Its Only 365 Days
261/365: AND INTO THE FREEZER THEY GO
20 SEPT 14
So this is the final product of all the work to complete my freezer cooking for the next two to three months. Glorious.
In other news, I was recently commenting on someone's image in a photog group, and I gave them some constructive criticism that wasn't one line of "I like this," but my usual 3-4 plus sentences on the piece. I was surprised to find a whole 4 paragraphs that they wrote back in response. At first it was like, thank you for the feedback because not to many people actually give good feedback, but then it descended into this kind of rant. He stated that he was annoyed that it seemed like no one had paid attention to his title or description and he said what he'd written in both spaces was much more important than the actual image. (Really?? on a photo website....) Then he went on to say how he had seen my photostream and he thought it lacked focus as if to suggest that my own personal photostream had any bearing on what I'd written or that I was some how unqualified to speak about his photo. I was originally going to respond to them personally, but then I thought, why should I? Especially after I'd seen similar 'personal' comments he'd written to other posters.
I know a lot of people who use Flickr in a more professional manner and all of their photos speak to their aesthetic, but I have since day one of my Flickr use, used it to post photos of any and everything that interests me. I'm not trying to use it to impress anyone or to win any awards, it simply is what it is which is a segment of my life. I don't need it to justify anything or only post one type of photo for my photostream to have validity. This is my life. That is plenty enough validity to me! The second bit, is I abhor people who can't take constructive criticism. You know, if you mention how the image is blurry, they write back with how dare you attack me...it's like I said your image was blurry, what does that have to do with you personally? Look, if you ask for someone's opinion of your works...and I'll say it, and I'll say it again, expect critical feedback. Some people are under the impression that all you can and should write back is about how much you love the image, full stop. If you even deviate from ultimate praise of even incredibly mediocre or terrible work, they question you or attempt to berate you. Oh and don't even get me started on any image ever taken by them of a family member...they are so personally invested that they cannot see a single technical issue...and I get that I do, but again, if your image is unclear, unfocused, there are giant water spots, the image is noisy and the highlights are so bright it feels like I'm looking at a sun flare, I'm not going to just jump up and down and talk about how much I love your work because that's doing a disservice to those images which I really do consider high caliber or that the photographer did put a lot of T&E into creating a beautiful portrait. And this isn't about me thinking my images are so fantastic and great and flawless because they certainly aren't. I think that is some people's impression that you think you and your work are better than them if you use constructive criticism to speak on their work. You asked for an opinion...emphasis...opinion...so simply take it or leave it--its not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
That's part of the problem with Flickr groups is that you do have this random mix of people. Some who are your happy snapper types who shoot regardless of any technical thing and they submit photos and only want to hear how cute the image is, and then you have the extreme opposite of the consummate professional who is expecting critical feedback and expert analysis. I've met a lot of the latter in these groups and they get it and you can tell by how they receive feedback as well as give it. But I also appreciate that happy snapper because I always want to pay it forward with the knowledge I've learned along the way. I have personally gone to great lengths to communicate with the happy snapper who may be just getting started in photography to give them some tips or hints on how to get a better shot as opposed to just doing what a lot of people do, which is to say, awful work with no merit (seriously someone wrote that to someone once, eesh).
Speaking of, someone the other day said an image of mine was basically so awful, she didn't want to say anything, and I wrote back---say what you're going to say because I'd much rather hear the feedback and try to learn something from it, then just hear you think you're going to hurt my feelings by talking about my image in a constructive way. So she went on to list about 10 things she hated about it, and I thanked her for it. I didn't necessarily agree with all that she'd written, nor did a few other posters, but I did learn something from it, and that's much more important to me then hearing how great "I" think my work should be perceived as because I am, like a lot of good photographers, their own worst critic. As I've always said, we see things every single day photographically speaking and so each one of us knows what we like regardless as to whether you are a beginner or an expert. This is an opinion based medium and if you don't like other's opinions of your work, stop posting and asking for them!
