[SusanAshlea]

A friend of mine and I both do photography on the side. We were friends before we got into photography, which may be a bad thing. She went digital long before I did and naturally has more work coming her way, so apparently she thinks that this means she is "better" than I am. For the record I don't think either one of us are better than the other, I just know that I spend alot more time post processing, and she hardly uses any.

So, he were are at dinner a couple weeks ago and I had no desire to talk shop. But it came up, so the rest of the dinner conversation was centered around our different photography gigs, weddings, gear, etc. She proceeded to tell me that my gear is not as good as hers, and I am silly for buying a flash diffuser when "a baby's sock works just as good", and I shouldn't have wasted my money on CS3 when I could have gotten an old version of Elements that would do the same things full blown CS3 would. She also talked over and over again about how she has no desire to take pictures anymore and is gonna quit...and in the same breath says she is converting her garage to a studio!

And then, it came: the critiqueing. Even though I never once brought up the subject of photography she decided to tell me what was wrong with all of my photos. Namely that "they are good, but waaaaay too dark." I go home, check out the pictures and asked several people, and the original clients if they were too dark. I was told was they weren't too dark. So, my friend posts some portraits and my eyes were hurting from how bright they are. And very badly washed out.

I am thinking that my friend's monitor might need to be calibrated. But how can I tactfully tell her so? Also, how is a nice way of telling someone that unless I specifically ask, I don't want my photos critiqued. I don't do that with her unless she asks so I would like the same courtesy.

That's all--and I just wanted to vent.