The true motivations of photos sharing: dare to be critical!

If you read this blog, I assume you are posting on Flickr, Deviantart or else. I am sure you have been refreshing pages soon after posting, seeking praise and compliment, building up your confidence out of it.

But can you remember the last time you read constructive criticism on a photo sharing site?

There are some groups based on a save / delete logic where people vote to keep pictures or not, but most deletes are usually unfunded, coming from people who certainly can afford being the flagship of good taste, and very often just rude.

I once gave constructive criticism to a young dublin photographer who I believe as talent. However, she did a set of well framed, composed shots, and added tons of photoshop vignetting and fake colors, in my opinion ruining the shots. I commented positively on her work many time, and this time I told her the post processing was rather childish, which was a shame as the photos being were good. Her reaction at first was rather violent, insulting, she really got mad. "Who are you to thing you know better, if you don't like it just shut up, etc".

I tried to reason her, explaining that I was also the only one in ages who wrote something useful other than "wow, it's gorgeous". And that if I believed she just sucked, I wouldn't even bother commenting. She ended up agreeing with that at least (she does what she wants with her artistic choices) and invited me to an exhibit or hers :). That was nice.

She also admitted she was only seeking praise to feel confident about her skills, and that she wasn't ready to receive critical comments. However she had the strength and wisdom to challenge herself and make the most of it. Most people don't.

So let me suggest three things:

  1. If you post work, be ready to receive positive and negative comments. If negative comments are just dumb and rude, ignore them. If they contain suggestion, ideas, creative thinking, they are worth reading.
  2. Ask for constructive criticism. I never ever improved from praising. Only a few dared to tell me "this is close to excellent, but it's not because of X Y or Z in my opinion". Weither I agree or not, it makes me think, reconsider, evolve. 
  3. Which takes me to my last point: to everyone who says "debating taste is pointless, if you don't like it shut up". You are freaking idiots. Taste in any kind of art evolves, changes, get confronted to new things, ideas. It is a soft matter, there is no absolute truth so in essence, it is to be challenged. Did you like techno and moved to Jazz or heavy metal when you got older? I'm sure that sounds familiar. Someone being a metal fan told you one day "stop listening to that crap and try this instead". You thought it was insulting, but you listened, and ended up liking it. The comment was maybe rude, full of unnecessary judgmental bias, but it made you evolve and discover new things. Point made. "If you don't like it shut up", is a dictatorial point of view, it's what totalitarian organization tell their people. It's intellectually criminal. 
So next time you are on Flickr or else, dare to be critical. Don't attack the person, highlight the parts you like, explain what you would do different, don't be condescending or patronizing, but say it. You will help the photographer.
If you receive fair criticism, make the most of it. You are offended? So be it, be offended. What's wrong with that?

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