261/365: AND INTO THE FREEZER THEY GO
20 SEPT 14
So this is the final product of all the work to complete my freezer cooking for the next two to three months. Glorious.
In other news, I was recently commenting on someone's image in a photog group, and I gave them some constructive criticism that wasn't one line of "I like this," but my usual 3-4 plus sentences on the piece. I was surprised to find a whole 4 paragraphs that they wrote back in response. At first it was like, thank you for the feedback because not to many people actually give good feedback, but then it descended into this kind of rant. He stated that he was annoyed that it seemed like no one had paid attention to his title or description and he said what he'd written in both spaces was much more important than the actual image. (Really?? on a photo website....) Then he went on to say how he had seen my photostream and he thought it lacked focus as if to suggest that my own personal photostream had any bearing on what I'd written or that I was some how unqualified to speak about his photo. I was originally going to respond to them personally, but then I thought, why should I? Especially after I'd seen similar 'personal' comments he'd written to other posters.
I know a lot of people who use Flickr in a more professional manner and all of their photos speak to their aesthetic, but I have since day one of my Flickr use, used it to post photos of any and everything that interests me. I'm not trying to use it to impress anyone or to win any awards, it simply is what it is which is a segment of my life. I don't need it to justify anything or only post one type of photo for my photostream to have validity. This is my life. That is plenty enough validity to me! The second bit, is I abhor people who can't take constructive criticism. You know, if you mention how the image is blurry, they write back with how dare you attack me...it's like I said your image was blurry, what does that have to do with you personally? Look, if you ask for someone's opinion of your works...and I'll say it, and I'll say it again, expect critical feedback. Some people are under the impression that all you can and should write back is about how much you love the image, full stop. If you even deviate from ultimate praise of even incredibly mediocre or terrible work, they question you or attempt to berate you. Oh and don't even get me started on any image ever taken by them of a family member...they are so personally invested that they cannot see a single technical issue...and I get that I do, but again, if your image is unclear, unfocused, there are giant water spots, the image is noisy and the highlights are so bright it feels like I'm looking at a sun flare, I'm not going to just jump up and down and talk about how much I love your work because that's doing a disservice to those images which I really do consider high caliber or that the photographer did put a lot of T&E into creating a beautiful portrait. And this isn't about me thinking my images are so fantastic and great and flawless because they certainly aren't. I think that is some people's impression that you think you and your work are better than them if you use constructive criticism to speak on their work. You asked for an opinion...emphasis...opinion...so simply take it or leave it--its not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
That's part of the problem with Flickr groups is that you do have this random mix of people. Some who are your happy snapper types who shoot regardless of any technical thing and they submit photos and only want to hear how cute the image is, and then you have the extreme opposite of the consummate professional who is expecting critical feedback and expert analysis. I've met a lot of the latter in these groups and they get it and you can tell by how they receive feedback as well as give it. But I also appreciate that happy snapper because I always want to pay it forward with the knowledge I've learned along the way. I have personally gone to great lengths to communicate with the happy snapper who may be just getting started in photography to give them some tips or hints on how to get a better shot as opposed to just doing what a lot of people do, which is to say, awful work with no merit (seriously someone wrote that to someone once, eesh).
Speaking of, someone the other day said an image of mine was basically so awful, she didn't want to say anything, and I wrote back---say what you're going to say because I'd much rather hear the feedback and try to learn something from it, then just hear you think you're going to hurt my feelings by talking about my image in a constructive way. So she went on to list about 10 things she hated about it, and I thanked her for it. I didn't necessarily agree with all that she'd written, nor did a few other posters, but I did learn something from it, and that's much more important to me then hearing how great "I" think my work should be perceived as because I am, like a lot of good photographers, their own worst critic. As I've always said, we see things every single day photographically speaking and so each one of us knows what we like regardless as to whether you are a beginner or an expert. This is an opinion based medium and if you don't like other's opinions of your work, stop posting and asking for them!