Comments on: The problem with trying to please others is that you end up pleasing no one, including yourself.

By: Cole

Cole — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:02:57 +0000

Osselin, then you are blessed, to be able to not care what others think!

By: osselin

osselin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:18:37 +0000

Really true. I shoot for myself. Well, I need no money from photography. I’m an amateur, that is my advantage.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:29:40 +0000

I too find that the images I like best of my own work, are the ones that are least liked by others. I have posted some images to flickr that really didn’t inspire me, but they attracted lots of comments, and yet ones that I was going ga-ga over were lucky to attract one or two comments. Depending on which way you look at it, either I have bad taste or they do!! I now just please myself, and only occasionally do I also please others.

By: Cole

Cole — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:15:56 +0000

Melvi, you are so right. Trying to please others is frought with dangers.

When I was a boy and just starting in photography, that is what I loved about b&w images. They really got me excited and I’d feel a chill when I saw a great b&w image.

By: Melvi

Melvi — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:06:39 +0000

I was googlin on BWs and came across ur site. I am no photographer but I just love the emotions stirred up in me with BW photos. Besides tweaking photographs to suit not our own, the same is true for our lives.. many times we have done so much just to please others.. which otherwise might have been a completely endeavour. “follow ur heart”

By: Cole

Cole — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:56:31 +0000

That makes me feel so good Kim! I’m happy you’re finding your own style and vision and using other people’s lessons in that context.

By: Kim Barton

Kim Barton — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:55:46 +0000

The youtube video is great! Also, I think the things you are teaching are exactly what we need to hear; to learn from others but develop in our own ways, and to please ourselves with our “art” instead of trying to please everyone else. I have been having a wonderful time using what you taught me in Moab about burning and dodging, but remembering to figure out what I want to achieve with it instead of trying to make it look like your style. The dodging and burning tips that you showed us are my favorite thing I’ve learned at the Moab symposium so far.

By: Cole

Cole — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:11:03 +0000

You bring up an entirely new area of discussion Gary, the relationship between our favorites and those that sell. Mine rarely are the same, in fact much of mine that sells are on the bottom of my favorite list!

By: Gary Larsen

Gary Larsen — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:28:37 +0000

I totally agree that trying to pick something for a juried show must depend on your own emotions, not others’. I have a photo called “Beware of Bull” that has been in a gallery rack for months and shown several times in exhibitions. The gallery manager told me this week it sold… finally. He also told me that invariably the people who go through the rack pick it out and comment on it. Why then did it sell this week? Obviously a lot of people were struck by it… but my wife would not say she liked even. BUT I DO!

By: Cole

Cole — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:57:18 +0000

Dianne, you are exactly right. Worrying about others will always leave us feeling uneasy and eventually disappointed.

I used to use friends and family as a jury to decide which images to submit to exhibitions. What I found was that it’s all a crap-shoot because of the juror, so I ought to at least feel good that I chose the images I felt passionate about.