[This article has gotten so much reaction I'm not able to respond to all of it.] A new photo site, dpaddict.com, brings up another subject that doesn't get discussed a lot in photography: who are you photographing for?
I've angled around this subject before. But perhaps it's time to take it head on. The way I see things, there's a clear hierarchy in reasons for taking a photo. For lowest to highest order:
- because you're expected to
- to collect a "memory photo"
- because it's an interesting hobby
- to mimic others (collecting images that you've seen that have been taken by others)
- to impress others (including to make money)
- to capture and create something uniquely yours
Since we've just completed Father's Day, the "you're expected to" often comes along with that. Often the triggering event of both "expected to" and "memory photos" is the birth of your first child. For some reason, it's usually Dad's job to start documenting the child (it was my mom in my household, though). If you're expected to take photos or are taking memory photos, you get quite pragmatic: just do what the other people around you expect of you. When they tell you that your image is out of focus, or underexpose, or doesn't look like the Smith's, you simply deal with that particular problem and keep photographing (or you stop photographing ;~). This is basically elementary school: you listen to what the teacher says and try to address the problems they point out.
The interesting hobby photographer is often focused as much on equipment as photos. They're the ones that would rather have a nice filter protecting their pristine lens rather than getting a better photo. They collect the latest gear and obsess over it rather than worry too much about their images. When they do worry about their images, they get into insane arguments over pixels on Web fora rather than actually stand back and look at the image on a wall. This is basically high school, where you form cliques and groups and belonging is more important than anything the group might produce.
Mimicking others comes because at some point you see great images and you wonder how and where they were taken. You're starting to get away from the hobby approach and the trivial fora discussions of your chosen group and find a mentor, even if only in absentia. You start studying carefully, maybe even obsessively, but you're not thinking independently yet. Welcome to college.
At some point it dawns on you that mimicking is just that. All you've proven is that you can do what someone else already did. Maybe you even read Sontag and got depressed ;~). You may have already attempted this new level--impressing others or making money--while you were mimicking, but you're finding that this doesn't impress or make you money. The ship has already sailed on that and the person you mimicked is the one who captained the boat. This is grad school at its best. You're trying to become. You look to others to measure whether you've actually moved the bar. Go ahead, put that photo on dpaddict.com and see what happens (more on that in a bit).
Finally, you come to realization that all the great images came about because the photographer was trying to do something unique, that fit their own interests, interpretation, and goals. Most of the pros being hired by others do this. You don't hire Annie Liebowitz for any reason other than she's figured out she likes to do portraits, likes to do them in ways that reflect her notion of the person, and likes to do it by capturing more than a face or an expression, and does them better than most everyone else. You don't tell Annie what to do. You hire Annie to do what she does.
So let's talk a bit about "what others think of your images." Should you care? I'll come back to that question in a moment, but first a word about me. Do I care what others think of my images? Not really. My level of photographic competence is high, and I photograph subjects I want to photograph the way I want to photograph them. I do strongly care about what I think of my images. I listen to what others think of my images when they do see them because I'm always checking to see if I've gone completely delusional (though I'm not sure what I'd do if that was what I learned had happened ;~). I try to be open minded. Sometimes others see things I don't see, and that might adjust my thinking going forward, but it's my thinking. I'll own up to my images. They're mine. Like Annie and others, I do what I do.
While I don't display a lot of images on my site, I do get lots of responses about the ones that I do post. The current image at the top of the page, for instance. A lot of people, including my mother, have expressed their like for this image. Technically, it's okay. I don't regard it as one of my better images and was a bit surprised when people responded positively to it. I picked the image to illustrate a point, not because I thought it was good.
So let's come back to that question: should you care what others think about your images? My answer is mostly no, partly yes. The yes part I dealt with: listening to what others think of your work is a sanity check. Sometimes others do see things you didn't and they provide you a useful insight moving forward. A good image critique from a peer or mentor sometimes does that, too. But if it's mostly that Facebook Like thing you're seeking, you're not at the top level of image making in my mind, you're seeking validation.
I haven't entered a contest or sought out an award since I figured out the difference between validation and self-awareness. That's a period of almost 30 years now. Funny thing is, I have won some awards along the way, but you'll notice I don't mention them anywhere (even though many of them are relevant to how other people might perceive my work).
In the end, what you think of my work or what I think of yours doesn't matter. It's what I think of my work and what you think of yours that does. Sure, it's nice to get validation once in awhile, and it's fun to have intelligent conversations about one's work with peers, but all those hundreds of decisions that get made while taking a photograph are yours. You need to have a self-aware lamp lit inside you guiding you when you take images, not wonder what decision someone else would make.