Receiving feedback

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.” – Frank A. Clark

I applied to a photography workshop at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Boston in December 2022. I got notified I was accepted to the program last month. With the application process, I was to submit 7 images together with a written statement explaining my intention of applying to the program. I got notified I was accepted last month. To my pleasant surprise, I just received an email with some thoughtful feedback for the images I submitted from the instructor. I was both touched by his kind words and the suggestions he made as to how I should proceed with my development. Despite having yet met with him in person, I feel encouraged with the prospect of attending the workshop. I will share some of the feedbacks he gave and explain why I feel receiving constructive feedback can be beneficial.

Have you ever felt that your photography is stagnating and not progressing as much? When you show your work to friends and family, most likely you hear the praises, those overly positive, loving feedback. While they certainly are positive reinforcements. Unless they are photographers themselves, they will tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear. It’s only natural that no one wants to hear their photograph is garbage. With you may not make much progress if you operate in an echo chamber where you only get flowery praises.

From my experience of attending many workshops and working with different instructors, it is the honest, sometimes brutal feedback, that help push me forward. I remember when I had my first solo exhibition at the local library, I received some blunt words from my first photography teacher who introduced me to landscape photography. I must admit, it was not the best feeling when I heard his brutal feedback about the postcard like images I put on the wall. I felt defeated and shocked when listening to his input. I thought I did a wonderful job putting the collection of photographs for the exhibition, the exchange therefore gave me a big jolt of reality check.

“With four choices of benches evidently at your disposal to sit upon—each like a camera facing in four different directions—you take the closest bench to introduce your work to my eye. A halo accompanies your head in the process to good effect. Transformations are likely to follow.”

While I felt hurt listening to the harsh feedback on the spot. As I looked back on that exchange, I am glad he was being honest with me. I needed to know what my work was like from someone who had the years of experience. Being continually told that my work was great and amazing wasn’t going to help with my progression other than inflating my ego. Since then, I learned to look for seasoned photographers to give me honest feedback. I like to know how they see my work. I want to hear what areas I need improvement. Whenever I am given the opportunity to get feedbacks from the instructors I choose to work with, I tell them to say it as it is. Luckily most are wonderful with delivering honest feedbacks without being harsh and crush my spirits.

How the feedback is delivered is a variable you cannot control. This means we need to have thick skin. Some instructors are better at delivering bad news in a positive, encouraging manner, while some can be blunt. But where do you find this third party that you can build the trust to work with you? My experience is to words of mouth work best. Seek advice from your photography community, learn from others’ experiences working with different instructors and how that work out for them.

It is important to find the right fit. Ideally you would want a mentor to be involved in the genres you are most interested in, and those who have your best interest in mind. I also like working with different instructors. This helps to get more diverse input where none of the personal preferences play a dominating factor, and hopefully you can find some common ground from the different sources.

Seeking feedback from people with whom I trust and have great respect have helped me immensely over the years. It is not always easy and pleasant to hear your work being torn apart, and it will take time to build that trust between you and the person who gives you the feedback, but in the long run the process of seeking constructive feedback will make you a stronger and better artist.

“It’s here that narrative form begins to emerge, like that bench in the clearing."

"I’d like for you to consider heading in that direction, the third bench facing the shadow of the tree. It could start to tell a story all its own, like this lovely image about a treasure someone is soon to find. That your images create images is also another goal you might wish to explore further.”