There are various points I will respond to, what do you think of this review? Be honest please.
Dear Keith Goldstein,
Thanks so much for sharing your images with us at LensCulture.
Your photographs share an engaged sense of interactions between people and their environments. They are intuitive and read as having been produced by someone who is deeply connected and engaged to these places.
Your photography provides an incredible amount of human connection. It reads very clearly in the imagery, and a viewer is transported to these places that they otherwise might not have access too. It’s really great to see that you are pushing yourself to take frames that are rich and make incredibly good use of color. This precision really helps add to the engagement of these images as well as stimulates the use of space in relationship to the subjects. You allow everything a lot of natural light, which is lovely. These images have a wonderful amount of personality and capture something that would easily go missed or overlooked. It would be nice moving forward to shoot images with a little more focus or formulated plan. There seems to be a lot of the same thing here without a specific direction. Thinking about how or why you focus on these people and places you photograph will help push how you can think in the future when making images. I understand what these people do and what they may mean to you as the photographer but I would love a little more connection to them intimately. I don’t feel a strong connection to them as a viewer and the details of their lives and who they are. Seeing more of that will really launch the narrative here.
Having some sort of statement and thoughts for images like these is an incredibly powerful ally. Sorting out your feelings and giving some thought to how you’re interested in capturing the world is really important to help you as the photographer sort through what you’re looking for when making photography. These photographs have a lot of relatability and providing some more words to the work directly will give the frames value and vulnerability. What scares you about making these images? What posses you to go and find them? Why do you connect to these things you’re shooting?
I definitely think the images speak to one another but I would be careful with how you’re selecting images to show. In this case 10-12 really good images will let editors, curators, gallerists, etc. know that you respect their time and give them just enough to want more. You really have a rich sense of light and understand how to compose subjects in a busy environment. Keep in mind which images you are showing and how they are working together, they need to support each other in a cohesive way. Be careful of frames that start looking the same, for example images 1, 3, 4, 8, & 9. Being able to recognize when to make cuts to images that are structurally similar will leave you with space to show more frames that will add to the narrative you are trying to tell.
Thanks so much again for submitting your work.
I don’t quite know what to make of this review, Keith. They compliment you on your use of natural light (which is lovely),they think the images speak to one another, but then they warn you to be careful with how you are selecting the images.
What scares you about these images? Would it be better to capture your subjects looking directly at you? I know you take these photos on the fly, and that is something I so envy about your photography. Would that make these more relatable? Would their eyes tell a story? Show their fears? Show my fears?
I was glad to see their compliment to you on composing your subjects in a busy environment, because I think you do a great job with that. If your photos supported each other in a cohesive way, would they become repetitious?
I know I have a lot of questions, but this review made me wonder just what exactly it is they want you to do. I am biased because you do what I don’t–take human interest to new levels. I so admire that in your photographs, Keith. Don’t know if this helps, but I think you are a wonderful photographer.
Thanks Lois! I always feel bewildered with LensCulture. I do these things every so often just to get my work out, but I know I will never be a finalist with them.
These guys again? I read the comments twice. The reviewer wrote him/herself in to circle. If it were me, I’d remove 7 which really interrupts the flow. As far as engagement goes, we all see things through our own history.
Very true. Thanks Ray. I have trouble with LensCulture. Always ambivalent about doing this…
I think what you’re hearing here is the thing I run into whenever I have to curate a selection of images for submission. Reviewers like something they can easily hang their hat on, a quick way to characterize your work, to recognize a style. The reviewer seems to have twisted them self into a pretzel appreciating the quality of your work while still craving an easier time putting a label on the images as a coherent set.
“There seems to be a lot of the same thing here without a specific direction . . . I don’t feel a strong connection to them as a viewer and the details of their lives and who they are.”
Huh? What do you think they mean by this? Especially the first sentence. Are they not looking at a body of your work? If you were to respond, what would you say about having a direction?
The second sentence is a little clearer in that it tells me that they see your pictures as not much more than snapshots. I think another faction said something similar to you before. They basically said that your shots of people looking up were no big deal. They didn’t make people connect.
So, what’s your own perspective? Do you feel connected to the people of NYC that you shoot, and what they do? From my observation of this specific ongoing project, I GET IT! Perhaps it’s because, as I’ve said in the past, that this SP project reminds me a lot of my own on the city of Hamilton.
It’s impressive that they give you feedback, as it’s my experience with rejection letters for gallery exhibition submissions that most factions you submit too don’t give you any tips, but they still don’t clearly convey what they need in order to feel connected to your imagery, and the subjects in them. I am, nevertheless, going to mull their statements to you over for myself in hopes that I can make my own imagery impact others more.
That fourth paragraph makes some sense. For my largest SP project, I actually wrote out a project outline which helps, at least me if not others, understand and stay true to my objectives of showing the guts of the featured community, its cultures and subcultures. Over a period of time, some realizations manifested organically, and I also wrote them out as recurring themes within the overall project. That helps me to recognize the coherency between certain pictures within the overall project.
As I work my city over, categorizing mainly by neighbourhood, you’ve similarly grouped your shots by districts, streets and neighbourhoods. Maybe you need to write briefly on the coherency of images based on these regions within NYC. What differentiates or correlates the goings on of one street from another?
I do understand the fifth paragraph. You probably already know this but generally, a series of visual art works (which I’m one to always argue that SP is art, not truly documentary, and definitely not photojournalism) consists of 8 to 12 pieces. Yes, a series can be less or much more but generally 8 to 12 is the way to go. My main SP project currently contains a few hundred images (many I have yet to publish) but from them I can create many different series based on themes, neighbourhoods or just subject matter.
I agree with Lois in that they’re somewhat ambiguous in their explanation. I very much agree with Adam in that they want to be able to sift through a large number of submissions in the easiest and shortest time possible. That’s what you’re up against.
I appreciate your view very Allen. I feel somewhat perplexed by their review. I am my own worst editor when it comes to these things. I can make a coherent selection, but maybe I am not doing my best for myself, considering that this is what I do for others to make a living! I don’t know why this reviewer doesn’t feel “connected”. It’s not the reaction I get from others that view my work. When I was in grad school, people always told me my work was too emotional. I thought a good thing, they did not. Then what is the function of making images if not to make one feel or think?
I think it was written by a machine. Sorry.
I love your answer Alexander!