Just paint your face with the shadow of a smile

I heard about an incident secondhand this morning, which neither surprised me nor do I consider uncommon, yet it got me to thinking.

A Flickr photographer leaves a critique on another Flickr photographer's image. The critique is honest, potentially accurate, well-written and well meant. The critique is immediately responded to with an e-mail full of !!!!'s and defensive denials about nitpicking and personal attacks and the like.

Photography is an interesting creation. Well art in general is. Flickr, likewise, is an odd experiment in social interaction. But before I wander too far, let me condense what I am about to explain down to this simple statement.

As a photographer, and an artist, you would be wise to grow thick skin around an open mind.

Art is subjective. It is opinion. As with any opinion, some of the time it is going to be right, and some of the time it is going to be wrong. Likewise, your photography is going to make some people happy, and others... not so much. But it will never, ever, ever make everyone happy all at once. Just won't happen. No perfect photographs. No perfect photographers. The day you become a perfect photographer (or the day you think you are one) is the day you become a boring and arrogant photographer.

So working off that conclusion, it is not unreasonable to assume that every photo you take can have some critical suggestion made about it if it is shown to enough people.

This is not a bad thing at all. Feedback from others is one of the ways we learn and grow. But nonetheless it is something that can be difficult to learn how to accept.

Our photography is quite personal. We hold it up as a reflection of our vision and ideas and imagination. It is a record of our experiences. It is an extension of who we are and what we think. It is without a doubt, personal. Therefore it can sometimes feel like critiques of that work are personal attacks. Heck, I know photographers who go all emotionally topsy-turvy if they don't get a certain amount of beaming, positive feedback, even without any neutral or critical feedback.

This is where Flickr comes in. There are a lot of things I like about Flickr, but the critical response I get to my photos (or lack of) is not one of them. Because of the heavy social aspect of Flickr and most likely partially due to the short attention span of the internet, a lot of commenting that goes on here is short, cliche and trite. "Great work" "Beautiful" "Congrats" The like. Now, I don't mean to criticize those people who leave such comments. I appreciate any time taken on my stream, and even brief ones show that the viewer was moved to at least that degree. But at the same time, such comments contain little useful information and are not terribly good for the health of my ego.

In fact, I would say Flickr is to the ego what sugary foods are to our bodies. Seems fun in the short term, really messes you up in the long term.

If you get used to see nothing but fluffy, glad-patting comments, not only are you deprived of critical feedback, but even more importantly, the ability to process and handle critical feedback. In other words, a thick skin. Very, very important for any artist to have. We must remember that Flickr is a relatively sheltered community. What garners a lot of "Outstandings" here may mean very little outside of this world. Get into the realm of galleries, art curators, editors, collectors, and such and you may be in for a rude awakening. It is a world where "No" is heard more than "Yes". And that is usually all you hear. Their time is generally too valuable to tell you any reason why. And if you have not developed that thick skin, then it is easy to be stung, then disappointed, then to engage in self-doubt, which can lead to undermining your pursuit of your art.

But a thick skin is only half the puzzle. You need to keep an open mind behind it to remain receptive to criticism. The point of good criticism is to highlight shortcomings of your work in such a way as to provide you with information that helps overcome or strengthen those shortcomings. If your primary response is to get defensive and fire off accusatory e-mails to anyone critiquing your work, you have narrowed your mind down to such a point that you are seriously restricting the critical thinking you are doing, and critical thinking is essential to art and photography.

Start with these conclusions, just try them.

1) None of your work is perfect, therefore it is perfectly open to criticism.

2) Most criticism, regardless of how well constructed it is, generally contains at least a kernel of truth. There had to be something that sparked the criticism in the first place.

3) Art is subjective. Art is opinion. Opinions do not always agree. Therefore not all criticisms, regardless of the validity of their statement are going to apply, because of this simple difference of opinion.

4) One of the goals of every photographer should be to do whatever they can to become better photographers.

5) Honest, well thought-out feedback and criticism is one of the best ways to gauge how your photography looks in other people's eyes. It is invaluable. Never turn your back on it when it is freely given. Some people pay hundreds of dollars to have some guy in a beret tell them their work is crap. Seriously.

It is kind of odd, many believe the most important skills to learn as a photographer involve knowing how to compose and expose. How to focus and post-process. The "older" I get as a photographer, the more I come to believe the most important skills are the ones like learning patience and dedication. Or learning how to give and receive critical feedback, particularly how to receive it without getting defensive. How to critically think about photography, yours and others. How to balance technicals with creativity. Learning to be flexible in your thinking. Etc.

But enough for tonight, I'll simply reiterate what I said above, thick skin and an open mind. Say it with me...

In regards to this photo, the start of a series. Faulkner has been taking staff portraits of all of us, close up face portraits. I got the idea to match the portrait he took up with my actual face. I have since begun photographing some of my staff members holding up their portraits in a like manner. For this shot, Sean pulled the trigger on the Hasselblad while Kendall was art director and helped me line the photo up with the features of my face. Well done to all of us.

Taken in: United States / Oregon / Portland / Linnton (show map)

Taken on: August 3, 2010

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Hasselblad 500C

Zeb Andrews photography

Camera:	Hasselblad 500C
Aperture:	f/2.7
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	80mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Program:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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