Hello, I’m Gill and I write a photography blog inspired by the landscapes of Suffolk and beyond. Please subscribe to read more of my writing and visit my website to view my images.
As the year is beginning to draw to a close I have been looking through my Lightroom catalogue and thinking about my image making over the last twelve months, trying to be objective about what has and hasn’t worked.
As part of this process I put together a collection in Lightroom of my favourite images from 2023 based on their visual appeal and how they make me feel. Trying to distill a years worth of images into 12 shots is really difficult but I tried to be objective and incorporate a range of subject matter including wider landscapes and more intimate scenes.
These 12 shots are the ones that resonated with me most on the day I sat down to do this exercise, but I suppose they aren’t necessarily my ‘best’ images or the ones that will remain my favourites. They do, however, tell me a lot about what I like to photograph and why, and the conditions I favour. There are no iconic scenes here, instead my favourites are more gentle landscapes that really speak to me.
This is an interesting exercise to do and one that I would recommend. It helps illustrate your photographic journey throughout the year and also shows you what you have been drawn to in terms of subject matter. It is also a good starting point to look more critically at your images.
Image review and self critique is an important part of how we learn as photographers and is just as important as critique from other sources such as mentors, competitions and camera club judges. However I do feel that to get the best from the whole process we need to be able to evaluate our own work and ask for critique from others in a purposeful way.
A few years ago I submitted this image into my local camera club competition - it achieved the lowest score of the evening and the feedback I received was very brief and not great - the composition was too cluttered and the sky was over exposed. There was no mention of how the image made the judge feel or how I could have improved it, so for me this critique was less than useful.
What was I expecting?
When I submitted my image into the competition I am not sure I really thought about the feedback I might gain. I guess I was just looking for some acknowledgement that the work I was making was of a good standard and was valid in some way. Perhaps I also wanted the judge to give me an idea of whether I had successfully conveyed any mood or emotion in my image and whether it resonated with him at all?
I didn’t get a conversation about any of that, but based on my poor score I can only assume that the image left him completely cold. So for me the feedback was not constructive. It left me feeling a little bit useless and unsure where to go with my photography. (Probably an over reaction, but it does show how critique can influence our thinking).
Funnily enough, following on from this experience I sold the image licence for this shot to a stationary company who went on to use it for a ‘BBC Countryfile’ greetings card which apparently sells very well.
The reason for sharing this story is to emphasise that we all view images in different ways and we all have different likes and dislikes, so comments can be very subjective. They can also be quite demoralising if they don’t offer any constructive suggestions for improvement.
I now see this image for what it is - a perfectly nice depiction of a place I enjoy visiting. It’s not stunning, it could be improved but I still like the shot because it takes me right back to standing on that beach with the gently lapping water and the cry of the curlew.
How to seek critique
The key to learning from critique is to seek it with intention. We need to ask ourselves what aspect of the image we want feedback on and what we want to learn from any comments based on our intention when we took and processed the image.
As part of my job I often get asked to give my opinion on peoples images and I do find it really difficult. At the end of the day whatever I say is just my opinion but I am so aware that my opinion (just like that of my camera club judge) can have a big impact on the person receiving it.
To get the best from personal critique (as opposed to camera club competitions) it is helpful, when asking for feedback, to give some background to the person giving the critique. This only needs to be brief but details like how long you have been photographing and what camera settings you used and what you wanted to achieve with your post processing will definitely help.
How to critique our own work
When I was starting out on my photographic journey I was encouraged to critique my own shots using the following list of considerations:
What is your overall opinion of the image? Is it sharp? Is the horizon level? Is the exposure correct? Are there any distractions and is the edge of the image free from elements that might take they eye out of the frame?
What were you trying to achieve with your image and have you been successful?
Does your image have depth and three dimensionality?
Does it show mood and emotion?
Are you happy with it as a shot that says something about you as a photographer?
Assessing our own images and learning how to ask for critique from others are both really valuable exercises. We can learn so much from studying our own images, looking at them in relation to other photographers work (but importantly, not comparing), and seeking critique from those we respect and admire.
I think the really important part is that we can only learn from critique if we understand that it is just opinion, and it is all subjective. Listening to comments, analysing them and seeing if we can understand why they might be valid are all good things to do but ultimately we should take all opinion with a pinch of salt.
I think in photography, as in any creative process, it is really important to be true to ourselves and the work we want to produce. We shouldn’t change our style or approach based on anyones opinion unless we value that opinion and can see the reasons it was made. We all know deep down when advice is good and when it comes from the right place.
At the end of the day we should all be confident in ourselves to follow whatever creative path we wish. Our work should please us first and foremost and as long as we are happy with our images and feel our work is improving and going in the direction, then that is all that matters.
I will leave you with this quote from Winston Churchill
Success is Not Final,
Failure is Not Fatal:
it is the Courage to Continue that Counts
This will be my last post for 2023 as I am taking a short break over the festive period. Thank you all so much for reading my posts and supporting my work this year, it means the world to me and I am really grateful.
Wishing you all a happy Christmas and until next time enjoy your photography.
Gill
Love this! The boat image I'd amazing!! I had a very similar experience with a camera club critique and the image sold at an exhibit. There is an audience out there for every photographers images, so just keep shooting what you love. That's how I see it anyway!
Thanks for this essay on image critique, I am sure it will be helpful in my own journey, as I have found judges in the past to just add to my confusion. Love reading your “for the love of landscapes” wishing you a great 2024 and beyond.