Some comments are more welcome than others
I should never be surprised by the comments that my work elicits but every now and then I am struck dumb.
This book, published through Blurb, is one in a series I have been compiling to collect together photo-essays/records of life in this small area of Gloucestershire. Being as it is a quiet backwater.
I obtained permission to photograph the whole operation from start to finish and was/am very pleased with the result. Feeling I had not only caught the atmosphere of such events but told a story of how extraordinary this one is.
Flush with my self praise I present a copy to the organisers to show my work and appreciation and wait for a response. Non is forthcoming after four weeks so I chase up the contact at the estate office and ask for the book to be returned. Whilst in conversation I enquire of any opinion voiced about the finished product to be told that the squire and his wife were 'disappointed'.
I ask you what is there to be disappointed about. Not only did they not pay or contribute other than permission. The project was not for them but me.
Perhaps I expect to much but from well educated landed gentry politeness would be the minimum.
Thanks all the same.
Do have a look and post your own thoughts. I am anxious that I have not missed a vital point of communication here.
Artist Social Networks
Anyone who has ever joined one of these will know that they seldom achieve the level of informed contact they expect. Those of the community who follow close enough and dare to offer comment on posted work do so with such single sentence thinking and mono sylibal elequence as to make 99% worthless. I know the established thinking is 'its the work dummy, the work' but when you have given up your treasures for peer reveiw and all you receive is 'I really like/love/adore or think (this) is cool' there are an enormous number of wasted hours wasted infront of a screen that should be used creating.
posted by Terry Cripps at
04:56
1 Comments:
Terry, don't fret. It sounds like a typical case of different agendas. Yes, rudeness is everywhere. But my guess is the Landed Gentry see it as "their" Fair, not yours. And they have a certain idea of the quaint, country atmosphere that your grittier, more engaged approach doesn't align with.
My suggestion? Forget it. There are lots and lots and lots of "tribes" out there and they don't all have to be yours. Your work does speak for itself, and if those people can't hear what it's saying, it's their deafness, not your work, that's the problem.
Was the project satisfying? Hell, yes.
Do a lot of people appreciate it? Obviously.
So why not let those folks have their Hallmark Card visions and let the rest of us have yours? You'll be happier, they'll be happier, and the work will be its usual excellent self.
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