Dear friend,

Eventually people will start seeing your photos and start commenting on it. I am sharing my personal experience about the responses I get when I show my work to my friends and colleagues

And in the beginning days, you will find only two types of people

1. People who are already into photography and think they are the Gods of photography
2. Common people who have no idea whatsoever about any concepts in photography

In most cases, people in category 1, will be unwilling to share any information, I mean the tricks of the trade. And if you were expecting big applause from them, you are totally mistaken. Yeah, you would have covered these Gods with praises for their ‘clicks'(photos ) but when they find that you have joined their group, that’s not what they return. Mostly they remain silent or if they speak will give you suggestions which are not at all applicable to you. Any passer by can give you suggestions. But to give you the right suggestion, based on what you really like, take experience, loads and loads of experience. And believe it or not, these so called ‘pro’ ( professionals ) will end up giving you suggestions which might even hamper your creativity.

Now hold on, what I am saying is not to block them completely. They can be good sources of information. They can guide you and tell you what mistakes to overcome and most importantly you get to know what kind of things you need to buy for different kind of photography and the places you get them in your city.

If you are looking for in depth information, and tutorials, please depend on the Internet and friends who really want to help you

 

Now moving on to category 2,

These guys have no idea what they see. They might look at the most beautiful portrait you have ever clicked and wonder why the person’s leg was not visible ? They will have a hard look at the best monochrome/ black and white photograph and suggest that it would look better if it had more color. These guys are everywhere and in most cases these are the people who first see your photographs during the beginning of your career.

I won’t ask you to ignore them, but rather realize the truth that, what you see may not be what your audience see. Make it a point to f0llow the 50-50 rule. What I mean is that, you could have 50 % of your photos clicked for artistic purposes where you try to bring your artistic and technical talent, and 50 % are simple normal photos which look good to the eye of any common person. Keep this in mind and you can be sure that atleast 50 % of your photos will be appreciate by someone in your targeted audience.