How nice it is to be appreciated by others!

We all, from time to time, need to hear nice things said about us by other folk. Its even nicer when it's from someone we haven't even met! Now, you may be wondering where this is leading, but don't worry, I will explain.

Now, if you have followed my blog in the past you will have picked up that I am a keen photographer. You might even recall that I had my first camera aged just 8 and that my first 'proper' camera was a Halina Paulette Electric and it was birthday present for my 10th birthday. So, it follows that I have been at it (photography that is) for more five decades (I am now 60 - the new 40 folk keep telling me!). Taking that into account, it won't come as a huge surprise to you that I have built up quite a collection of images (at last count it was over 20,000 images!) though many of them will range from the mediocre to the downright rubbish! Yes, I know its a sad fact that I have been bad at keeping my images in some sort of order. I really do need to do some housecleaning as far as my images are concerned.

In fact, as I am practically retired I have much more time on my hands to spend sorting out my image library. However, as you might have guessed, more time means more time to take more pictures! So I am constantly adding to my library and I am probably fighting a losing battle as regards doing some editing and pruning of my library.

Well, now I have got that out the way, let us get down to 'brass tacks' as we say in England. This article is about being appreciated by others and in particular, folk saying nice things about my photography. So, let us get started.

I recently came across LensCulture which is an online photography community. Now there are many online photography communities online and I am a member of quite a few, such as Redbubble, Viewbug and Photo4me. However, LensCulture is a little different. How is different you ask? Well, I would say it's biggest difference from the others is that it is linked into other organisations such as galleries, publishers, schools, agencies, media, festivals, critics, curators, collectors, editors, students — anyone and everyone involved in contemporary photography. By the way, that last bit is a quote from their site.

I am not saying you should not bother with any other communities, far from it. However, I would say that if you are at all serious about your photography, you need to be a part of the LensCulture community. Most definitely and no this is not a sponsored promotion or an affiliate promotion. Nope, I am just convinced that your photography will benefit in so many ways you will wonder how you ever got along without knowing of their existence.

For example, there is the excellent inspiration you will get from other photographers' work that is shown on the site. Just check out the Editor's Pick in the screenshot below.

As well as finding inspiration for your own photography, there are competitions, blog posts (magazine) and portfolio reviews. Yes, you can have your portfolio reviewed by experts. This is what I did recently. I entered a competition and although there was an entry fee, it was a very modest one. If you entered a set of five images you got a free professional review of your entry images. 

I have to say, I was rather nervous about the whole process. It had been many years since someone other than family or friends had 'reviewed' my work and so I was worried that the reviewer would say (however kindly) that sorry, but your work is just average, don't give up the day job!

I guess, if you have managed to read this far you will want to know what the reviewer said. Well, I will share a few quotes and then at the end of this post I will share a link to said review. here is a screenshot of the review page:

So, what comments did the reviewer make? Well, here is one for openers:

There are some gems in this selection and not only in terms of the technique and quality.

That gave me a warm glow inside right from the start! They went on to make more in-depth comments on each image in my submission, such as:

I see a lot of great contrast and attention to detail, on the technical side I do not see anything lacking Steven, in fact you have some images that are technically outstanding.
You also ask if your work creates any impact, it does, some images I can see again and again they are so compelling.

Now I was really feeling encouraged and relieved that my submission hadn't been made whilst deluding myself as to my ability.

I won't quote the whole review but if you interested, you can read the review in full here. It will give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to submit work for review.

Finally, to finish off, you can also submit a larger body of work from review, with the possibility of being chosen for an exhibition in New York, as well as online exhibition that has a global audience of 2.5 million. In addition, all participants will be able to market and sell their prints with the help of our partners: OpenStudios, an online platform that helps you market your work and connect with buyers online, and PICTO, a leading photo lab based New York and Paris. There is a cost to this, but again it is a modest one.

The deadline has just passed for this year (apologies but I only realised this even existed the other day and had to rush to get my own submission in) but there may well be similar opportunities through the year, probably as part of another competition like the Street Photography one I entered.

So, if you want some encouragement and some unbiased review of your work, why not sign up with LensCulture, get inspired and get entering future competitions.