by
annc » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:55 pm
I agree that I did learn from the critique. I had taken what I believe was one of my best montages and tried to cram so much extra in that, from a distance, it looked really cluttered. It had also been done in rather a hurry, then my printer went wrong and I had to print it where I was on holiday. I also think that, as on here, some people love montages and some don't. Bob tends towards the latter category.
The rat critique was less about the photograph than the subject, and he is as entitled to his phobia as I am to mine of heights! He made few comments about the landscape, apart from saying that it 'just' had enough land to make it a landscape not a waterscape. The portrait was slightly out-of-focus, again selected and printed in haste. It didn't look too bad at A5 but worse at A4.
However, perhaps the most important thing that I learned was not intended by him! Unlike me, he is a definite extravert, and I don't know if he is a senser or intuitive in Myers-Briggs terms. However, like me, he obviously makes decisions on what he sees as logic, as opposed to the impact on feelings, and may not think how the words he uses impact upon other people - i.e. we are both at the extreme T end of the T-F continuum. It has caused me problems through all my life as what I consider "calling a spade a spade" has so often been interpreted as aggression. I had only met this problem from the receiving end twice before, when I interpreted comments from people of my own or similar types - ISTJ or ESTJ as very aggressive.
At the moment I am in a difficult situation totally unrelated to photography. This experience, and your comments, have made me realise that I need to be extremely sensitive in writing to the people concerned. I will begin with extremely positive points. I will make it clear that my comments are as I see them and I may be misinterpreting their motives (using the example above) and state what I see as problems. I will also say that I realise that if they have never experienced depression, and had very little training on it, it must be difficult to know how to support someone in that situation (i have more support from my veterinary surgeon!. I will ask if, when I am better, I can make some brief notes which might help them to know how best to support anyone in this situation.
I may see if there are any local camera clubs which do not demand great expertise.