Thoughts on my work please? Compliments or Critique but truth please

[iliketag]

So far this “Ebi” person has been nasty to most of the new people asking for CONSTRUCTIVE Criticism and Critique. Just ignore them, they’re a grumpy-butt.

[ebi]

oh, constructive criticism? Sorry. Go back to whatever you did before taking photos. You were probably better at that then this. If not, sorry to hear that.

That is about as constructive as it gets. Again, truth…sorry it hurts.

[emf]

Maybe point out where she’s gone wrong – you’re just coming across as a bit of a douche otherwise.

[ebi]

EMF – you are absolutely right. I’ll direct you all to here: http://www.karenleighphotography.com/
Everything on there sucks.

[emf]

Where in particular – and why? Why not try verbalising, maybe using your brain, instead of just ‘it sucks’.

[cameraclicker]

I went to http://www.karenleighphotography.com/ , that toddler in the giant shoes is a great shot!  So is the little one in a blue towel with fish on the wall.  I’m certain parents would love those photos and treasure them far into the future.

If it’s a portrait and it sucks, it might be worthy of the front page here and I didn’t see anything that would qualify.  When receiving criticism, I like to see the work of the person the comments are from so I can decide if their comments are worth listening to.  I haven’t seen any work from ebi and so far the comments posted have not indicated even rudimentary talent.  Probably ebi is just a troll.

[cameraclicker]

Or, I could be wrong about ebi because he put up a pretty reasonable post in the thread started by christinamphoto.  I would love more explanation from him regarding why he thinks your work sucks…

[iliketag]

I’m still relatively sure they’re a troll. You can say positive things to anyone posting here – but so far they’ve only been tame to one person. So, yes, they are a troll. And, quite frankly, an ass.

[ebi]

well obviously she thinks that they suck too because she removed all but one public album, but still managed to leave up like 10 images of that sunflower shot all of which are horribly flat. And then there is a annoying watermark. The giant shoes shot is just kind of meh…And you’re right cameraclicker, those who don’t know any better will be happy with her work, but that doesn’t make it good by any stretch of the imagination. And even if she improves on a technical level, it won’t help the fact that her photos are just unoriginal drivel.

[ebi]

Also, and I’m just speculating here, that the unoriginality comes from the fact that OP charges very little for her services, which she should, so she has to work on volume to make a decent living. So she leaves very little time for creativity opting more for short studio sessions and pushing people out the door to turn a profit. I do occasional senior portrait work for family and of course, i don’t charge, but i still spend about 2 days working on a series of photos for them. They probably have far better senior portraits than anyone else in their class b/c they all go to the same family portrait studio and get the same shots.

[iliketag]

People who post here are self concious. When you come in with the “Don’t Quit Your Dayjob” mentality, it can really mess with someone who was looking for help. You’re not being helpful with that attitude, you’re being mean. You can say things more tactfully and treat people better while still giving a difficult to swallow critique.
The above posts were a little better but still don’t offer much. Saying that a shot is “Meh” is a pretty blank answer to what it wrong with an image.

From the post in the other girl’s thread, you seem very corporate. What you should understand is most of the people here are either just starting out and breaking into business with no desire to uproot and do high dollar, high fashion work. Sure, a local wedding market in LA/Chicago/Boston/NYC may be more lucrative than Midwest-Mom’s Downhome Portraiture, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
I understand that your standards are very high, that’s fine. It also took you years and years to get there. Again, a lot of these folks are just starting out and some actually have an interest in improving… I seriously do not think you should be so impolite.

[ebi]

She’s not just starting out. She markets herself as a professional photographer…as an artist…and I think this site was pretty much born out of the frustration of people who call themselves artists but are completely clueless about their ability.

In the real world, people aren’t that nice and it would benefit OP to be as critical and mean about her own work as I am about it. Consider it tough love. I do want her to be better. I just have a weird way of showing it.  Midwest-Mom’s Down home Portraiture is typically shit and I don’t see any reason to beat around the bush on that. OP is no exception. AND like i said before, she opts for quantity over quality. I would prefer someone tearing my work to shreds over sugar coating it any day. That is what has made me a better photographer over the years. In the real world, you just don’t get asked back.

