Feedback

Good Day. So for the first blogpost here at PhotoFugue let's talk about sex...no not really but now that I have your attention, let's talk about feedback. When I mentioned the word sex I would imagine that you, the reader, would have a visceral response based on your belief system...good, bad, interested, taboo, some sort of response was garnered to the sight of the word. To an artist, that immediate, visceral response to the work that is produced out of the heart and veins and their very soul is the lifeblood that sustains. Money is awesome don't get me wrong, notoriety, fame, exclusivity, oh yeah those are all the things we chase after and desire, but the nucleus of our passion is fueled by feedback from those that take witness to what we render. As a photographer, I often say if I didn't self-feed my ego, I would starve...ok maybe it isn't THAT bad, but we all ache to have that atta boy(girl), to be sought after, to be liked, shared, recommended. Social media has impacted this theory in a huge way. We base our success or failure on views and algorithms and on thumbs and hearts. How many of you have posted something really epic on your Facebook or Instagram Account expecting tons of likes or emojis...to have it go completely and utterly without acknowledgement. Kinda disheartening huh? Now imagine that those likes and emojis are what you pay your bills with, or at the very least, they are a means for further exposure to clients that provide you with that money to pay your bills with. Hmmmm, never thought about it like that right? Conversely, as a poetess, the silence and the lack of comprehension of the words that drip out of my pores cause my words to flow forth with more emotion, rawness. So why does one fire of my art need stoking while the other fans it's own flames? I think it is because the photographer side needs a subject, no matter if it is human, landscape, even self portrait, they all require a recordable facade. How much of the photography is influenced by and reflected from my own psyche, my own fugue state if you will...how much of what's in front of my lens actually portrays myself in the end product? When I take a photo and have a mentor or someone's whose opinion I greatly value make the statement "I knew that was your work as soon as I laid eyes on it" or I can recognize your work anywhere" is that a good thing? Is that belying just how much of myself is ingrained in my works? Does it make the rendering more easily relatable or does it shut off a portion of the viewer populace? In my poetry I can't help but think I really don't give a rat's behind if a piece is well received or not. I flow and if the audience gets it fabulous, if they don't then its easy to say its above their mindset, its not relatable to this culture, this area, these folks just can't grasp it. When one half of your soul is a self fertilizing tree and the other half isn't...well what then...they are not congruous they are not compatible. Will one half overtake the other if it wilts and dies? Will they grow straight and strong together the roots of the one sufficient to sustain the other. When you give an artist feedback, you nurture them giving them courage and strength to build upon any cracks in their weakened foundation. When it is critical but heartfelt, it teaches them to be free to adapt and grow into their strengths. When feedback is positive, it has the power to enhance the creative process, to encourage to press further into self expression. Being an artist is a lonely place of reflection, of feeling the process, and birthing the result into existence. Have you fed your artist today???