Part 3- Self Criticism

I really meant to write this a while back. Life, being what it is just didn't allow me the time. So here it is.

This is a scary thought. Really scary. To have to look at one's own work the way someone else might look at it. To take away the emotional attachment that you have for your work. WHAT! That's what my art is all about, my emotions! How can I separate my emotions from my work? Well, that's the real trick isn't it? The fact is, this is one of the keys to self critique. Remember, others will not look at your work with the same viewpoint or emotions. Let me qualify one point, human nature dictates that it is nearly impossible to completely separate our emotional attachment. However, we can train ourselves to take an objective viewpoint. One of the best things we can do is to walk away from our work, that is, put it out of sight, out of mind for a few days or better yet, a few weeks. The advantage to doing this is to allow your emotions to take a break.

When you finally do have a go at it, imagine the piece framed and hanging on a wall. Imagine yourself to be an everyday casual observer. What would you think? What does it say to you? No, no, no. Don't ask your self if it says the same thing that it says to YOU as the artist. What does it say to you, as the third party viewer? Don't worry about technical aspects at this point. Just ask yourself what the impact of the shot is. What does it do for you? Or not? Does it have any emotional impact? Is it simply visually striking? Does just look like a piece of crap? Notice anything familiar about the approach? It's the same way you would look at the work of another!

Now look deeper, pick it apart. Examine what is wrong. Why it doesn't appeal to you? What is annoying about the photo? How could this have been done better? Consider how the technical execution takes away or enhances the shot. Look at the details, Now look at what's good. If the photo is appealing, why is it appealing? Does it have pleasing patterns, leading lines, or simple, effective composition? In some cases it might be possible to reshoot the subject. In others where this is not possible or practical, you can at least apply to your next photo what you learned from your self critique.

I can't tell you how many photos I've made that I thought were pretty good, yet after applying my method of self critique, I realized were just average. Every so often I visit my Smugmug gallery and prune it because of this. A while back I did a major cleanup and I was amazed, actually appalled at what I had on public display. I'm quite confident that 6 months or a year from now I'll do it again and again wonder what I was thinking.