if 90 percent of people don't like what you shoot or the way you shoot

Are they paying me for my work? If not, it doesn't matter. I shoot for myself and my clients and not for the rest of the world. The validation for my work is when someone pays me a lot of money to be the there on their most important day.

I'm sure Van Gough didn't ask random online strangers to validate his work. :D
I agree. By the way, your wedding portfolio is stellar.
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have only read up to page 2, but I'm just going to chime in here and say that I actually would care if 90% of people didn't like my photos. I'd care a lot. In fact, I'd be mortified.

I could pretend that I just shoot for myself, or that everyone else misunderstands my art, or that they're simply uneducated, but the reality is that I have chosen an expressive art form and if no one else likes it, it's kind of missing the point.

I'm not talking about personal taste. One person's sports photo is another person's fantasy composite or one person's portrait is another person's macro, but if 90% of people do not like my photo then there is something wrong with it. Whether that be compositionally, technically or the subject matter itself, something needs to be addressed.

I love getting compliments about my work and would probably give up if 90% of people said they didn't like my shots through sheer self loathing!
 
'Like' seems to be an incomplete term for this.
When viewing pictures of bunnies and hillsides and sunsets, within certain bounds, viewers are pretty catholic in their tastes but I like to shoot in a niche both that most/many people don't care for and about which people seem to have have definite likes/dislikes stylistically. It is non-digested art, or attempts to be, usually requiring something from the viewer and, because of that, is often not accepted.
So a 'like' reaction might be that people understand and see what I see, that people understand what I am trying to 'say', that people appreciate it for what it is but only 'like' it in a way that doesn't connote getting pleasure from it.
Or, people might not get what I am saying, either because of their short vision or mine, or I haven't succeeded at capturing and showing what I want to or they might not like what I am saying or they might just not want to work at understanding something.
So when someone dislikes, that doesn't give me much information.
Could be me, could be them.

I prefer to think it is always them.
 
well said Lew, well said. With average time for evaluation being something in order of three seconds:
I prefer to think it is always them.
this seems to be right approach. :1251:
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have only read up to page 2, but I'm just going to chime in here and say that I actually would care if 90% of people didn't like my photos. I'd care a lot. In fact, I'd be mortified.

I could pretend that I just shoot for myself, or that everyone else misunderstands my art, or that they're simply uneducated, but the reality is that I have chosen an expressive art form and if no one else likes it, it's kind of missing the point.

I'm not talking about personal taste. One person's sports photo is another person's fantasy composite or one person's portrait is another person's macro, but if 90% of people do not like my photo then there is something wrong with it. Whether that be compositionally, technically or the subject matter itself, something needs to be addressed.

I love getting compliments about my work and would probably give up if 90% of people said they didn't like my shots through sheer self loathing!

'Like' seems to be an incomplete term for this.
When viewing pictures of bunnies and hillsides and sunsets, within certain bounds, viewers are pretty catholic in their tastes but I like to shoot in a niche both that most/many people don't care for and about which people seem to have have definite likes/dislikes stylistically. It is non-digested art, or attempts to be, usually requiring something from the viewer and, because of that, is often not accepted.
So a 'like' reaction might be that people understand and see what I see, that people understand what I am trying to 'say', that people appreciate it for what it is but only 'like' it in a way that doesn't connote getting pleasure from it.
Or, people might not get what I am saying, either because of their short vision or mine, or I haven't succeeded at capturing and showing what I want to or they might not like what I am saying or they might just not want to work at understanding something.
So when someone dislikes, that doesn't give me much information.
Could be me, could be them.

I prefer to think it is always them.

I agree with you both and completely understand where you are coming from. The one thing I have to say is that the 90% figure is fairly ambiguous as well.

90% of what? the entire earth? That's a lot of people. If I could get 10% of the world population to like my work enough to buy it for $10 a print I'd be rich and validated beyond my wildest dreams.

So that brings up the topic.. We really aren't talking about people in general here are we? We're talking about the intended audience. Everyone has an intended audience and it usually isn't the entire world population, it's a certain group or type of people that the work is geared towards and therefore that group of people are the only people who's opinions you should really care about.

If 90% of the world hated my work but 75% of my intended audience thought it was the best work they'd ever seen, as an artist I'd be very satisfied.
 
