lisy78 Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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oldrattler wrote:
If an individual ask for an opinion, critique, or advice I will offer IF I feel I can be helpful... To criticize / demean an individuals work should not be taken lightly... I attempt to find something good to point out and then the area I feel needs improving... If I do not know how to improve upon an image I might point out that I have the same problem and will follow the post to see if an answer is given... If I hate the shot I keep my mouth shut... Inimical evaluation is destructive and to what advantage Improvement comes in increment......Show more →
I agree with that, but there's a downside in that the person doing that usually gets little social currency in exchange for a significant effort. At the same time the people who just post "Great set man, you knocked it out of the park!" get some degree of social currency in exchange for virtually no work.
I've taken a page out of Evan Baines' book at times and did a "what I like what I dislike" post and yeah I usually did get some form of sign that the OP appreciated the effort but again the effort was enormous compared to what most other posters did.
and then there's the fairly frequent situation where frankly coming up with something positive is clearly an excercise in creative writing... not necessarily because the work sucks (though at times it does) but because sometime it's so astonishingly plain and uninteresting that the only honest positive would be "check it out you got the couple in the shot rather than a squirrel"
And don't get me wrong... I totally include my own work in this category, and this is NOT false modesty
Then there's the fact that there is a group of posters who are clearly after a different kind of social currency... they're most likely hanging out largely for the hangout experience like the rest of us... but from a "ok, so what is your selfish motivation" standpoint (which we should ALL healthily have to a degree) I think for quite a few "getting critique ON FM to improve" is probably either not on the list or low on the list, topped by other things like "have them think I'm so epic that I can get them to book me for their wedding" or "have them join my mailing list/ buy my product / sign up for my service / attend my workshop / hire me for a day of coaching" etc.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying these peeps don't think they have room for improvement... I think they have different avenues that they get that from.
And don't for a moment think I'm criticizing them for this. THIS IS HEALTHY! The vast majority of times the result is a WIN-WIN that you should all know I'm all about. Don't fall in the trap!!!! Again THIS IS *G*O*O*D*!!!!!!
heck I just realized I have a new motivation that is actually higher than my motivation to "improve my photography" ... in fact from a service to my clients standpoint "improve my photography" is not very high on the list either.... not that I don't have signficant room to improve, 'cause I definitely do... but I prioritize other things ahead of it ... yeah so there... so imagine that ... my top motivation (I only realized this a couple of weeks ago after coming back from ta trip to the Northeast where among other things I shot with the talented and ridiculoulsy friendly V-man (Tagfan here) is no longer "get critique for my work" ... and I'm not even close to the sacred beasts I'm thinking of
Bottom line... methinks this is more complicated than it appears on the surface.
Ciao!
Alessandro
P.S. That said let me give the OP a bit of praise that is totally deserved: Yo Chuckie, the Banner Image (dunno WTF the correct term is) you're using on Facebook right now with your fatass and your son on the swinging chairs makes me jealous something fierce. If I could have ONE photo like that of me with my little ones I'd trade that for the right to ever have a photo with me in it again. Great job .... ,,,, having Sergio take that
P.P.S. Omg I used "Fierce" in a post. Awesome!!!!
P.P.P.S. Oh and an observation... you forgot to wear the "in front of the pee-pee" belt ... hum... does that mean I was staring at your pee pee? Fcuk!!!!
P.P.P.P.S. Yeah of course that was a hyperbola about the me giving up the right to be in photos... isn't that what this thread is all about?
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