Accepting Constructive Criticism

I read a Bible verse today that struck a chord with me - Proverbs 15: 31-32 (NLT): If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.

Those are powerful verses to me, as I can find myself avoiding criticism. I’m often my own worst critic and when other opinions tell me how I can do something better, there are times I may feel defensive. With that said - we need to be mindful of constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Are those who are offering feedback trying to help us or are they trying to bring us down?

While it’s easy to protect yourself and disregard feedback, you’re only limiting yourself from valuable insight. No one is perfect – once we understand that, then we’re free to stop looking like perfectionists. There’s no reason to need to look perfect; those who are growing and developing do so because they choose learn from their mistakes rather than try to cover them up.

I’m by no means a perfect photographer – I ask the opinion of my photographs to a specific person, my wife’s brother. He understands the technical aspects of photography well, he’s read many magazines related to photography and related technology, and he’s good at giving an unbiased opinion. I trust his opinion because he knows what he’s talking about and he doesn’t feel the need to flatter me.

I choose to not ask for feedback in “professional photographer” communities. I feel that these communities are often competitive and the feedback may come in a somewhat condescending tone, as I’ve experienced. No one wants to look like an amateur in those communities so it can get pretentious quick with the kind of feedback received. It feels more like a flaunting of knowledge, real or perceived, of photographers who want to look reputable. This is not always the case, as I’m sure there are many well-meaning photographers within those communities, but it’s becomes harder to filter whose opinion you should listen to and who you should avoid.

Be careful in choosing who you listen to for feedback. Find someone or a community you trust. While it’s great to get the opinion from friends and family, they are more likely to give you only positive feedback, when you need to get well-rounded feedback – including the negative things. Feedback will help you hone your skills and see issues that you didn’t notice before. There’s no need to be ashamed of accepting feedback – through the mistakes we grow and develop~