The pilgrimage...

[Aaron_5037]

Agreed. But aren't these weaknesses we don't see in ourselves? I think we both have the same idea.

[robert_4927]

First, I wouldn't take my prints to someone who claims they have never seen a good platinum print. Some people are so closed minded that if you're not printing on azo you're not reaching your full potential of your print. This mind set has stopped me from taking a few workshops. But that's just personal opinion. Anytime someone makes claims that their medium is the best and only way to work just speaks to me in terms in which i consider that artist's vision is so narrow that they can't possibly contribute anything to me in a workshop. Bottom line is do your own thing, regardless of what others think.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I would be willing and eager to show my prints to anyone who posts here. I listed Meunch in my earlier post because I shoot colour landscapes and he is the most prolific and one of the most well thought of in that field. What is most likely is that when I have a suitable portfolio, right now I have two pictures, I will attend the large Format Photography Conference and have one of the panel of reviewers take a look. It would also be benefical to attend a workshop given by a colour photographer. These seem rare. Most workshops that I have seen advertised are by photographers known for B&W work.

[robert_4927]

Edward, check out William Corey's web site...Amazing color photographs of Japanese Gardens.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

Thanks Robert. I don't care for the panoramas but the 4X5/8X10? stuff is pretty awesome. This is my favorite.

http://www.williamcorey.com/highrez/C-152.jpg

[Philip Hutson]

Edward,

Both Marc Muench and David Muench do workshops. David does most of his through arizona highways and Marc does his through arizona highways and on his own in carmel, CA.

You can call over to Muench Photography at (805-685-2825) for details on upcoming workshops

http://www.muenchphotography.com

Marc just left on a photo shoot in florida but any one that answers the phone would be able to give you Marc's workshop schedule.

Dig through arizona highways website for details on David's schedule.

-Philip

[Scott Davis]

Another very obscure but equally incredible photographer whose input I would seek out is Tom Baird. He's an instructor at Maryland Institute College of Art. I was taking classes there in the continuing studies program for a while, and although he would never teach a CE course (it would have ended up costing him money to teach, as the extra salary would have changed his tax bracket, and since he's a wiry old goat of a Scotsman, the financial won out over the altruistic), he would hang out in the school darkroom and talk with anyone about their work, very honestly and fairly. He was ALWAYS open to discussing student work, even if you weren't in one of his classes, and regardless of the type of work you were producing.

I'd also want to get to meet Ruth Bernhard before she dies (she's over 100 now). Brilliant photographer and printer, she had to quit doing her own darkroom work twenty or so years ago because she developed a sensitivity to the chemicals, so she took up education instead.

[Kirk Gittings]

I did a photo shoot in 1988 once for the art director of Architectural Record, Record Houses issue (a big deal). The shot I liked the most she hated and didn't use, We got in a big heated exchange about it and I never got another job from her. She went on to become the managing editor of my biggest client publication, Architecture Magazine, and I lost them as a client too.

I knew it was a great image. As stock it went on to be the cover of 6 magazines including Nikkie Architecture in Japan and Ambiente in Germany. 17 years later, this month, it is also the cover of New Mexico Magazine.

You have to know when your work is good. You have to be your own toughest critic. You have to have the confidence to promote your best work.

I showed Andrew Smith a mock-up of my Chaco Body portfolio. He didn't like it and wouldn't show it. It went on to be a critically accaimed book, and I sold complete portfolios to University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, the Albuquerque Museum and numerous private collectors (and didn't have to pay Andrew 50%).

You have to know when your work is good. You have to be your own toughest critic.

[Ralph Barker]

Has anyone mentioned that you need to know yourself when your work is good, and be your own toughest critic? ;-)

This is a very interesting thread, and I thank Mark for starting it. Lots of interesting ideas and opinions on the issue. While I'm personally honored that anyone would think my opinion would be worthy of being sought, I'm not sure I'd come to the same conclusion. (Oh, and don't worry about the firearms, Jim. They stay locked in safes. The only thing that's kept out and ready to fire is the 40mm pun cannon.) Furthermore, I'm not sure that I'd personally make a "pilgramage" on the scale Mark's original question suggests.

Certainly, getting a critique of a body of work from someone whose work you respect is potentially valuable. But, such a critique also needs to be placed in the proper context, I think. It would be, after all, just another opinion about the work, even if from a "Notable Photographer" (NP). Formal critiques from an NP might produce an epiphanal turning point in one's direction or vision, or maybe not. It depends, I believe, on the individual NP's frame of reference, mind-set, mood, and social skills. Many NP's have, in the process of becoming notable, tightly narrowed their focus. Many have also become highly opinionated as a result. Show them a photograph of a gear or a girl, instead of a landscape, and they might not know what or how to think. So, while Sexton may be right about RC being "real crap", saying so within a critique is not particularly constructive. It would have been better, I think, to say something like, "You'll likely find your work to be better received if printed on something other than RC stock." A good critic needs to step out of their own box (or, ivory tower, as the case may be), and give the person being critiqued the benefit of their broader experience. That's tough to do.

Often, an NP represents a significant opinion within a fairly narrow style of work or subject matter. Thus, the value of the NP's critique depends, in part, on your own objectives and the breadth of your target subject matter, as well as the target market for your work. A successful gallery owner, for example, will know what sells within the market to which they cater. Go down the street, or to another city, and market preferences may be substantially different. Neither gallery owner may have a clue about what will be attractive to magazine editors, or to the ADs at advertising houses.

So, (IMHO) critiques become somewhat of a crap shoot, where the dice may or may not have spots, and the table may or may not be marked.

[Mark Sawyer]

You're most welcome, Ralph; I'm appreciative of the thoughts everyone has posted here. I work mostly in a vacuum, as I suspect many of us do. I feel slightly sad that there is no one "trip to the guru on the mountain top" any more; perhaps not because I might miss some great epiphany, but because it defines a moment when you pull together your body of work and say to yourself, "This is what I've done. How will it be received?"

In those terms, maybe we're lucky that rather than one critic we have many, and part of the interest in this thread (for me) is who we would ask and what we think they would have to offer. It's a pretty diverse list of some of the best mids in photography today. (David's mention of Emmitt Gowin reminded me of his lecture here a year or two ago; Gowin is one of the more articulate and insightful photographers of our time.) It's encouraging that no one has mentioned wanting to see someone to learn about unsharp masking or inspection developing or some other little technical trick which might help you in the darkroom but do nothing for your vision.

And while the thread wandered, it was only because it raised connected points worth saying. The most significant deviation I think was some blurring of the line between critic and teacher, and that line was quite blurry long before this thread began...