Reply To: Some Concerns of Mine

[EyeDocPhotog]

Some clarification is in order.

My own photos were neither the subject of the negative post to CC’s work nor the stimulus for my subsequent ‘conflagration.’ In fact, my own work garnered only positive & constructive criticism from the folks here.

Another member who ‘asked for a simple opinion’ on his / her portfolio and website was met with such caustic and mob-like derisiveness as to render the person speechless that such comments would come from other photographers, let alone those who were asked for a simple ‘opinion.’

I read the post as did others here. From the original plea, this was a person looking for just a little positive encouragement – by the language used any person could tell this was not a seasoned ‘middle eastern oil trader’ used to haggling for hours over saving 5 cents on a length of pipe. “Nice work.” would have sufficed. Or perhaps “IMHO, a tad more light would’ve been better here, but otherwise good shooting!” Maybe the harshest comment could read “Well, I don’t know about this shot. What were your thoughts here? Do you see that the eye is drawn away from the subject? I’ve made those mistakes myself…”

I get that this site is not here to stroke anyone’s ego and everyone here expects you to have a thick skin and extols “hey, we’re doing this for free – as in NO PAY, NADA, ZERO so be happy we’re reading your stuff at all!”

Kind of reminds me of residency… you know what else reminds me of that? When I learned the 79 yr old old woman had exudative AMD with a neo-net and advanced macular scarring in one eye and was already LP in the other. Her greatest fear coming into the hospital…? She knew her vision was depleting and it would get so bad so fast she wouldn’t see her grandchild due to be born in 3 months. Her outside doctor had told her so: “There’s nothing more we can do. Get to a low vision specialist and hopefully they’ll be able to help you read large print.” That’s it. Case closed. Next patient.

The other doctor had not filled her in on anything she said (probably not true), but she had no clue of my findings and had every faith I would find something that required a simple fix to get her by. It was mid-December. I struggled with myself, the chief resident, the attending, even the damn PAs. Outside, I talked with her daughter at length. She cried copiously while hugging her husband – and me as well for a time, and her dripping makeup stained my clinic coat. My decision was made: “Mrs. Gomez, we’re going to give you a shot, and I want to see you back in 4 months. You’re going to be fine.”

Her granddaughter’s name is Izabela. She’s my patient, been with me for 11 years. I see the whole family. They still tell the story of how I kept grandma seeing long enough until the Christening. I did nothing except give her the power of positive thinking.

Some here can learn from that. That’s all I meant.