Here's a couple of thoughts for all of us to ponder before we pass judgement, praise or scorn on a fellow photographer.

1. Will this thing I am about to speak say more about me than it does about the work in front of me?

Stating that a work looks "like crap" is not a critique. It is a value statement that can show people that we think something is crap. Sometimes that thing that we think is crap is important to someone else for entirely different reasons. A terrible snapshot of a woman - out of focus and with too much contrast - is crap to one critic. It is the last photograph he took of her before she died to the one with the picture... crap? No... a memory.

Deciding that every photograph taken has to meet some special criteria, whether real or contrived, means limiting the exploration, the whimsical testing, the 'shoot it to see what it looks like' ethos that can open ideas bringing fruition long down the road.

Mistakes can lead to success.

Stating one's opinion of another photographer's work may seem like a powerful thing to do, especially in an environment that has so few restrictions - the net - and no real context. And without knowing what the other photographer's context was for the image, all we can do is project our shortcomings and failures onto their work. We see it as failing in all the little things WE are working on... it becomes a reflection of our challenges - not a critique of the work.

You must KNOW what was intended in order to give any kind of decent critique... of any art, really.

2. Will this thing I am about to speak help the photographer, help my relationship to them, or help the photography community in any meaningful way?

A 'no' answer is pretty damn powerful as a filter. One no, and let it go. Why is there is so much angst and energy expended on what someone else is doing? What can that possibly do to our work? How can someone else shooting in a way we would not harm our work? Our relationship? Our community?

We good... we are all good. Making photographs is a personal approach to capturing what we see... from purely 'pretty' photos to images with deep and profound meanings - from snapshots of our friends at our first meal together to once in a lifetime photographs that may change the world.

Its all good. It has very little relationship to each other and all are able to exist in the ecosphere of photography.

There is too much negativity - and there is far too much 'nannyism' and too many busybodies with their noses all into our work. It is less than a good way to be creative.

Turn it off if you are more interested in what so and so is doing than you are in what you are doing.

Tune it out if you are hearing from strangers that you should be doing this and thinking that...

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