It is not easy to accept criticism and accept it. We all have certain difficulties in accepting criticism and using it to our advantage. Although we show our photos happily and go around asking others to give us honest criticism, deep down we don’t know how to deal with such criticism properly.
If this is your case, today I bring you a series of 4 tips, very brief, that will help you to be an even better photographer than you already are, and that thanks to the criticism of others.
How Not to Burst into Cry in the Face of Negative Criticism
- The theory of relativity: Everything is relative, and art and photography are the best example of this. Whoever criticizes you, there will always be some other photography expert somewhere on the planet who does not agree with that criticism, so calm down and take it with restraint. A negative review is something very relative: photography is not an exact science, your reviewer may be wrong, or may simply have a different taste and sense of beauty or art than yours.
- The “aborted” review: Is there anything worse than a very very bad negative review? Yes: criticism that others are silent, what they do not dare to point out to us for not wanting to offend us or not wanting to disappoint us. That’s the worst. It is as if you wore your sweater inside out all day, and everyone saw it and no one dared to tell you about it, or dry distemper hanging from your nose… Has this ever happened to you…? Phew…
- Either you increase or you decrease: The great photographers, the good teachers that we all want to imitate, are people who have never stopped learning. In photography you never finish the learning process, you are in a continuous state of growth. How do you know? Seeing that there are people who still criticize you. That’s a good sign, it’s a symbol of youth and vigor 😉 a symbol of health. The day you stop receiving criticism that will be a bad sign: it means that you have already reached your peak (yours), and that you have already started the journey of descent, that of old age as a photographer and decadence. If nobody criticizes your photographs, it is that you have few days left in this hobby.
- Critical Selection, the creme de la creme: Do not rush to take as correct and valid each and every one of the criticisms that others make of you. Some may, not with bad intentions, slip you some invalid criticism. It is best to look at the reviews that are repeated the most and focus on them. Filter the reviews that come to you and make a selection with the most “valid” reviews, and focus on them.
You know the famous saying, “Who loves you will make you cry”. So cheer up, take advantage of all the criticism they make of you, they are photography lessons that you get for free 😉
May the criticism be with you, my friend.