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Brown Eyed Girl I believe you were talking to me when you referred to the college professor. Please listen carefully because this is the last time I will respond in this post.  I was very respectful to you and gave you honest/accurate critiques on your photographs. I did not take personal jabs at you like others.  Based on my experience and knowledge I told you what you are doing wrong from an art and business perspective. And I also gave you solutions to the problems that you are having.  Your reaction to my constructive criticism is appalling.  I really felt bad for you when I began reading all of the posts about your attitude and I thought some were going way overboard. Sadly I can see that they are right. You are unable to take criticism in a gracious manner. You do make excuses for your shortcomings instead of creating solutions to better your art. I have many students who start off just like you and rarely to they make it. I am deeply saddened by this as well because you have a lot of talent and ambition it seems. It is a shame that you are going to waste it on a piss poor attitude.

Also to anyone else reading this please don’t stop growing as an artist or human being. It is a sad state when you get to the point that you cannot improve. Good luck to you B.E.G

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I appreciate you taking the time to look at the photographers that I sent you earlier, but I am not sure you got the point of that. It was not for you to critic their work but for you to compare the quality. Theirs far outshines your overall quality. Also I want to reiterate that I am not trying to be nasty to you. Just giving you the honest critique that you asked for earlier.

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I agree with you on the cliche’ aspect of some photos.  I guess my main point to get across in my critique of brown eyed girl is that these photographers are catering to the same demographic as her yet their images far surpass hers in overall quality. They are polished, consistent, and beautifully processed. Overall the quality of Brown eyed girl’s images needs improvement. With her knowledge of camera controls and lighting she can take her photos to the next level with time and hard work. But she is nowhere near there yet. Also with those other photographers you can see the sentiment and emotion in their clients. That is another thing that she lacks.

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@ jim-e What do you mean when you say some of the images you have an issue with? And I couldn’t agree with you more about the evolution that photography has taken into the digital world

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jim-e no I teach photography courses at a university. I do not have a business so I do not have a web portfolio. Those are three notable photographers who have a clientele comparable to brown eyed girl (ie price, similar, events, range of products).

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Although you may connect with clients and they are relaxed on set, the connection is not portrayed in your work.  There is no emotion there. Just some people posed for a nice picture. Photography is art and most new photographers like yourself forget that. The images should make the viewer feel something, even if they don’t know the subjects in the photo.. As for specific photos, I would honestly have to say it is almost all of them.  I have never in my life seen a wedding album where the bride is not smiling.  That blew my mind. You seem to be more concerned with proper posing, composition, lighting etc that you are missing all of those special moments that capture the emotion of the day/shoot. You seem to have extensive knowledge of technical aspects. What I would recommend is working on your candid photography. Take your camera to the park and go people watching.  See what you get. Go to a concert, club, bar, any event where you can catch people in action and practice a photojournalistic style. Learn to catch those little moments because it is completely absent from your current work. As for the overexposure it seems like that is done in post processing from the use of actions. I am only guessing but a lot of your photos seem flat and overexposed, but there is a continuous elements that is seen in more than one album. So could it be an action?

Now I will address all of the drama, and I will do it in the nicest way possible. Although some people have a poor way of communicating their opinions I think that some of what was said could be useful to you.  It looks like Jenna was giving you solid advice and people just did not know how to process that. What she seems to be trying to say is that the way that you talk in this forum can be perceived as intrusive and immature. Your actions on a daily basis whether you are in a forum, at home, in public, or on location shooting are a direct representation of your business. To be a professional, one must act like a professional. I know if I were looking for a photographer to hire and I came across someone bickering/belittling people online I would not hire them in a second. I would prefer someone who spends more time shooting than they do calling out amateur photographers. That is not a personal insult to you, I am looking at it from a strictly business aspect. Everything that you do online is available for any potential client to see. I hope you can see it as positive feedback instead of people hating you.  Criticism from strangers when you didn’t ask for it is hard to take. Imagine all of the unwanted advice you have been responsible for. It is a hard pill to swallow, right?

My final opinion is that you are not in the position to give critics, teach classes, or own your own business. You are good at photography and one day you will be very successful but your images have along way to go. Check out these photographers and compare your work to them. Where does it fall?

studio tran

gattie photography

a southern rose photography

 

 

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Brown Eyed Girl I will critique your work. since you keep saying that someone needs to.  I looked at facebook, your website.  From what I saw on facebook you tilt the camera a whole lot. I know this topic has been brought up before, but I am looking at the most recent pictures added and they are all tilted. I am actually a fan of dutch angle but you overuse it to an extreme.  There was a family session from November 2012 in front of a brick wall that shows this. Also in that same session the older gentleman is wearing a shirt with a logo on it. Do you consult with your clients on outfits before?

In the wedding album from October 2012 the bride looks like she is miserable. I didn’t see a single pic of her smiling. As a photographer it is your job to capture the emotion and soul of your clients. I see that lacking in your work. The technical aspects are there but you just don’t seem to have the talent of capturing “the moment”, and that is something that you cant learn from a class. Your pictures don’t have emotion and because of that I was unable to connect.I hate to sound mean but the word BORING comes to mind.

Next topic is your use of premade actions.  It is obvious that you use them, a lot. Using actions is ok sometimes, but overuse of them has been proven to make photographers lazy.  That shows in your work ie the couples shoot from October 2012 (the fireman) and in all of the wedding photos that I saw. In fact in most of them I can easily see that you used an action and never gave it a second thought.

The photos of the people throwing the leaves in the air are all boring and poorly exposed. In fact most of your work is overexposed. You are losing highlights on skin and in the sky. Your pictures seem to have a blown out effect. Also the majority of your images are not sharp at all. They are very hazy and ever so slightly out of focus.

I looked at your work from the beginning of your flickr account until the most recent. It has shown little growth and very minimal improvement. I would certainly not look at your work today and say that it is the product of a professional photographer. Your technical knowledge will only get you so far. When you compare your work with real professionals it is subpar at best.

And for anyone who wants to say that I am mean or being “hateful” to brown eyed girl,just stop before you even start.  She said numerous times in this post that she wanted people to critic her work and that is what I did.  Just because someone has an opinion that differs from you does not mean that they are being hateful

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