Mentoring system suggestion

[Overread]

Beyond the Basics is the section I am currently thinking of using

 

[GeorgiaOwl]

As someone in need of mentoring, let me say a big thank you for even attempting to get something like this rolling.

I don't think I have ever been involved in a hobby/sport/activity where the members of said groups were so.....................

well...


negative.
Pardon the photography pun.


Perhaps photography people are just a more concise slice of a specific group of people....and the negative vibe just shows more here than most places. Perhaps we are just saturated with more realists? I'm generally considered a negative person among my friends and family because I am more of a realist than most of them - but wow. . . they don't know some of you guys! LOL

Anyway, thanks for starting this up....maybe some of us noobs can learn enough in a few years to come back and continue in the experiment as mentors! Your effort and willingness to help others is very generous and surely not going unnoticed.

 

[rubbertree]

What happens if one declares themselves a mentor but in reality, they are not qualified? I mean, who decides who it good enough to be a mentor?

 

[Overread]

2 things
1) I will put up the offical thread for mentors today - seeing as how people want to get started

2) that is a good link Jedo and I would encourage people to follow and read its contents. As for the proof of the pudding as it were - were this is an online web community and as such very hard to prove anything about people. This is why I placed the following 2 things in my requirements:
a) samples of work
b) what you can offer to a student and what you can't offer. Some people are great at taking shots and others great at editing.

As for opinions here is my stance (this will also be mentioned on the "official" thread.
If anyone has a problem with another person being a prospective mentor to other photographers then I ask them to do the following

a) Not to contact the prospective mentor in question

b) To send me a pm outlining the reasons why the person should not be allowed to be a mentor (with examples)
Any pms sent to me with comments like "I don't like this person" "I don't like their work" or any other such comments I will simply ignor. I won't let this turn into an elitist or bashing match

After that its a review of the person in question - though I urge people looking to this to take into account what the mentor states that they are offering to a student. A long complaint about a persons inability to take a shot is not cutting any ice when they offering post processing advice

In short is someone gets brought up to not being up to standard you contact me - I then go about working it out -- contacting other good photographers on the site for opinions and such.

 

[rubbertree]

How do we know that YOU are qualified to say who is mentor material and who isn't? Just asking.
Are you a moderator here? Do you work professionally in the industry? Do you have X number of years experience behind you?

 

[Overread]

hence why I am contacting other members for their advise - and why this is a user/viewer response based system rather than a vetting system by me

 

[christopher walrath]

Just so everyone knows, we are not setting ourselves up to be the reincarnation of Minor White or anything. This is for use by those who think they can help by those who think they might benefit from it. Yes, as a group we are treading thinner ice. But I don't think it so thin that we are in any peril. If you think you can help, then by all means contact Overread and put your info out there and do it in your own way. Just like photography, there is no set way to teach or to determine remotely whether or not someone is qualified. So let's just do this thing and see what happens.

 

[Alpha]

There is always going to be an implicit "accept this mentor at your own risk" clause.

I, for example, have little professional experience shooting. Some small-time gigs and the like. Does a full-time professional therefore stand to learn nothing from me? I don't know. That's their call. But I can tell you there are plenty of full-time pros that I, as a non-pro, probably don't stand to learn much from.

Jed, this is not medicine. In fact, in some respects it's even more delicate. If I advise someone incorrectly and they go ruin a wedding shoot, then there are somewhat grave consequences. There's no safety net here, as mentors cannot physically be present to guide. As such, the weight falls much more heavily on how much a student trusts the advice of their mentor. How many first-year surgical residents would try to do a central line without an attending within earshot to cover them if they puncture the lung? On the other hand, in the vast majority of situations, the consequences of error are far more benign here than in medicine. Accidentally placing a print in stop for 10 minutes instead of 1 minute has hardly the same consequences as accidentally administering 100ml of epi when you should have administered 10.

 

[Overread]

Well it is up now
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1258497#post1258497
Mentor away - and please don't forget to tell me when you have enough students mentors

 

[Alpha]

So...let's talk about how cool the new mentoring system is.

 

[spiffybeth]

i dig it!!! :thumbup:

:mrgreen:

 

[christopher walrath]

Could we get the mods to move this thread to the Beyond the Basics forum and keep it wiht the new mentoring thread? That would be cool.

 

[astrostu]

I can mentor specifically for astrophotography, but not other stuff. Dunno if that'll fit in your schema.

 

[Jedo_03]

Thanks to all who did the work...
Congratulations on the roll-out...
And good luck to all Mentors and Mentees...

Jedo

 

[christopher walrath]

Hey, Jedo. Thank you for all your sage advice. I checked out the mentor link and saved it on my laptop as a Word doc for easy referrence.