Alec Soth recently challenged readers of his blog to review and critique the work of a list of photographers he’d met at the Magnum photo reviews in New York City. While I wasn’t able to go to the reviews to participate, I thought I’d follow up on Alec’s challenge here. Thinking about my own experience with photo reviews, I realized something thorough and measured was called for in this instance, and it would be a benefit to my own process as well.
Each photographer’s review is linked at the left, and on the review pages you will be able to access the artist’s website.
For me, this was a huge learning experience. Even in grad school, you still don’t see that much artwork, because you’re busy working in your own studio. When you are attending critiques, they’re brief and often not meaty enough to really warrant discussion. In my own program, the crits last 20 minutes and there are 60+ people who want to talk - not everyone will get the chance to say something.
I have done portfolio reviews before, most recently at the SPE National Conference in Miami, Florida this past March. The benefit of doing a face to face review is that you can, as the photographer, ask questions to direct the review. As a reviewer, you get a chance to see a LOT of work. This is an especially challenging role to play, because sometimes, the work just isn’t good. You don’t want to crush the spirit of the artist sharing their work, and you want to be able to give them some guidance, but at the same time - when you’ve seen a lot of work, you realize there are visual tropes and easy exits that are being made, and repeated over and over, and it does get hard to not just say “Enough! This has already been done!” - the thing is - certain images have to be made by every photographer to get them to the point that they are making good images. I went through a Holga phase myself, and I may revisit it again - but I realize that it was becoming a repetitive tool, not an apparatus that extended the act of seeing or discovering.
Likewise, there are a lot of photographers who claim to ‘give up control’ of their images - something I’ve done as well. It’s an illusion to claim you’re giving up control, because you are the one behind the lens, you are the one pulling the trigger, and you’re editing the images afterwards. As a photographer I didn’t realize this was a trope until I started looking at work, and not only at work, but at the way work was being made.
Art is not a magical thing that happens. It is not a talent that one just happens into. Art takes skill, perseverance, dedication and a really good idea to make it. There are many many many people out there making good photographs, but there is a difference between a good photograph and a great career in art. That takes hard work, good ideas, research, and continual looking and learning.
You might not agree with what I am saying here...I definitely can attribute my approach to the “F” factor - the MFA - I am working on mine. One commenter on Alec’s blog said that he felt that it was possible for a picture to be just a nice formal image. I disagree, to a point - I think that yes, it is possible to make a picture that is a lovely formal study of lines, shadow, shapes, tones....but in order to get an MFA, you need more. In order to make “art” beyond just a beautiful photograph, you will need more.
Thanks again to the photographers who shared their work. I hope you found something of interest in my review, but even if you didn’t, that’s ok too. I’ve walked away from reviews thinking “Well. That was pointless.” - it happens. Everyone sees things differently (thank goodness!) and this is no exception. I enjoyed the process, and it helped me think about some specific aspects of my own work where the idea wasn’t nearly as sharp as it could be.
One thing that I’ve done in my local community is gather together on a monthly basis with a group of fellow artists. We critique each others’ work, talk about issues in the art world, and make connections. It’s a great way to continually get that feedback that is so critical to making good work, because sometimes it’s easy to be too in love with your own work, and sometimes you are too harsh of a critique to yourself. Either way, it’s good to build a community. And it’s good to be in one.
Keep creating!!
