Whom to please?

[Phoenix_Jackson]

It puzzles me sometimes when I post an image and get different reactions.

Me: What do you think?
Pro: It needs a lot of work! White Balance, subject is dead-center, needs cropping, and worst of all, you didn't use a tripod again did you?
Ordinary people: I love it! How did you make it look golden? It's so artistic!

Photographers see things differently from ordinary people. But whom to please? The few photographers who could help you grow and hone your skills? Or the many ordinary people whom are actually the ones who care to gawk at your pictures at the end of the day?

[Izzy]

I think the question comes down to who puts the bread on the table? You can do both because the easy to please will not notice really.

[Mike367]

You've already pleased the easy to please, but the only way to grow is to keep learning and improving. You won't displease the easy to please when you can also please the pro, you may well please them even more in ways they cannot express.

[PixSixSix]

Mike pretty much said it.

How pleased you would be with yourself if you became complacent, never willing to improve or grow or learn or try new things with your photography?

[Phoenix_Jackson]

Originally Posted by Mike367

You've already pleased the easy to please, but the only way to grow is to keep learning and improving. You won't displease the easy to please when you can also please the pro, you may well please them even more in ways they cannot express.

I like to take that thought with me.

There are times though where Pro says, "Now that's what I'm talking about" while ordinary people say, "Meh." But my favorite is when I kept everything I read and been told (by Pros) in mind while shooting, and the ordinary people say, "I like it... I don't know why."

[SwissJon]

I think the answer is really quite simple.. How good do you want to get? If you're happy with the praise of your friends, who compare your skills to their own and oohh and ahhh, then carry on without learning anything more.. If you look at your photos and compare them with someone elses and realise that you're not as good as you can be, then aim to please the pros.

In the end though.. I photograph to please me and nobody else.. My wife tells me my photos are brilliant, my friends are impressed, the people on here give me honest opinions and tell me where I can improve.. I'm not after praise, I'm after improving so I can be the best that I can be.. I don't care if I'm better than this person or worse than that, I just want to push my skills as far as I can.

[John Hendry]

Hi

Can I say as a pro, if you are selling the image and your living depends on sales then the client needs to be happy to pay for it and there a lot of great photographers out there that you are competeing against. So you do need to keep learning and getting better never take the foot of the acelerator.

Just a thought

Glasgow wedding photography

[NicolaB]

Originally Posted by Mike367

You've already pleased the easy to please, but the only way to grow is to keep learning and improving. You won't displease the easy to please when you can also please the pro, you may well please them even more in ways they cannot express.

I also agree with Mike. I was moaning about the quality of my images a while back, and my very sweet friend said "but we love your photographs. We think they are good. When will you be happy with them?" my response "when people other than the parents think they are good images." This is slightly glib, but you may understand what I mean.

There is a learning curve we all go through in acquiring new skills:
Unconscious incompetence — unaware of wb, exposure, focus issues etc
Conscious incompetence — aware of what others can do that set their images apart, but they themselves have not acquired the skills
Conscious competence — a person who has become competent - still thinking about how to set camera, how to do pp etc but knows what to do and how to do it
Unconscious competence — a person who has become skillful to a level where they can perform without having to think about composition, camera settings, how to do pp etc

ps before I go getting myself into trouble - I haven't checked out your images, this is a known theory (whistle!)

[ravncat]

please yourself.
The rest will follow naturally.
Just don't spill developer on the floor - that's a sin.

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by NicolaB

There is a learning curve we all go through in acquiring new skills:
Unconscious incompetence — unaware of wb, exposure, focus issues etc
Conscious incompetence — aware of what others can do that set their images apart, but they themselves have not acquired the skills
Conscious competence — a person who has become competent - still thinking about how to set camera, how to do pp etc but knows what to do and how to do it
Unconscious competence — a person who has become skillful to a level where they can perform without having to think about composition, camera settings, how to do pp etc

Remember learning to drive?Remember how difficult it was when you first started? Remember that steep learning curve upto your test? Remember after your test how you thought you could drive like a rally driver and crashed because you couldn't? (Perhaps that was just me) Thinking back now, do you really think that after learning to drive your skills didn't improve? Do you think you're a better driver now than you used to be? Do you think you're the best driver in the world? No? Why not? ahhh.. maybe you've just found the level of driving competence that's right for you and you don't feel the need to progress any further.. You're not world champion, but you no longer have the desire to be.. I'm guessing this is what Nicola is talking about.. You don't find a level, the level finds you. Or at least that's my theory anyway..