Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

[Heroique]

Here’s a poll about the people you’d like to meet for comments about your work.

Let’s say you’re simply looking for some constructive criticism & open-ended comments about your portfolio – and you also have free-and-easy, face-to-face access to the people listed in the table.

— Which of these people would you like to meet for comments, and why?

— What circumstances would make you especially careful about your choice?

— Here’s a twist: Which people would you be careful to avoid, and why does steering clear of them serve the best interests of your photography?

(And if you have any meetings behind you, what lessons can you share?)

[Kirk Gittings]

I rarely show new work to anyone prior to hanging a show (unless I have to show the work to get the show....). I must be thoroughly satisfied first. It must be my statement free as much as possible of any outside influence. Since I am showing the work ultimately I want feedback on the finished work of course, but by then I am fully self confident in the work.

[Kuzano]

My Ex-Wives and a few others who never got the opportunity to be one.

Ex's.... the only people who will go out of their way to tell the truth.

[paulr]

Great question. I think cultivating a community of people whose opinions you value (but don't necessarily parrot) is invaluable. I had a small cluster of photographer friends when I lived in Providence (the venerable Group f5.6), and then joined a friend's photo salon when I moved to Brooklyn. That group has mostly disolved so I now have to look harder for feedback.

I've found a workshop setting especially helpful is when editiing and sequencing a body of work, like for a show or a book. I have learned so much about my work by inviting other people into this process.

Another option, one I haven't done in years, is the portfolio review events like at Fotofest, Photolucida, and the Powerhouse festival in NYC. These are good for concentrated feedback from a wide range of people, and hopefully also opportunities for shows or publication.

But I think a community that you cultivate is more valuable than the occasional critique from a big shot.

Something I've said before, that may be worth repeating ... showing your work to a lot of people will innoculate you against taking any one opinion too seriously. I feel terrible for the photographers of yore who trecked cross country to show their work to Stieglitz—the monotheistic deity of his time—and cought him on a bad bowel day. I'm sure a few people had their egos destroyed. This is so unecessary. Your personal hero may love your work, or may hate it. It really doesn't matter. Get a lot of opinions, and use them. The important thing is what you can learn, not what you can stoke your ego with.

[paulr]

My Ex-Wives and a few others who never got the opportunity to be one.

Ex's.... the only people who will go out of their way to tell the truth.

That's a daring and unique answer!

[Kirk Gittings]

Let me qualify this a bit. After going thorough brutal (but enlightening) critiques as an undergraduate and graduate photo student, I still carry those fundamental questions people raised in me as I review my own work.


I rarely show new work to anyone prior to hanging a show (unless I have to show the work to get the show....). I must be thoroughly satisfied first. It must be my statement free as much as possible of any outside influence. Since I am showing the work ultimately I want feedback on the finished work of course, but by then I am fully self confident in the work.

[Heroique]

I imagine the “teacher/mentor” option will be popular, but I’d also love to hear from the teachers around here who have sought feedback from their students, and how much the decision to do so depends on the age gap, and other factors.

[sun of sand]

People who don't take themselves too seriously when theyre being very serious
those with a sense of humour

[Asher Kelman]

People who don't take themselves too seriously when theyre being very serious
those with a sense of humour

All of the sources of opinion are valid for that sub-set of people. Each has a range of experience and different tools and culture to bring to the work. The family member is best the teenage child who will give the truth and damn the niceties of manners. The photographer from a peer group has special technical knowledge and so brings considerations that others likely miss entirely. The dealer/curator knows what's already collected and what might be popular with the given client base.

So as long as one segregates opinions based on the source, one can get opinions form all the sources, but in a sense of fun and exploration, knowing there will be utterly off mark comments that have to be accepted without insult! There's a caveat. The photographer must already have a sense that they have materialized the picture in the photograph as intended and be prepared to stand by that "new life". Above all, a photographer, unless doing the bidding for hire, (for an art director or PR department or agency), should not absorb all such external influences. Rather, they have to each be referenced back to the parameters original intent of the photographer, as an artist. Only if they help that process, are they valid. A new concept is someone else's photograph: let them get their own camera and they can do it their way, if they so choose.