[emf]

“And even if she improves on a technical level, it won’t help the fact that her photos are just unoriginal drivel.”

I think art is a massive learning curve and unless someone has absolutely no aptitude for creativity, they can have the potential to get more creative and original as they go along. In art many start by making pastiches maybe without showing too much originality, the creativity can come later. I’m a painter and when I look back at stuff I did ages ago I cringe – it’s a corny mess. Btw, I’m not making any comparision to the OP’s work here, just an observation in general and my response to the above quote.

Photog wise I’m a relative noob and what I’ve seen of this site so far is great. It offers REAL honest crits from pro’s which is pretty invaluable when your starting out and want to learn. Sure it can be really tough to take, but it is the only way to learn.

I understand that it must be frustrating when people ask for crits then get all sulky when they get them, but in this case I think the OP had a good attitude to the crits and it was completely unnecessary to be so rude. EVERYONE starts out a bit (or in some cases a lot) crap (not you OP!! another generalisation 🙂 ) But if they ask more experienced people for help and ARE willing to listen, I think it’s the right thing for that said experienced person to offer real advice and impart a bit of wisdom. That’s how artists grow.

Ebi, you sound like you have a LOT you could people – it’s a shame you’re not.

 

[emf]

Damn, ‘a lot you could TEACH people’ I meant – how the frig do you edit on this forum?

[kp]

I agree, I actually wish I could delete this thread, but no idea how.

Hello everyone, I will chime in here.

First, camerclicker, thank you.  The shot with my grandson in his Daddy’s shoes was done for Fathers Day as a surprise and he loved it.  The one I did with the shark blanket was the first thing I purchased for him that was given as a present for the baby shower before his birth.  I have been trying to photograph his portraits with props such as these that have meaning, that way when they are looked back upon, you can see how small he was to get into his Daddy’s (my son’s) shoes and I can remember how long it took for him to grown into the first item I purchased for him, and have a portrait to document it.  We did try earlier, it was just too big for him.

Ebi, You are very rude and yes, I was well aware and ready for critique and ready for honest answers but in your later posts, you hit something that is party true.  I am a full time IT system administrator and my IT job has always come first, photography.  I have studied and trained since 2006 as a hobby but again, my job is first and it takes a lot of study as well.  I cannot fully focus full time on photography as I would like, and that is what makes me different than people you are comparing me too.  I care more about photography and art than I do money or going pro, it matters to me.  I do not market myself as a pro, nor have I hardly done any promoting on my behalf, it has been a hobby and those that I have photographed are aware of this.  I am preparing to go “pro” in the future when I am ready.  I am an artist and a very creative person, when I read through your rudeness it does make me realize that I am and have been going in a circle of not having the time I would like to put into my photography and for the future, perhaps if I don’t have the time, I shouldn’t try because maybe the shots you probably dislike so much are the ones that I did without that time to fully be as creative as I would like to be, so thank you for that.  I’m guessing that you only took notice to the ones you didn’t like so you could have more reason to be rude.  Ebi my question to you is, why are you here?  Are you here to help and provide advice and teach or to vent your frustration on how photography and art is being redifined by those who call themselves a photographer and artist?  Perhaps if you are just here to vent and not help people, maybe you should find something else to do.  Not everyone is going to take so kindly to your remarks, or have thicker skin as I do, nor take the effort to try to see a point from someone that was so rude and mean just because you are angry.  You could probably help a lot of people instead of scaring them away.  Your life, your time, your choice, I’m really not interested in your answer just giving you something to ponder on.

Everyone, the items on my page are now marked private except for the albums my clients are still ordering.  They will be closed this weekend as well.  I am preparing to relocate and will not be doing any photography except personal for the next 6 months to a year.  I really want to reorganize it and remove a lot of my older work that is still present and do as advised here and get rid of the confusion since I don’t have time to do that prior to my move, I am putting everything private and will come back to it once I am settled and clean it up per the advice I got here.

Thank you all very much for showing me how confusing it was and sending me in the right direction and all the advice, I really appreciate it.

[Author]

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