90% of the world's people, at least, don't read photo forums, post to them, care about them. We should all feel rejected!
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have only read up to page 2, but I'm just going to chime in here and say that I actually would care if 90% of people didn't like my photos. I'd care a lot. In fact, I'd be mortified.

I could pretend that I just shoot for myself, or that everyone else misunderstands my art, or that they're simply uneducated, but the reality is that I have chosen an expressive art form and if no one else likes it, it's kind of missing the point.

I'm not talking about personal taste. One person's sports photo is another person's fantasy composite or one person's portrait is another person's macro, but if 90% of people do not like my photo then there is something wrong with it. Whether that be compositionally, technically or the subject matter itself, something needs to be addressed.

I love getting compliments about my work and would probably give up if 90% of people said they didn't like my shots through sheer self loathing!

'Like' seems to be an incomplete term for this.
When viewing pictures of bunnies and hillsides and sunsets, within certain bounds, viewers are pretty catholic in their tastes but I like to shoot in a niche both that most/many people don't care for and about which people seem to have have definite likes/dislikes stylistically. It is non-digested art, or attempts to be, usually requiring something from the viewer and, because of that, is often not accepted.
So a 'like' reaction might be that people understand and see what I see, that people understand what I am trying to 'say', that people appreciate it for what it is but only 'like' it in a way that doesn't connote getting pleasure from it.
Or, people might not get what I am saying, either because of their short vision or mine, or I haven't succeeded at capturing and showing what I want to or they might not like what I am saying or they might just not want to work at understanding something.
So when someone dislikes, that doesn't give me much information.
Could be me, could be them.

I prefer to think it is always them.

I agree with you both and completely understand where you are coming from. The one thing I have to say is that the 90% figure is fairly ambiguous as well.

90% of what? the entire earth? That's a lot of people. If I could get 10% of the world population to like my work enough to buy it for $10 a print I'd be rich and validated beyond my wildest dreams.

So that brings up the topic.. We really aren't talking about people in general here are we? We're talking about the intended audience. Everyone has an intended audience and it usually isn't the entire world population, it's a certain group or type of people that the work is geared towards and therefore that group of people are the only people who's opinions you should really care about.

If 90% of the world hated my work but 75% of my intended audience thought it was the best work they'd ever seen, as an artist I'd be very satisfied.

I took it to mean 90% of the people who view my photos.
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have only read up to page 2, but I'm just going to chime in here and say that I actually would care if 90% of people didn't like my photos. I'd care a lot. In fact, I'd be mortified.

I could pretend that I just shoot for myself, or that everyone else misunderstands my art, or that they're simply uneducated, but the reality is that I have chosen an expressive art form and if no one else likes it, it's kind of missing the point.

I'm not talking about personal taste. One person's sports photo is another person's fantasy composite or one person's portrait is another person's macro, but if 90% of people do not like my photo then there is something wrong with it. Whether that be compositionally, technically or the subject matter itself, something needs to be addressed.

I love getting compliments about my work and would probably give up if 90% of people said they didn't like my shots through sheer self loathing!

'Like' seems to be an incomplete term for this.
When viewing pictures of bunnies and hillsides and sunsets, within certain bounds, viewers are pretty catholic in their tastes but I like to shoot in a niche both that most/many people don't care for and about which people seem to have have definite likes/dislikes stylistically. It is non-digested art, or attempts to be, usually requiring something from the viewer and, because of that, is often not accepted.
So a 'like' reaction might be that people understand and see what I see, that people understand what I am trying to 'say', that people appreciate it for what it is but only 'like' it in a way that doesn't connote getting pleasure from it.
Or, people might not get what I am saying, either because of their short vision or mine, or I haven't succeeded at capturing and showing what I want to or they might not like what I am saying or they might just not want to work at understanding something.
So when someone dislikes, that doesn't give me much information.
Could be me, could be them.

I prefer to think it is always them.

I agree with you both and completely understand where you are coming from. The one thing I have to say is that the 90% figure is fairly ambiguous as well.

90% of what? the entire earth? That's a lot of people. If I could get 10% of the world population to like my work enough to buy it for $10 a print I'd be rich and validated beyond my wildest dreams.

So that brings up the topic.. We really aren't talking about people in general here are we? We're talking about the intended audience. Everyone has an intended audience and it usually isn't the entire world population, it's a certain group or type of people that the work is geared towards and therefore that group of people are the only people who's opinions you should really care about.

