Karen Strunks Professional Birmingham-based Freelance Photographer

Birmingham Photo Space blog

I’d just like to bring to your attention the Birmingham Photo Space blog.

Taken from their blog:

This blog is seeking to galvanise interested individuals and organisations in Birmingham towards the ultimate aim of creating a world class venue for photography in Birmingham. This could be in a reclaimed industrial building close to the city centre. This could build on and support the interest in photography in the city, showcase our magnificent photography collections and fill a gap in Birmingham’s visual arts facilities.

Pop over to their blog. I am sure if you can offer your support and ideas, it would be most welcome.

Accepting criticism or what to do when your work gets trashed

A little while ago, I had my first experience of having some of my pictures severely criticized/trashed. I say trashed, because that is what it really felt like. And it was a horrible experience.

I am not going to say who/where/when/what photos.

A bit of a back story; this person has many years photographic experience and produces some amazing shots – shots I would love to be able to take. Previously, this person had been very encouraging and supportive, gave me lots of advice and tips, suggestions on how I could improve, techniques I could employ. After having one of our chats, I would feel great, ready to take on the world of photography and produce some great shots. Their enthusiasm was catching and their support was appreciated.

However, one day, all that changed. The person asked to look at some pictures I had taken, and as usual I was happy to show them. Usually at this point they would say if it was a good shot, not a good shot, why it wasn’t good, what I could have done differently etc. But on this occasion they behaved so differently, and it was quite a shock.

This person seemed to get very angry with me, their tone of voice changed, and they were quite aggressive in their body language. Some of the comments that followed were;

“You should be much better than this by now”
“Anyone with a camera could take those shots”
“Why didn’t you do it like this?”
“You should have done this”
“Remember I told you about……”
“That one is crap”

And on and on they went. I thought they were never going to stop. I sat there in stunned silence. And what made it worse was that it was done in front of other people. Eventually the tirade stopped.

Now, until this happened, I was quite pleased with the pictures. They certainly weren’t all great, and I could see some duds there, but there were others were I thought I had done ok. Although I am quite confident, this person knocked that confidence, but only for a very short time thankfully. Later on, I showed the same pictures to another experienced photographer, whose work is excellent and whose advice I respect, and the pictures that were previously trashed were praised!

I am not sure why this person changed so much towards me/my pictures. It could be that they might have thought that because I wasn’t producing the type of shots they were expecting, they thought I wasn’t listening to any of their previous advice, but I was. I would write down every bit of advice I was given by any photographer, and try and memorise that advice. I even had a little card that I made with some of the ‘top tips’ that I found useful for any type of photo and carried that around with me.

As it happens, I haven’t seen that person since that time, so I’ve never been able to speak to them or get to the bottom of their reaction.

I can take criticism. I really can. I love getting feedback on my pictures. I like suggestions on how to improve, or advice on why a shot didn’t work. I can laugh at my mistakes, and have done many times with other photographers. And without any of that, I wouldn’t learn so much.

It probably won’t be the last time my pictures are ‘trashed’ (rather than criticized), and I’ll just deal with it if happens.

It’s only been 16 months since I picked up a camera, and I think I am doing ok. I’ve had work published in the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Sunday Mercury, City Living & Speak Out magazines. I have had pictures exhibited at the ICC and Birmingham Museum Collections centre, and I was featured in Birmingham Adult Education brocher. I’ve completed and passed year one of NCFE level 1 in digital photography, and I am in the middle of completing level 2, so it would be madness to allow one person to stop me in my tracks.

I believe with this type of work, I will never know everything. Come and find me in 50 years time, and I will still be learning (and making mistakes!).

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