Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Art Peterson eloquently wrote: > > > But I would suggest that the issue is neither "accepting criticism" > nor the "right to criticize." We see criticisms and disagreements on > the LUG all the time, and anyone who voices an opinion (e.g., on the > LUG) or displays his work (e.g., Eric's web site) should either want > or at least anticipate and be willing to accept some criticism. The > issue is really the nature of that criticism. Is it constructive and > offered for the benefit of the one criticized, or is its purpose only > to feed the ego of the critic by denigrating what is criticized? As > Jorg Willems observed, a critic "starts contributing when he explains > why, how[,] and what could be improved." Yes, precisely! I think the idea of giving pointers to pictures taken by the members and inviting discussion or criticism is a great one, and is a great move away from just discussing technical aspects of photography. But for this to be successful, the criticism needs to be constructive, rather than just telling everyone if you like/dislike a photograph. Perhaps another contribution to this discussion could be on the part of the photographer: Rather than just providing an URL to the photos, also tell us something about why you've selected them. What promted you to put them on display. What do you like about them? Why are they worth showing? Personally, I really hope that this can get off the ground and work. I love photography (particularly b&w, photojournalistic style) and I try to seize every opportunity to learn more. I shall try to find time and equipment so that I can contribute to this effort, thus putting my money where my mouth is... ;-) M. - -- Martin V. Howard, Application Systems Laboratory, | Now fully Dept. of Comp. & Info. Sci., Linkoping University, | Y2K compliant. SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. Tel +46 13 282 421, +----------------+ Fax +46 13 142 231; marho@ida.liu.se; www.ida.liu.se/~marho