If something new might help execute one's idea better or in a way that is in harmony with one's intent, then that rare nugget might be used in making an even better print next time. Still, most of the critique must have already come from ourselves in the first place.

Asher

[sun of sand]

Were you replying or did you believe you had to hit quote in order to post?

Maybe I just should have said

NOT gods gift

[Asher Kelman]

Were you replying or did you believe you had to hit quote in order to post?

Maybe I just should have said

NOT gods gift
All the folk I'd ask would have first to come under the category you outlined. That's why I quoted you.

It just qualifies them at the minimum level. I don't mind a pilot or a surgeon being humorless. In fact, that might be an advantage. For an art critic, some sense of modesty and humor is likely to promote more useful feedback. It also removes shallow, dogmatic and rule-based reflex reactions that most often, serve no purpose other than the ego of the reviewer.

Asher

[Heroique]

I agree with the spirit of Sun and Asher’s remarks.

The style & presentation of criticism deserve careful attention, but they’re easy to overlook when one is zealous to help. A good critic might know what suggestions to offer, but the very best critic – before offering them – takes into account his listener’s sensitivities and adjusts his delivery.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

[mandoman7]

If art is communication, then it seems appropriate to have in mind just who the audience is for the points you're making. Work that's created to get kudo's from your fellow students at the big city art school won't go over that well with family and friends in the hinterlands. Work that gets good responses in the image sharing section of this forum may not be successful in a gallery setting, as another example.

People obviously have different perspectives when viewing work, but the tricky part is juxtaposing where they're coming from in relation to what you're trying to do. Of course, knowing what you're trying to do can be a challenge in and of itself.

[sun of sand]

All the folk I'd ask would have first to come under the category you outlined. That's why I quoted you.

It just qualifies them at the minimum level. I don't mind a pilot or a surgeon being humorless. In fact, that might be an advantage. For an art critic, some sense of modesty and humor is likely to promote more useful feedback. It also removes shallow, dogmatic and rule-based reflex reactions that most often, serve no purpose other than the ego of the reviewer.

Asher

ohhhh
difficult to tell


I like funny pilots
I like selfdepricating humour in general
it shows confidence

[WootSK]

I like to ask fellow photographers for technical breakdown about my photos like composure, lighting and how he thinks it can be better. Then I like to ask people who doesn't knows much technical details about a photo to give layman comment about my photos (I once asked a fast food cashier to comment on one of my photos while buying a meal). Then extract both comment and filter the comments to see how I can make a better one next time like a after action review.

[Gem Singer]

I'm my own worst critic.

[Brian C. Miller]

The hardest part of critiqueing a photograph is knowing what is and isn't good in the photo. What I mean is that part of a photo may be good, and another part may be bad. I might say that a photo is good, but I'll have something niggling at the back of my mind about the bad part, but I can't express it because I don't know what it is.

[NoBob]

Me.

[Brian Ellis]

I often ask my wife's opinion, especially if I'm torn between two versions of the same photograph. She's not a photographer but has good visual sense whatever exactly that is.

I recently had a portfolio critique by Mark Citret. I thought he did a great job. John Sexton gives the best critiques of anyone I know of but I can't exactly pop into his house and ask for a critique.

[Drew Bedo]

I participate off and on in The Houston Photographic Society. This is a print exhibition club in the Houston area that brings in a juror or jusdge each month. We may bring in two prints for judging. There is public give and take moderated by the juror and a ranking of the top three prints in several catagories.

The judges remarks are important to me (depending on who it is that month) but—the most helpful thing is to see my work displayed next to the work of many other photographers.

Another club activity is a portfolio review in the fall. They bring in several reviewers (six or so) and w bring in a body of work, usually 8-15 prints. We get 10-15 min of consultation with a reviwer. Portfolio is presented to a reviewer in rotation till we run out of time at the community center whee we meet.

