Fun Stuff: Critiques

Simple tip for today: take time to evaluate your work and to have someone else evaluate your work.

Okay, so normally the words “fun” and “critique” are not mentioned in the same title or sentence. But, today they are. Last night I completed the first night of the Coalesce Worshop. I talked a little bit about the importance of first of all knowing what makes a great or successful image. There is a lot that goes in to knowing if you have created a successful image. Part of that is simply knowing how to evaluate your images or even someone else’s images. In the Photo I course I teach at the college we learn about the fundamentals of photography, but we also learn about how to evaluate images, which I think is really important. When I was in school studying art, critique day wasn’t something that I really looked forward to. I mean, who really wants to hear that they work isn’t perfect. Who wants to hear that they might have more work to do or that their work isn’t quite as good as they thought it was. My bubble was burst many a time. Now that I am out of school and teaching, I miss having my work critiqued, because now I really see the importance of it. I actually miss having my bubble burst. I still try and find people who I trust that I can receive criticism from because I know it is so beneficial. It’s kind of like having someone peer review a paper you about to turn in. They see so much more than you do.

All that to say, if you are struggling with the imagery you are creating, maybe you aren’t happy with it, or maybe you just don’t know what to think, find someone who you value to give an honest opinion and have them critique your work.

I have a really great resource for you if you are looking to expand your own critique-ing abilities. Zack Arias has been doing these video critiques where people submit their websites and he and his wife will go through and critique the work. I have watched several of them and they are great. They are definitely not holding back. Some people get their bubbles burst, but it’s great stuff. I found myself a little tense when I was watching the videos because I could relate to the work being critiqued almost as if I was being critiqued. Click HERE to check out the critiques. They might hurt a bit. But, honestly, the critiques that I remember most and that helped me the most in school (and out of school) were the ones that hurt.