If 90% of the world hated my work but 75% of my intended audience thought it was the best work they'd ever seen, as an artist I'd be very satisfied.

I took it to mean 90% of the people who view my photos.
i dunno. Seems i am missing a diffuser around here somewhere. (i keep losing chit)....


anyway...

After much deliberation, thinking of the time and money i have invested in photography (and there are many, many, many here with much more time and money invested than I) i have come to this profound conclusion....


Unless they are writing you a check (that clears) or handing you cash enough to make your concern for their thoughts worth while. Unless they are flipping the bill. Then does it really matter what they think?????? Talk is cheap. someone can like or hate my stuff all day long. Unless it pertains to at least enough cash to get your attention then who really does care what they think???

Isn't that the reality of it? The vast majority of us will never become great artists. Commercial photography comes down to who pays the bills. Much more cut and dry. For the art side, well... unless they can fork out some cash to give you the basis of concern the commercial photographer has, then what is the concern with even worrying about it?


kind of like
"i hate your work"
"were you going to pay me a thousand dollars?"
"no!. why would you even ask that?"
"To decide if it mattered that you hate my work."

The commercial photographers have it made in this. Real simple then, you get paid for shooting the product/event/portraits or you don't. Cuts right to the chase. The art side... well.... Even if people like your photo it doesn't mean they will pay the money for a print. How many people actually buy photos?
 
Unless they are writing you a check (that clears) or handing you cash enough to make your concern for their thoughts worth while. Unless they are flipping the bill. Then does it really matter what they think??????
Your comments indicate that you are at least thinking about selling your photographs.

I could be mistaken, but my understanding of professional artists is that they attempt to make their offerings desirable by more than one person, probably by more than 10% of potential customers, and maybe by nearly everyone who looks, and the limiting factor is "who has the price of admission?"

So let's say you hold a show. 100 people come to see your stuff. What is the harm if 99% of the people LIKE your stuff, but only 10% actually have the money to purchase it? How do you process the fact that you sold 10% of your work? Are the other 90% just full of beans and they don't know good stuff when they see it?

Are you going to continue to flip off the 90% who didn't buy your stuff? Are you going to make more of the same stuff that actually sold, in the hopes of selling it next week? What are you going to do with the 90% of your stuff that didn't sell? Is it now garbage going to the landfill?
 
Unless they are writing you a check (that clears) or handing you cash enough to make your concern for their thoughts worth while. Unless they are flipping the bill. Then does it really matter what they think??????
Your comments indicate that you are at least thinking about selling your photographs.

I could be mistaken, but my understanding of professional artists is that they attempt to make their offerings desirable by more than one person, probably by more than 10% of potential customers, and maybe by nearly everyone who looks, and the limiting factor is "who has the price of admission?"

So let's say you hold a show. 100 people come to see your stuff. What is the harm if 99% of the people LIKE your stuff, but only 10% actually have the money to purchase it? How do you process the fact that you sold 10% of your work? Are the other 90% just full of beans and they don't know good stuff when they see it?

Are you going to continue to flip off the 90% who didn't buy your stuff? Are you going to make more of the same stuff that actually sold, in the hopes of selling it next week? What are you going to do with the 90% of your stuff that didn't sell? Is it now garbage going to the landfill?
Considered it. Part of me feels i should be part of the art association here, and should be showing. The other part of me dreads the "meet the artists" idea, contests, showings as i am generally pretty anti-social to start with. Other thing is, do i really want to change around my photography just to appease and make a couple thousand a year. The photos aren't exactly flying out the door. Most people buy paintings, if anything. The other thing is price. It costs me sixty bucks to take the kids to chinese the other night. I would be lucky to get much more than that for a photo after associated headache, framing, time etc. etc. is figured in. I ponder if it is even worth it. I Definately wouldn't trade what or how i shoot over it.
I have considered joining, and doing a show or at least showing pieces just because i am actually a big supporter of the arts in general. Changing what or how i shoot for the price some of these photos are going for makes me feel kind of like a sleezeball though. why sell out? Lets say someone bought a photo off me for 175 dollars (unlikely around here). That isn't a lot of money for someone walking away with your photo never mind printing, framing, headache. It equivocates to me taking the kids to eat chinese a couple times. My electric bill was 150 bucks last month...
so unless it went to upper tier, with upper tier pricing. Really not sure if it is worth the consideration. I have considered some involvement over the last year just as a general supporter of the arts though. Join the area associations, show a few things. Might not even put them up for sale.
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have only read up to page 2, but I'm just going to chime in here and say that I actually would care if 90% of people didn't like my photos. I'd care a lot. In fact, I'd be mortified.

