One of the assignments was the color red. I caught a shot of a brand new bright red junkyard crane. I was in a position to photograph only once that I saw in a year of watching afterward. It had to be in just the right position in the yard or it was blocked by buildings. In that position you could see it from a park. But only from a spot about 10 feet square. Move right or left and it was again blocked by the buildings. Move forward and it was blocked by a fence. Move back and the trees blocked it. But from that point that one time it was perfect. Except, there were powerlines in front of it. Now today with Photoshop that would be no big deal. Nor would it have been much of a problem having a print retouched, but with an overnight slide?
The lady instructor insisted that I should have taken the shot from another viewpoint. That there was always another viewpoint. That she was absolutely right about everything she said, she was the instructor, after all. Unfortunately she didn't know a heck of a lot about photography. I had the impression that her qualifications were that she had taken the same course a couple of years before.
I have ever since hated uninformed criticism.
Interestingly that is the only formal photography course I have ever taken. I tried to get into a business class for photographers a few years later. The instructor wanted me to turn in my portfolio and contact sheets for evaluation to determine if I could be given such advanced standing. Remembering the other class, I took his idea seriously and asked some of area pros what they thought of him as a photographer, and would they hire graduates from his courses. As a result of that research, I took a couple of general business classes.
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Rob Studdert wrote:
I'm with Frank to a degree, I don't mind constructive criticism however the "after the fact" comments are what put me off competing in photo club salons. I don't know how often these sorts of compositional comments were made as if the photographer had control of the elements or could have put themselves in a better position than they did (for instance where the shots were obviously happened upon and not at all static). Sometimes it just isn't possible to better the composition and if as the photographer you know this then comments telling you how you should have done it are frustrating to say the least.
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
