Desperate to move forward! CC if you will!

[Aayria]

Sorry, I inferred that in this thread you wanted feedback on how to move forward. If I would have known that all you wanted was a pat on the back for how far you have come, I wouldn't have replied to this thread. Just keep doing what you are doing, but don't whine about not being able to move beyond the results you are currently getting. After all, they are good enough.

Yay, drama! There are plenty of ways to get pats on the back...Last I checked, posting pictures for people to rip apart and admitting your faults looking for ways to overcome them was not one of them.

It isn't drama. I point out what you need to do to move to the next level. You say you are already doing it. My point is that you aren't doing it well enough and if you think you are, your standards aren't high enough to move to the next level.

Just about everybody in this thread has pointed out your lack of attention to detail when framing your subject leading to amputated body parts. Your response:

Also..if you think I don't pay any attention to framing/posing/backgrounds etc...then you're wrong. I worked very hard on every aspect of these shots including trying a new style of editing.

This conversation is going in circles. Good luck to you.

Do you ever work very hard on something and still not get it right? There's a pretty large difference between not trying or caring, versus trying and still missing it.

You're welcome to point out mistakes in these, or things that could have been done better. Heck, you can even tell me they suck and I'm a terrible photographer. But your constant insistence that my plateau is because I don't care or because I think I'm already great, want pats on the back, or have settled are completely off base.

 

[levinest]

IMHO I like this better than the original. It puts the focus on the people and takes a bit off of the fence.

BTW, while I think criticism is a good thing, at the same time @kerbouchard at this point you're just being a jerk. You've lost your way at some point. Telling her she's reached a plateau, that's great if you've been watching her progress for a long time. I haven't, so I cannot say one way or the other. Telling her she's not trying and basically saying if she can't see that and won't reach for higher professional standards then why bother, what exactly are you doing? There are all kinds of teachers in this world. The ones with the most successful students are those that give reasons and ways to strive to be better. Knocking someone down is easy. Any bully can do that, especially in a relatively anonymous forum. People here are putting their hearts on the line, looking for criticism but with encouragement and advice, not for the sheer sport of being criticized. Please do criticize, it's the only way people can grow, but find a way to do it without the attitude and "do what I say or don't bother".

 

[pgriz]

Well, I'm not going to argue with either Ashley, who in my opinion, has shown tremendous progress or Kerbouchard, whose advice has been very good and to the point in this and many other threads. Sometimes, it pays to walk away from something you've been working on because one has become overly familiar with the territory, so to speak, and if mistakes are being made, then they are being made unconsciously. Plateaus also happen when there is a flaw (in technique, in approach, in viewpoint) which essentially blocks further improvement. Until that flaw or block is uncovered, and then removed, it will continue to stigmy the progress. Kerbouchard, I don't think Ashley is "not caring" or her "standards aren't high enough", as much as she is having difficulty identifying what she is doing wrong. We all get mental blocks as we progress in learning whatever discipline we engage in. When one has such a mental block, it is very, very difficult to see it when you're the one experiencing it. In the athletic world, a coach will often see something that the player or athlete cannot see, and will change the approach enough to either make the "block" visible to the athlete, or to approach it from a different angle when the same routine actions aren't repeated. Ashley, I think when you are either plateaued or blocked, it may be best to switch to a different area for a while (get you out of the mental rut, so to speak), and when you come back to this area, you may be able to see better what the problem was. It ain't easy, and it really helps if you have a coach or a mentor watching you. The internet, despite its many benefits, is a poor source of this kind of insight.