A BLOG TO MULL OVER...

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EBB-TIDE at STAITHES

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9550033@N04/4786555803/


‘Envy is the religion of the mediocre.
It comforts them, it responds to the worries that gnaw at them and finally it rots their souls, allowing them to justify their meanness and their greed until they believe these to be virtues.
Such people are convinced that the doors of heaven will be opened only to poor wretches like themselves who go through life without leaving any trace but their threadbare attempts to belittle others and to exclude – and destroy if possible – those who, by the simple fact of their existence, show up their own poorness of spirit, mind and guts.
Blessed be the one at whom the fools bark, because his soul will never belong to them.’

An excerpt from this beautiful book:
“The Angel’s Game” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

Nowadays, I encounter it too much.
I speak from my point of view as a photographer:
There are many sites to upload your images. A blessing and a curse, methinks.
It brings out your work; yet, it allows it to be stolen and copied.
We’re all hungry for interesting and meaningful feedback… not all can handle it!
Some people get VERY defensive… and sadly nasty, constructive and ‘kind’ as the advice was.

I have years of learning behind me, wore out many a camera, broke the odd lens… even ‘lost’ a 400mm Nikon at sea, ouch… trashed all types of film, missed hours of sleep over some images, either ‘creating’ or agonizing how to ‘better’ it…
Went digital only 3 years ago, I’m on my third camera there, still use it very much as an analogue camera, quality rather than quantity.
A whole new world opened, a new learning process, a different ‘dark-room’ with so many ‘easy’ facilities and gimmicks. I’m again learning new stuff every day!
I’m a creative and confident photographer, not pretentious, however I feel I can tell the difference between a great, a mediocre and a bad image… objectively, not taking into account personal taste. I’m not above constructive criticism, can’t stand cheap words that clearly reflect ignorance, usually the mark of the absolute beginner or the amateur with the latest and expensive camera, who read somewhere about the rule of thirds in a second-hand book. Learn the rules (preferably not on a so called ‘learning’ site, photography is one skill you do NOT learn on a site, where mostly the blind are leading the blind), practice, practice and practice, so you can break them, in a creative way? That’s how we progress and develop (pardon the pun?) the medium of photography.
Not by over-saturating the colours, nor by over-sharpening, or by making a sky a ‘non-existent’, unnatural blue.
Not by taking a photo of the sea with a skew horizon and call it ART?
We’ve all been there, it is a process we go through, see a quirky doorknob, play with a mirror and immediately think that it has NEVER been done and you are the next Ansel Adams or Robert Mapplethorpe?

Day after day, we and our precious photos are being judged by people who do not have a clue, do not know the basics of photography or composition, some don’t know what ‘negative or positive’ film are anymore, aperture, exposure are alien words to many.
They started with a digital camera. That’s fine! The same principles apply though…
They go and proudly come home with thousands of images, there’s bound to be at least ONE good one?
I often take just one frame; however it can take me a long time before I do, composing and lighting everything correctly.
I’ve been envied, vilified, bullied, plagiarised, and stolen from (both the ideas and images) … daily.
Ultimately it doesn’t get me down anymore. I know my images came out of my brain, not somebody else’s. I have done my utmost; they go out immaculate and up to my personal standards. The moment you bring them out, you open them up to criticism.
People form an opinion, it is theirs!!!
Do I have to accept it and agree? NO.
Do I have to accept negative criticism, foul language, and envious venom? NO.
What I DO accept is that not everybody is going to like your work, just like I don’t like all of theirs.
Your ideas also aren’t always understood, but when they are, you’ll get a compliment that will touch you deeply.

A blog to mull over… All the best and thanx, your constructive comments are welcome LOL, M, (*_*)