>
>> Bucky wrote:
>>
>> I agree with you that honest critique is healthy and useful. Rude critique,
>> however, is not. It is a trivial task to convey useful feedback without
>> being contemptuous ("This is just a typical, amateurish photograph,
>> something just barely worthy of a beginner photographer").
>>
> tv wrote
> Yeah, that one's pretty harsh.
>
>
Actually - that is not harsh criticism, it is just plain boorish behavior.
Ad hominim(sp?)?) comments are not necessary but unfortunately are often
used by critics who are more interested in making a point them in providing
feedback. The above message could have been conveyed via something like "if
you look at the work of the following acknowledged masters . . . you will
see that they typically . . . under these conditions. If you were to . . .
then your image would have the following strengths . . . As it is, your
image has the following weaknesses . . ." Much more informative, and without
casting meaningless aspersions of amateurism (excuse me, but since when is
this a forum restricted to "PROFESSIONALS"?!? What union do you have to pay
dues to in order be considered a "PROFESSIONAL?!?)
By the way, I haven't followed this thread in great detail, but I gather it
was started by some comments Shel made about John Mason's "Night Train?"
1. One part of the criticism I saw quoted was to the effect that it is
harder to take pictures like this that show peoples faces. Implied judgment
that harder is better. In this Shel is joining Tanya in a very strange world
view that equates quality of outcome to effort required. Remember Tanya's
reaction to Mark's positive judgment of her one portrait? He said: "you
could charge $500 for that one image . . .", she said "Oh, but I just took
that, it didn't take any time at all!" So what Shel? So what Tanya? I will
judge the image by what it does for me, thank you very much, not by what you
did or didn't do to put it in front of me. Did you crawl on your belly
through the swamp, fighting off alligators and killer bugs to get that
close-up of the heron on the last frame of your last roll of film with your
P&S? Or did you step out of your air-conditioned car, put your $27,000
1500mm f/3.5 lens on your carpet-fiber tripod, and fire off 100 shots at
4fps with your Professional camera? Frankly, I don't care.
2. By the way, when I did my first scan of the PUG thumbnails last night
when I got home from my trip, the one that caught my eye first was Night
Train. I like it. I like the reflected lights on the platform, I like the
cocked head of the one looking down the track, the general mood. I would
consider it a near miss; almost a keeper, but unfortunately the lamp post
growing out of the one person's head looks just too painful. But hey, the
fact that a person commits the mistake that every photographer has committed
numerous times is not a hinous sin.
Lighten up guys. This is not a camera club. Thank God!
Stan
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