I am not aiming my comments at any person in particular who has posted in the thread. If anybody sees any resemblance to anybody here on TPF or on any of the other internet photo sites, well that is your interpretation, not mine.
Sure, folks can be as brutal or harsh as they want with mine, edit them, call me both a fascist and a communist at the same time, I don't care.
While I don't generally request C&C (as in I have NEVER requested it), if somebody wants to make it, that's fine... there is just absolutely zero chance that I will even listen to anybody who's work I haven't seen a bunch of and who isn't demonstrably better than I am.
People like SwitchFX (or however he spells his name, I know that is wrong), Alex B, Chiller, Jeff Canes (just to name a few), those folks I will pay attention to because I have seen at least a small percentage of their body of work and it is excellent... people who just post critiques without showing their own stuff? Not a chance.
Just because somebody can sound smart on the internet doesn't mean they can take good pictures, and if a person can't demonstrate that he or she takes good pictures, why on earth would anybody listen to them.
Me, I make absolutely no claim whatever that I take good pictures. Many if not most of mine are weak-to-bad. That's why I don't ever offer C&C myself... until I get my act together and get a LOT better at both the art and craft of photography, who am I to say anything about what others are doing... about the only thing I ever do is offer a bit of encouragement for folks who are trying.
I am glad to help folks understand technical questions within the limits of my ability (exposure, focus, how a particular camera feature works, etc.) and can offer my own experiences on the quality of equipment that I have owned or used.
Folks have to understand, this is the internet, and part of understanding that is that there are both artists and wannabes galore... people who have zero technical skills that still produce amazing pictures, and people who can quote every lens ratio of every Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Minolta, Sigma, Tamron and Tokina lenses... and couldn't take an interesting picture to save their lives. Many of these folks would rather shoot test charts than something actually interesting...
So I say when looking at internet C&C, consider the source of who is giving it. Is this person an artist or craftsman who's work you see in front of you every day, or is it some snarky person with a huge vocabulary and a large amount of book learning (or at least who knows how to Google well) who you have never seen pictures from?
If a person who posts C&C has "it" then he or she needs to show that on a regular basis to be taken seriously... at least by me.
For those of you who DO post your amazing stuff on a regular basis, I humbly say "I am not worthy" because I learn so much by your IMAGES and your words.
