praise. The bad comments tend to stick in your mind. So be careful of giving the following people the power to influence your art:

  • There are plenty of great photography teachers that just love sharing their knowledge and are very good educators but there are also some who teach photography but may harbour regrets and be a little bitter about not making it to the top. You have to spot the difference. You'll know the ones to avoid because no matter what you do they will always seek the minor faults and flaws and you will never be able to please them.
  • People who knit pick on small things but don't really help you develop your vision.
  • Someone who may have set themselves up as the font of all knowledge but all they do is parrot formulas and rules without real understanding. The best way to unmask these people is to look at their own photography. You'll soon see if they know what they're talking about.
So who should you listen to:
  • People that have no agenda and have made it to the top, acknowledged masters. They are often the most generous with advice too.
  • Those rare people who see your potential to develop and can identify the strengths in your work and can advise you on how to develop your art as a photographer. People who can help you with your creative vision for the future, not just technical advice.
Once you know the direction you want to go in you can easily learn the technical stuff.

Just learn what you need to know to realise your vision. Put your effort into creativity rather than into trying to learn technical manuals.

Beware of whose opinions you listen to. Learning who's opinion to value and who to ignore is a life and death decision for artistic success.

Till soon,
Paul

PS. Picture above of a Flemish Heavy Horse. More about this amazing animal weighing over a ton here.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overcoming creative block and self doubt

Every photographer, for that matter every creative, I've ever met comes to a point when they're not happy with the work they're producing. The pendulum between creative highs and dry spells swings continuously. For some the cycle is long and the bouts are quite mild for others the feeling of doubt about their work can be a crushing experience which returns all to frequently. It's actually quite healthy to have these periods of doubt because it can often be the beginning of something new and interesting which takes you further than you thought possible. Creatives in the commercial world have to always perform and although they may agree looking back that they've had a few patches where their work was less good, they always seem to bounce back. A very few creative geniuses deliver such high quality work that their poorest attempts still surpass the rest of us. But I have never heard of anyone, from tortured soul of Van Gogh to the supreme showman and genius, Salvador ...
22 comments
Read more

What You Photograph Reveals How You Think

  Photography is often described as a way of seeing. Less often do we talk about it as a way of thinking. What you choose to photograph, and just as importantly what you ignore, quietly mirrors how your mind works. Some photographers are drawn to faces, micro-expressions, emotional spikes. Others chase atmosphere, light, mood. Then there are those who gravitate towards structure, systems, order, the invisible logic holding a scene together. None of this is accidental. The camera becomes a sorting tool. It reveals what your brain prioritises. Where others see chaos, you might see alignment. Where some look for drama, you look for balance. Geometry, repetition, flow, layers, these aren’t just visual preferences, they’re cognitive ones. Strong graphic images tend to come from people who think spatially. Who notice how things relate before they notice what they mean. Lines before labels. Structure before story. And yet, the best images rarely stop there. They gain depth when human pres...
1 comment
Read more

Why do you take photographs?

Have you ever asked yourself why you photograph? It's a question that can be answered with a simple one-sentence answer until you start delving deeper. The answer then becomes increasingly complex and challenging to unravel. I've again undertaken this journey recently, and my answer is below. Portrait of Paul Indigo by Magda Indigo. Thanks Magda! I also reviewed my images over the last ten-plus years, selected 30 of my favourite photos, and compiled them into a slide show. This was a challenging task. My favourites change by the day, probably by the minute. Still, eventually, I got to a selection I titled "That's Life." Please click through to YouTube to view the full screen. My approach to people and landscape photography is characterised by a distinctive blend of documentary and fine art techniques. I aim to create images that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. Through portraiture, I strive to showcase the broad spectrum of human experience. I a...
2 comments
Read more