Don’t tell me what you think about my work, my website, my approach – I like it and that’s what matters.
How often have we heard this – or an abridged version – from photographers, creatives or anyone who opens themselves up in some way via a public platform? Actually, not even just via a public platform; perhaps simply in the course of a conversation with a friend or colleague?
It’s a funny thing, the way we are naturally so guarded, so precious about our work. If more people would only just relax and realise the benefits of opening themselves up to constructive feedback, perhaps they would find themselves in a far stronger position – both in their minds and in the development of their careers and their businesses.
I’m currently going through a couple of transitions with my work and the way I show it. Nothing dramatic, you understand, but enough that there is a certain degree of ‘dropping the ego’ required, as it were, in order to get where I want to be.
I’m very fortunate to have the support of a number of particular individuals who not only know what they’re talking about, but who know they can speak honestly and frankly with me, without fear of being shouted at.
A good friend and fellow photographer sat down with me recently, to review the images that featured on the Giles Babbidge Photography website.
Now, by my own admission, the site in its previous form was not perfect, nor was the image selection (in my mind, at least – it was long overdue an update, to reflect what I am now capable of producing). Okay, so some of the pictures were ‘better’ than others (whatever that means) and of course it’s a subjective thing, but I think that as a creator of work, you just know when the equilibrium is right or wrong – and it’s especially easy to get a gut feeling that the balance just isn’t quite right.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been re-evaluating the whole of my website, making small changes which I hope will make a big difference.
My starting point was to immediately cut out the pictures I no longer felt were strong enough to be shown as a good representation of my work (this left me with about 25 photographs in total – yikes!). Friends and loved ones would no doubt say “oh, but that’s a lovely picture”, and I appreciate where they’re coming from, but these were the pictures that fell into the category of ‘isn’t quite right’. Do I miss them? Nope.
The remaining pictures were then put into one single gallery, which my friend cast his considered eye over. Out of these, his honest feeling was that only about 6 or 8 were what I should be including in the final edit. Was I angry, disappointed, bewildered? Nope. Far from it.
In my mind, if I was to go with that selection alone, I essentially had 6 or 8 great images which would really jump off the screen, doing me far more justice than if they were, frankly, watered down by association with the others.
I may not have agreed with each of my friend’s disqualifications, but the point is I took a much more honest and liberating approach to reaching the end goal which I set for myself.
To round things off, the final stage involved adding some new work into the mix, creating a potential gallery of 65 pictures. I thought this was too much, so Inny and I sat down to perform a second cull and place some of the images on the Home page by way of introduction.
Take a look for yourself… Here’s the revamped GBP Website, complete with new image selection. I’d love to hear what you think.
Strange, I only looked at the old photos at the beginning of the week, and it does feel a lot stronger. Personally, I am not a big fan of the horse photos, they do not capture for the movement and grace that make them incredible animals. Stand out additions however include the ramshackle caravan, and the vista of the beach with the white SW coastal cliffs in the background.
Thanks for the comment, Gareth – and I’m glad you agree that the new set of images is stronger than the last!
You make a good point about the horse pictures. I agree that those particular images, being that they are not full-on ‘action’ shots, do not necessarily capture the grace and movement of the animals per se – for that I would need to show racing shots or similar, presenting the beasts running at full gallop. Those displayed were originally commissioned as illustrative work, which by its nature can often be quite far removed from this.
Keep an eye out for the ramshackle caravan – if all goes to plan, it’ll be featured in an upcoming set of work, which I’ll be sharing via the blog ;)
Hello Giles, I really know how you feel sorting out your website, I spent 2 weeks going through my images for the home page and portfolio.
My biggest issue was coming up with a description for my images and about me! So I`ve given up for now and deleted that page, better to say nothing that something crap.
Did you not want to put the portfolio images into categories? You had that before did`nt you, did`nt work for you?
See you at the Goodwood Revival next month.
You’ve hit the nail on the head, Tim – it can often be very difficult to add a description to an image or batch of images. Sometimes it’s subjective, other times it’s a matter of greay area because a picture doesn’t quite fit in somehow.
I did have categories before, yes, but they didn’t really work for me. I decided to do away with them partly for the above reasons and partly because I wanted to adopt a different format. I think it works much better for me now, and has certainly been well received.
Looking forward to Goodwood – fingers crossed we can get together for that overdue coffee! :)