Mentoring system suggestion

[Overread15 3]

My only problem with PMs is that no one else on the forum will learn from it. I learn a lot reading the threads that people start asking for help. The assistance you are offering through a PM may infact help me as well.

That is an important point casper and one I overlooked!
I think it would be easy to say to mentors and students that as and where possible you should try to keep forum side acitve - that is to say if a student needs input or advise about a photo that they post it up - this way others can still benefit from the system

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

I'd like to do both, if possible. If anyone *wants* me for a mentor (thinks I'm qualified), I'd be happy to!

I'd LOVE to have a mentor.

 

[Alpha]

I sent this to Overread via PM. I'm gonna post it here just to see how people react, and whether there are other things anyone thinks I ought to include.

Style
I consider photography to be a sort of metaphysical taxidermy. I shoot anything and everything but have a preference for people. I learned most of what I know about portraits from a North Carolina photographer named Caroline Vaughan, of which I am one of her multi-year subjects. She studied under Imogen Cunningham and Minor White. I move carelessly between portraits, abstracts, landscape, beauty and fashion. I have a general distaste for campy bull****: senior portraits at odd angles, boring family portraits in the local park, faux editorial fashion shots of the latest internet model wearing a jean skirt in your nearest alley. I am a law maker and a law breaker. I loathe the cliche: old barns, cars, and picket fences, back-yard flowers, sunsets and sunrises, arbitrary homeless people. I care about the making and the made. Like Cummings, I am fond of that precision which creates movement. I care about people when they are at most themselves. I care about narratives and slices of time; about binding them to acid-free matte and museum glass. I care about beautiful people in Valentino dresses and Canali suits. Naked people are beautiful. Gibran wrote that modesty is a shield against the eyes of the unclean.

Biography/Status
22 years old. Self-taught. Member of PPA's worthless Student Photographic Society.

Equipment/Workflow
I shoot any and all film in 35mm, 645, 6x9, and 4x5. I've shot a little digital MF. I do not own a dSLR. I shoot in the studio with Broncolor strobes and on location with Sunpak gun flashes. I've taught digital editing at my university. I can post-process with the best.

What I Can Help With
Shooting technique and theory. Darkroom developing and printing. Digital post-processing and printing. Lighting. Sweeping women off their feet. Cooking. Wine.

What I Can't Help With
Technical details of your dSLR. Multiple personalities. Terminal illnesses.

Student I'm Looking For
Anyone who cares about their art and their craft. Someone who aims for perfection. Someone who cares more about the print than the image on the screen. I have no preference for digital versus film shooters.

 

[Overread15 3]

I'd like to do both, if possible. If anyone *wants* me for a mentor (thinks I'm qualified), I'd be happy to!

I'd LOVE to have a mentor.

teachers teaching the teachers - well nothing wrong in that!
If you want in just hand me a bio

 

[christopher walrath]

A lot more than I put into my bio, Alpha. But that is definitely going to allow a student to make an informed decision as to whether they would want to ask you for mentoring. I like the direction this is taking.

 

[Village Idiot]

Oh what the hell. If there's any hot girls in the DC/Baltimore region that wouldn't mind having me make them cry with my mean spirited humor and harsh criticism, I'd be willing to check you out, in the mentoring type of way.

 

[jack lumber]

I think this is a brilly idea, and my hats off to all those willing to menter.
Lets not complicate the issue with all the "what ifs", lets just do it and work the kinks out as we go along. One member on here has taken me under his wing, and I have learned loads. I am very much a tactile learner, so if anyone in the Calgary area would be willing to help me along I would be delighted to hear from them. (lunch,s on me)

 

[christopher walrath]

Now that's the spirit.

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

I have had someone contact me to be their mentor, yay!!

Now , if someone would volunteer to be mine...
What I'm looking for:
someone specialized in portraiture
perfectionist
detail oriented

Would appreciate it!

 

[Jedo_03]

EDIT: I would like to implore anyone reading this thread that might be willing to impart some wisdom on an up and learning photographer to please take part in this soon-to-be program. As mentioned above, the more mentors we have, the wider base of knowledge demands we can meet and the better this program will be. There has already been an overwhelming interest shown by prospective students and we will need all of the mentors we can get.

I have no problem with mentoring...
I do it almost daily in a professional capacity in the health industry, giving clinical advice and leadership and support... etc... And I am QUALIFIED to do this - a SENIOR CLINICIAN with mumble-mumble years of clinical experience in my profession... Furthermore, my interaction with mentees has far-reaching consequences for both the mentee AND (in my case) the patients...
The notion that ANYONE can be a mentor is not only mistaken - but also seriously misguided. Have you thought of the consequences...???
In this thread I see people putting themselves forward (and urgings for people to put themselves forward - as above) as mentors - without regard to either their QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, or their own ACHIEVEMENTS in photography...
I see people submitting themselves as a prospective MENTOR with serious flaws in their own photographic techniques...
IMHO - MENTORS need to be experts in their field before they are capable of advising others...
NOT - who WANTS to be a mentor..?
BUT - who is CAPABLE of being a mentor..?
see here: http://www.apesma.asn.au/mentorsonline/participate/mentor_tutorial.asp
caveat: continue at your peril...
Jedo

 

[Helen B]

I agree with Jedo. It's easy for experienced people to hold the compass and detect inexperience, but may be not so easy for a beginner. I'm not sure that it is any of my business, however.

If the person who wants a mentor is willing to put some effort into finding a good, appropriate one, they are most likely to be rewarded with success even in the absence of a mentoring program.

Best,
Helen

 

[JerryPH]

I think one of the most important things to do early in the relationship is clearly define expectations, goals and a rough time-line. This should be clear to both sides.

Someone may choose to mentor a person for a short period of time or attain specific goals and then move on to help someone else.

Likely these points (besides the point of a person searching for a mentor to choose someone that will guide them in things that THEY are looking for) are the most important of all.

 

[Overread15 3]

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

 

[christopher walrath]

All things that I would have considered. However I had not placed them into active thought and I appreciate the preceding comments greatly. Jedo, great link, I will go over it and plan out how I will take this role on in a case by case basis. I appreciate it.

I agree that the mentor must truly take seriously what they are about to embark on because, not only can they do great benefit by leading a photographer further along the road of technical proficience and creativity, but the wrong word can also lead to self doubt and inactivity. This is not to engender double guessing every stroke of the keyboard or lash of the tongue, but it should put us all in a proper frame of mind.

Thank you and I hope that I can do someone here good.

 

[christopher walrath]

Where will the official mentoring thread be placed?