Drifting Snow #3. Joder Arabian Ranch, Colorado, 2013
For this week’s Wednesday Critique, I thought I’d throw you a curve and talk about the idea of NOT critiquing the work of others…Call this the anti-critique point-of-view.
Why would anyone want to not critique the work of others, especially if they are widely seen as a master photographer?
Well, I know one photographer who has his very specific reasons:
“People who give advice are generally well intentioned and oft times experienced. However their advice comes from their vision and their point of view, not yours, which makes all the difference in the world. If I were to tell you how to process your images and you listened to my advice, then your images would begin to look like mine. That’s not right, they should look like your images that were created with your vision. Consequently I try very hard to not give advice to others about their images, how they should process them or how they should look.”
This quote is from an early interview with Cole Thompson in which he talks extensively about his vision and his creative process. You can read another interview HERE, and I highly recommend you do if you are a pensive artist. (Note his philosophy of “photographic celibacy” which is most interesting–the notion of deliberately NOT studying the work of other photographers in order to more purely pursue one’s own vision and style without falling into the trap of imitation.)
You might find some of Cole’s ideas a bit contrarian–I certainly don’t fully agree with him on all points–but his ideas work for him and that’s really all that counts. They may not–and probably won’t–work for you. And that’s the point: In the midst of all the noise of social media, art galleries and art critics, the mass media, peer pressure, photo club opinions, and so on, every artist must find that lonely path that works best just for him or her. It’s a very personal journey, this practice of the art of photography.
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