Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I appreciate your expressing these thoughts on critiques; and agree with what you have to say. It takes a good deal more time to look at photographs with a critical eye; and even more time to express one's opinion thoughtfully and well. Thank you for inviting us to take that time. Regards, George Lottermoser george at imagist.com http://www.imagist.com http://www.imagist.com/blog http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist On Dec 16, 2009, at 3:48 AM, Neil Beddoe wrote: > I bought an M9 recently and a few lenses, revived my dormant > photography habit and started posting to the LUG again. In that > short time I think my photography has improved and its all down to > people being honest with me. > > The most important thing I've learned since getting the M9 is what > kind of photographer I want to be. I don't do beautiful landscapes > because I haven't got the patience or inclination to get up at 4 in > the morning for the right light or spend hours in photoshop honing > a print and I also know that I'd still be pretty bad at it because > frankly I find most landscape photography boring. I'd rather just > go there on my bike and look at the scenery. I'll never be a > photojournalist because I think to do it justice you need to > immerse yourself in your subject and make sure that your pictures > tell the whole story you wanted to tell. I have a young family and > a full time job and this means that my pictures are limited to my > children (and I don't post those anywhere) and the things I see in > London in my 30-40 minute walks two or three times a week and on my > cycle ride to the railway station. The pictures I try to take now > show what I see in such short time periods. > > This group is a great place to force you into some self-reflection. > For example some pictures I took of a climate camp in Trafalgar > Square were failures because I didn't have the time to spend > building the story and the subject demanded nothing less. This > was pointed out to me pretty quickly. A few years ago Ted laid > into a picture I took of a street singer in New York because it > said nothing and he was absolutely right, it was a duff picture. > The upshot of all this is that I'm pretty certain now when I take a > picture about what I'm trying to say or show and am much more > severe with myself when I'm editing if the picture doesn't match > the idea. This makes it much easier to explain what I saw in a > picture if I think its a keeper. > > I've learned a lot from the negative criticism my pictures receive > and almost nothing from the praise (although I've got an ego like > everyone else and all praise is welcome). I think the LUG can be a > bit too gentle on posters some times, perhaps with the idea that > any photographic effort should be encouraged. I'd love to see much > more questioning of posters about why they think their picture > works and much more honesty if stuff is just no good. I've noticed > that bad photographs tend to get ignored rather than actively > criticised while good ones get loads of responses. This is a shame, > really good pictures aren't the ones that need criticism although I > can understand that this is quite a friendly place and we want to > be nice to each other. > > Anyway, thanks to anyone who's said they liked my pictures and many > many thanks to people who said they didn't. > > Neil > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information