Another source of critical feed-back for me has been the Houston Center for Photography. There is an informal critique group on the first Tuesday evening of the month. The moderator is the Centers Exhibition co-ordinatoer. Each pparticipant brings in samples of their current work as prints of digital files, and we all talk about what is shown.

As for family: Our sone once looked over a selection o fmy prints (hay bales in late afternoon sunlight) and said, "Dad, WHAT were you thinking? I mean, what was going through your HEAD?"

[Heroique]

I'm my own worst critic.

I’m always curious if “worst” means “least helpful,” or “least nice.” ;^)

I’m sure it means “least nice” in this case – I can hear you saying, “Gem, this is going to hurt me much more than it’s going to hurt you…”


...John Sexton gives the best critiques of anyone I know...

Brian, if you voted in the poll, you must have selected options #1 (wife) and #2 (Sexton).

Your opinion of Sexton is so strong, people will want to know more if you think it’s useful to describe. For example, whether he inspires a greater awareness of “what’s wrong,” or “what works” in your photos. Or whether he causes you to think harder, or work harder. Or whether his attitude is what spins the magic – helping apt suggestions (conventional or unique) take root, when otherwise they might die...


...Another club activity is a portfolio review in the fall. ...We get 10-15 min. of consultation with a reviewer. Portfolio is presented to a reviewer in rotation till we run out of time at the community center where we meet...

A good way to collect multiple comments w/o subjecting your work to too much “public scrutiny,” as a workshop might.

[Ken Lee]

I find that Time is the best advisor. It's best if we can put our work away until we've had time to forget it entirely. Once we've forgotten it, can we see it as others do. Then we can bring it to completion.

[Michael E]

The people I prefer depend on the kind of work. For my application at the academy I did a series about a local tradition in the tiny village where my mom is from. My uncle (who had been living in that village for 30 years) was delighted by the photos, saying "that's exactly what it's like". It meant a lot to me.

At the academy I wasn't very happy with the photography professors, who didn't understand what I was trying to do (and vice versa). I was lucky to end up in a painting class. The professor and I agreed that he didn't know anything about photography and I wouldn't even start to paint. It was wonderful: I showed him my photographs and he critiqued them with the sensitivity of a man who has been around images all his life. Because he wasn't into photography, he wouldn't just shoot rounds of photographers' names from the hip, but rather had me explain what I was doing. He asked me the questions of a man without all the background knowledge we often take for granted. He let me reexamine my own work in depth and pointed out weak points in my work and argumentation. It was great. I learned a lot.

That is what I miss most from my days at the academy.

Michael

[John Kasaian]

I think it would depend on the purpose I had for taking the photograph. If it is to document a subject, the thoughts of someone with expertise in that subject would be helpful. If the purpose is to create Art, then the thoughts of others, either artists or people who appreciate art would be helpful. If the purpose is just to make a credible photograph, then the comments of a person with expertise in the photographic process would be paramount. If the purpose is to make money, the thoughts of a gallery owner would likely be helpful. If the purpose was to have fun, then all that matters is that it brings a smile to people's faces.

[Brian K]

I'm a pretty brutal critic, especially of myself, that said I still ask for feedback from other people before deciding to include an image in my catalog. While I shoot to satisfy myself I don't need an 80 print edition sitting in a cupboard. But pretty much I do what I want, and if I like an image, it goes public.

[Robert Hughes]

If I need criticism, I just ask my daughter. She's a bottomless well of brutal criticism... :rolleyes:

[Heroique]

I find that Time is the best advisor.

Yes, I should add “Father Time” to the table as a favorite go-to critic.

Good work passes the test of time; poor work has trouble surviving it.


Once we’ve forgotten it, we can see it as others do.

And see it as our Sub-conscious might – another excellent go-to critic, even if he or she’s not always easy to locate and summon...