Organise a Feedback Session

Wednesday 28 March 2018, 10:40 by Ramon Snellink | 5,974 views | 3 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Do you know that feeling when you're stuck with your photography and don't know how to improve? I get that too! A few years ago, I discovered how much you can learn from receiving feedback on your work.

But receiving feedback is also one of the hardest things as a photographer. You've put all your time and love into your photos, and they really are your babies.

Recently, we held a feedback session with fellow photographer Evert Doorn. During this session, we discussed an entire wedding shoot and Evert pointed out areas for improvement. At the next wedding, we were able to put these points into practice straight away, which was really useful!

With the video below (in English), I try to convince you why you should organise a feedback session too. To help you, I've included a few tips to make sure the session runs as smoothly as possible.

In summary

Don't invite too many people
Because feedback can be quite sensitive, it works best when there aren't too many people present. This way, everyone can feel safe and give and receive honest feedback.

Explain beforehand, then keep quiet
Okay, this may sound a bit harsh.. The point is that when you receive criticism, you shouldn't keep saying 'Yes, but..' to make excuses for your mistake. It's very demotivating for the person giving feedback if you don't value their feedback. This definitely comes at the expense of the flow of the session.

So what I suggest is that you explain the circumstances before receiving feedback, for example: 'The light was absolutely awful!', but don't make up any more excuses afterwards.

Don't give unsolicited feedback
You'll often see things from fellow photographers and think 'this or that could really be done differently!'. I recommend that you don't tell that person straight away. If someone isn't open to feedback, it is more likely to cause resentment than to make them actually do something with it.

It is much better to organise a feedback session. That way, you know for sure that the person is open to feedback!

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About the author

Ramon Snellink fotografeert samen met zijn vrouw Hermine onder de naam Mon et Mine Bruidsfotografie. Sinds kort publiceren ze informatieve video's over fotografie op hun Youtube-kanaal (Engels).

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3 comments

martinphili wrote on Wednesday 28 March 2018 at 19:18 | reply
Het lijkt een fotografentrekje te zijn om te pas maar vooral te onpas kritieken te geven op andermans foto's. Een hele nare eigenschap. Ook bestaat de kritiek vaak uit hoe de criticaster zelf de foto gemaakt zou hebben. En ik wil helemaal geen foto's maken zoals een ander dat gedaan zou hebben!
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

rcsnellink wrote on Thursday 29 March 2018 at 09:18 | reply
@Martin: Ja dat is heel vervelend. Ik kan zelf ook niet zoveel met ongevraagde feedback. Maar feedback van een collega die op eenzelfde "golflengte" zit qua fotografie en je stijl van fotografie snapt is wel heel leerzaam.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Ineke wrote on Thursday 29 March 2018 at 10:11 | reply
Een ander heel naar trekje is dat sommigen stelselmatig het fenomeen “fotograaf” negatief afschilderen terwijl ze zelf ook tot die groep behoren.
En diezelfde lieden hebben vaak een nogal hoge dunk van de uniciteit van hun eigen werk. Waarmee ze feitelijk geen haar beter zijn dan de door hen zo verafschuwde “fotografen”.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

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