I could pretend that I just shoot for myself, or that everyone else misunderstands my art, or that they're simply uneducated, but the reality is that I have chosen an expressive art form and if no one else likes it, it's kind of missing the point.

I'm not talking about personal taste. One person's sports photo is another person's fantasy composite or one person's portrait is another person's macro, but if 90% of people do not like my photo then there is something wrong with it. Whether that be compositionally, technically or the subject matter itself, something needs to be addressed.

I love getting compliments about my work and would probably give up if 90% of people said they didn't like my shots through sheer self loathing!

'Like' seems to be an incomplete term for this.
When viewing pictures of bunnies and hillsides and sunsets, within certain bounds, viewers are pretty catholic in their tastes but I like to shoot in a niche both that most/many people don't care for and about which people seem to have have definite likes/dislikes stylistically. It is non-digested art, or attempts to be, usually requiring something from the viewer and, because of that, is often not accepted.
So a 'like' reaction might be that people understand and see what I see, that people understand what I am trying to 'say', that people appreciate it for what it is but only 'like' it in a way that doesn't connote getting pleasure from it.
Or, people might not get what I am saying, either because of their short vision or mine, or I haven't succeeded at capturing and showing what I want to or they might not like what I am saying or they might just not want to work at understanding something.
So when someone dislikes, that doesn't give me much information.
Could be me, could be them.

I prefer to think it is always them.

I agree with you both and completely understand where you are coming from. The one thing I have to say is that the 90% figure is fairly ambiguous as well.

90% of what? the entire earth? That's a lot of people. If I could get 10% of the world population to like my work enough to buy it for $10 a print I'd be rich and validated beyond my wildest dreams.

So that brings up the topic.. We really aren't talking about people in general here are we? We're talking about the intended audience. Everyone has an intended audience and it usually isn't the entire world population, it's a certain group or type of people that the work is geared towards and therefore that group of people are the only people who's opinions you should really care about.

If 90% of the world hated my work but 75% of my intended audience thought it was the best work they'd ever seen, as an artist I'd be very satisfied.

I took it to mean 90% of the people who view my photos.
i dunno. Seems i am missing a diffuser around here somewhere. (i keep losing chit)....


anyway...

After much deliberation, thinking of the time and money i have invested in photography (and there are many, many, many here with much more time and money invested than I) i have come to this profound conclusion....


Unless they are writing you a check (that clears) or handing you cash enough to make your concern for their thoughts worth while. Unless they are flipping the bill. Then does it really matter what they think?????? Talk is cheap. someone can like or hate my stuff all day long. Unless it pertains to at least enough cash to get your attention then who really does care what they think???

Isn't that the reality of it? The vast majority of us will never become great artists. Commercial photography comes down to who pays the bills. Much more cut and dry. For the art side, well... unless they can fork out some cash to give you the basis of concern the commercial photographer has, then what is the concern with even worrying about it?


kind of like
"i hate your work"
"were you going to pay me a thousand dollars?"
"no!. why would you even ask that?"
"To decide if it mattered that you hate my work."

The commercial photographers have it made in this. Real simple then, you get paid for shooting the product/event/portraits or you don't. Cuts right to the chase. The art side... well.... Even if people like your photo it doesn't mean they will pay the money for a print. How many people actually buy photos?

It has nothing to do with money and whether people will pay for my photos, it has to do with artistic development.

I want to take photos that initiate a positive reaction in other people (a positive reaction could be anything from "Cool photo!" to "You've shown really good direction with your model and paid great attention to hair and makeup" or "How did you do that?!"). I want to host an exhibition of work and for people to come to it and to see people liking my photos.

If I take a photo; I come up with an idea, plan it, shoot it and then edit it only to store it away on a harddrive somewhere so that I can occasionally look at it and say to myself "Good job, Ian", that, to me, is pointless.

Where's the reward? Where's the confirmation that what you're doing has meaning or merit? How can anyone hope to develop their artistic ability without knowing what other people think of their artwork?
 
Last edited:

Most reactions

Back
Top