On September 8th, Jeremy Cowart did a live critique of photos people sent him. I thought I’d get in on that action so naturally I grabbed one of the best photos I’ve shot in the past few months (the one above). Out of all the random links submitted, Jeremy grabbed mine to critique. You can see his comments at the 39 minute mark.
It wasn’t until after he reviewed my photo (and loved it, by the way) that I realized I’d just wasted his time and mine. Here’s the thing, before I ever submitted that shot, I knew it was great. I don’t have the confidence to say that about most of my photography, but let’s be honest, sometimes you are blessed with a photo that is universally considered beautiful. This was that photo for me.
And naturally, as I was choosing a photo to submit, insecurity kicked in and I grabbed the one I knew would be well reviewed. But honestly, what good does that do? Even having someone at the level of Jeremy tell me it’s great only confirms what I already knew. My better bet would have been to take a photo a few notches below that and submit it. Something where I could have received advice that would have really helped improve my future work.
So, thanks to Jeremy for taking time to help out the little guys. And sorry for wasting your time.
Yeah, but how cool to have him tell you that it’s an awesome photo. Of course, I told you the same thing, but hey…whatever.
Not a waste of time man! I think it probably was cool for OTHERS to see the photo and see why it worked as opposed to why others didn’t work. It’s good to see both sides. Thanks for sharing : )
Love, love this photo!!
Chad, I think you forgot to say you were wasting my time too, because I and a couple hundred other people had to watch Jeremy gush over your photo and not even look at mine!
Honestly, I have a bunch of photos where I already know what most of the critique will be. Especially in a brief, public critique he has to be general and kind. I need someone to be picky and tell me what I’m missing on the stuff I think is flawless. Jeremy had very little to critique on yours (for obvious reasons), but it was still insightful. I remember him talking about cropping and lighting.
Here’s what I’m trying to say. I don’t want to throw a slow batting cage pitch to Pujols in order to learn how to throw a better fastball. I want to throw him my best pitch and see if it’s as good as those on their way to the bigs and/or what tweaks I can make. I don’t have any problem with it.