Photography Peer Review

One of the things I struggled with over the last few years of my photography is my issue with peer review of images and relevant standards of judgment.  Let’s step outside the realm of photography and look at something a little more objective to illustrate this point.  If I were a maker of wooden cabinets, to the general public I might be able to make a perfectly good cabinet (although in reality it would fall apart in 5 minutes, such are my woodworking skills!) but to someone else that makes cabinets I might have not cutt the dovetails tightly enough, or not chosen the best way to cut the wood.  But when all is said and done, we have to ask ourselves, who are we making this for, are we making it for ourselves?  for the public?  for another cabinet maker?

This raises some further issues, if we are making it for the general public, they will either like it or not, the finish; the choice of woods; the overall design.  The ultimate judge of our work will be the end consumer (in this case the public) which are likely to have different expectations, than perhaps the other cabinet maker.  This is not to say that we shouldn’t strive to do the very best job that we can; whenever we undertake any task in life we should always try to do the very best job that we can, but good enough is subjective.

To take this one step further (and to return to photography), photography is even more subjective, and most of us are our own biggest critics along with other photographers.  If I create an image, a portrait for example, and show it to dozen different photographers, it will get technically trashed in a dozen different ways (especially by the forum dwellers, who spend their entire lives talking gear and critiquing others work whilst offering nothing of their own due to the fact that they spend their entire photographic lives in front of the computer) I may show the same image to a magazine art director, a band for their album cover, a bride and groom for their wedding album and get much more valid feedback (none of the afore mentioned give two hoots as to what my bokeh looks like!!).  Always think about your intended audience before looking for critique from the arm-chair photographers, and ask youself; is the work fit for purpose?  All the armchair photographer, and technique police advice in the world, won’t make the band or it’s publicity team like your more, if your approach or idea is ill-concieved.

If your are looking at your personal work, and are feeling stuck in a rut creatively, or feel you don’t have a technique down as you’d like, try the following:

1. Find a proponent of that work whos work you admire; someone who you see as having the technique at a level equal to or beyond that which you aspire too, this is important.  Mario Testino (internationally famous fashion and portrait photographer) I’m certain is a wealth of information on almost anything photographic; but I wouldn’t seek someone like him out if I was looking for advice and inspiration on Architectural or Pack Shot photography.  Sounds obvious, but how often do we seek advice on all manner of subjects everyday from people we don’t aspire to?
2. Find a fresh viewpoint.  Do you know another artist?  A painter? A musician? A poet or author?  Seek one out, and ask them for some creative input and advice, it will give you a different artistic perspective and perhaps a fresh view on your work;  the best ideas often come from the most unexpected places.

I got to thinking about this because I’m a huge fan of Damien Lovegrove’s work, Damien tends to create a lot of high-key images, and often likes to work with pushed stops occassionally with as much as +2 stops to gain the effect he’s looking for.  Now Damien’s work is highly acclaimed by the public (just look at his client list!) and increasingly by other professionals; that said, I’ve also seen people trash his work because of “blown highlights” and “lost detail” and I ask myself would I be happy to produce work of his quality, to which the answer is almost always a resounding YES!

So in future when looking to improve yourself you might want to consider the following:

• Avoid advice from armchair photographers (bokeh-talk, etc)
• Avoid advice from the technique police who are way too rigid about rules (thirds, blown highlights, etc)
• Seek advice from experts you admire and exhibit success within their chosen field
• Seek advice from other creative people not necessarily involved in photogrpahy
• ALWAYS think, who is the end consumer of this image/project?
• Seek feedback fro the end consumer of the work/project.

No, I haven’t been trashed anywhere lately and this isn’t a bitter rant due to some harsh feedback, just perhaps some thinking aloud on what I’m trying to get out of my work and exactly who’s opinion I value.  After all, who are we doing this for in the end?

Anyway, why are you reading this, pick up your camera and go do something!!!  And I got through the entire post without mentioning the new EOS 5D MkII even once (d’oh!!).