“What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
I’m sure you’re all familiar with this little saying. And you’re probably going to think I’m crazy if I tell you to clean up your web-making habits.
As we totter along on our photographic journey, we’re going to come across people who ask for advice. Or people who show us their work and ask us what we think.
This is not the time to be kind. Don’t be mean, but certainly don’t compliment photography that shouldn’t be complimented.
The sooner you learn to critique softly, the better. If someone asks your opinion, they trust you to be straight with them. Otherwise they wouldn’t ask. You’re not doing them any favors by ignoring obvious technical deficits in their work.
Always couch criticism with positive comments. Sometimes your positive comment will have to be “what a cute little girl!” but always try to find ONE redeeming quality in the image. This will help any criticism you give to be a little more palatable. Remember Mary Poppins? “Just a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down!”
Being more honest with photographers that are still working on their technical skills at this stage of their development will help them immensely.
On the other hand – do NOT criticize in an unhealthy manner. When I talk about criticism, it should be understood that I mean constructive criticism. None of us are “all that and a bag of chips.” I don’t care who you are, we all have room to grow and improve and we should stay humble. When someone asks for our input, we should be flattered. Don’t screw that up by being a jerk about it.
Never, never talk down to another photographer. They have already acknowledged your “photography superiority” by asking for your advice – don’t make them regret their request.
If the person in question shoots in a different style than you and you have nothing but negative thoughts when looking at their work, let them know that you don’t have similar styles and recommend someone who does that may be able to help. Ignore the style and critique lighting and posing, but don’t put down their skills just because they are developing a style that doesn’t trip your trigger.
So, back to the spider web thing. I’ve been thinking lately – that part of the problem with the rampant “bad” photography being offered up these days is perhaps we didn’t take the opportunity to be helpful in the past. It’s really easy to give a non-committal “nice work,” but it wouldn’t have killed you to say “Your locations are very nice and this is a nice example of creative posing, but I”m thinking your white balance may need some adjusting. I have a link to a great article on that if you’d like me to send it to you.”
So, let’s get on a little bandwagon and do our part to raise the quality of work out there, even if it’s only indirectly. Okay?
And if you’ve not been very helpful in the past because you were afraid of educating your competition, then shame on you. You’ve got bigger problems than spiders.