Bill, I don't like the praise only critiques (circle jerks). And I wouldn't stop the friendly sorts of critiques we do here. But think about your work life. Feedback and critiques are the most difficult and most angst inducing aspect of the workplace. Giving them to people, face to face, is often subject to mis-interpretation. Doing them via email without any face to face interaction is worse.
Once upon a time, Shel B. leveled somebody here with a professional quality critique. It wasn't mean spirited. It was solicited. But it had nasty negative elements to it. Traffic stopped and you could hear everybody on the list take a deep breath as they tried to tip-toe around the turd that had landed in their mailbox. That was the 1st and LAST fully open and honest critique on this list. And I don't think you want to go back there. It would kill the pdml. I don't comment on every photo. I don't comment on every photo I like. Sometimes I say vacuous things like 'nice photo' because I do like the photo and want the author to know I looked and agree it's a good shot. Occasionally, I see something unusual or interesting, or moving and take time for an extra line or two of comment. These critiques work for me. Regards, Bob S. On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:19 AM, William Robb <[email protected]> wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Sullivan" > Subject: Re: regards PESO 2009 - 052 ... > > > I agree with Paul. > There are other forums for critique of photos. > Some folks want frequent and rich feedback, plus more critique. > Perhaps they have outgrown this forum. > > I'm going to be the disagreeable one, and here's why: > Because I'm a jerk. > But, besides that, there is an incredible body of talent on this forum, and > to be honest, I think if all we say is nice things about each other's > pictures, then some of that talent is being wasted. > Look at the evolution of this list over the past decade. Ten years ago, we > talked about lenses, and cameras and film and processing. > > Now, a new piece of equipment gets introduced, and it barely gets noticed. > We talk more about software than lenses. > > But boy oh boy, since everyone went digital and got high speed internet, we > sure do show each other pictures. > Lots of pictures. > Peso used to mean picture every so often, now it is an acronym for another > link to click on, whether the person posted 5 pictures yesterday or not. > Lots of pictures. Lots of good pictures too. > Now, one can probably presume that a person who takes good pictures has > learned how to not take bad ones. > At least to rise above it all every now and again, anyway. > So, why not pass on that knowledge and tell a person that a picture has some > suckiness to it, and had they done something differenty, it might have been > improved. > It won't help the picture in question, but it might give the photographer > something to think about. > Unfortunately, if there is a chill regarding honest and tough critiques, > then the whole process risks turning into a circle jerk. > Now, there is that school of thought that says that the "I would have done > this instead" does no good. The picture is what it is, so comment on what it > is, not what it could be. > The critique then becomes the official opposition, that band of losers who > bitch and whine, but don't come up with any credible ideas of their own. > Think the Federal NDP with a Pentax. > What an awful thing to think about. > Or, it turns into a circle jerk because no one risks saying anything > negative. > > So, go to a forum that specializes in mean spirited critiques you say. > All very well and good, but when I put a picture up, I want the people > critiquing it people whose work I've seen so I know where they are coming > from visually, and who I've interacted with over time so I have an idea of > what they know and how they view the world. > I think the email format of this forum works better for critiques than does > the web page based forums. > > OTOH, I have seen some very heated discussions result from something said in > an honest, but less than positive critique. > > William Robb > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
