Addressing the Anonymous Messages
The last few months have been really weird ones for me. In addition to going through one of the longest and hardest slumps of my career thus far, I also started to receive consistent anonymous text messages and emails from "fans". These emails and text messages can be hurtful but lately they have become so frequent I don't even bother thinking about them. Some of the comments I get though are just so uneducated that I really what to address them. Below are some of the frequently said things that have come through in the past month.
"Your work is mediocre at best".
Thank you so much for the unsolicited critique, I really have nothing to say to this one because they didn't even offer up a "critique" of any kind. Just simply an insult with no reasoning.
"Your images are just copies of things other people have done already".
Newsflash...everything has been done before in some way or another. Google an idea and more than likely you can find something pretty similar to your idea. My job is to simply come up with a vision and add my own twist on it. Though I would venture to say that some of my projects had/have little to no inspiration from others and have been purely my ideas.
"You post inspiration photos all the time, don't you get tired of copying other people's work"?
When I post an inspiration photo it means just like it sounds...inspiration. It isn't to copy directly (that would literally be impossible anyway, every photographer has a signature). It is easier in my experience for my creative team, including models, makeup artists and stylists, to have some kind of visual goal or reference for a shoot. Creative people moodboard alot!
"Your work is the kind of stuff I see in New York all of the time, you are not original".
Was this supposed to be an insult?! Thank you. New York fashion is what I am all about and someday I hope to shoot fashion in New York. I also highly doubt you actually are from New York like you said.
Those are a couple of the comments in a nutshell, there have been alot more but I just wanted to address a few. I find that most of the creative people in the fashion industry are very collaborative and helpful. In addition to that I think creative types understand that creativity and inspiration ebbs and flows and just like athletes, we have our on and off games. This last month has taught me alot about myself. I would never say I am or ever have been popular so the fact that people would waste their time writing all of these things and disguising their names is just beyond me. I am a strong self motivated, passionate and driven person and right now I love the work I am putting out (For those that know me that is amazing thing in and of itself) and apparently the models, designers, agencies and companies I am working with/for think I'm doing something right as well.
"Your work is mediocre at best".
Thank you so much for the unsolicited critique, I really have nothing to say to this one because they didn't even offer up a "critique" of any kind. Just simply an insult with no reasoning.
"Your images are just copies of things other people have done already".
Newsflash...everything has been done before in some way or another. Google an idea and more than likely you can find something pretty similar to your idea. My job is to simply come up with a vision and add my own twist on it. Though I would venture to say that some of my projects had/have little to no inspiration from others and have been purely my ideas.
"You post inspiration photos all the time, don't you get tired of copying other people's work"?
When I post an inspiration photo it means just like it sounds...inspiration. It isn't to copy directly (that would literally be impossible anyway, every photographer has a signature). It is easier in my experience for my creative team, including models, makeup artists and stylists, to have some kind of visual goal or reference for a shoot. Creative people moodboard alot!
"Your work is the kind of stuff I see in New York all of the time, you are not original".
Was this supposed to be an insult?! Thank you. New York fashion is what I am all about and someday I hope to shoot fashion in New York. I also highly doubt you actually are from New York like you said.
Those are a couple of the comments in a nutshell, there have been alot more but I just wanted to address a few. I find that most of the creative people in the fashion industry are very collaborative and helpful. In addition to that I think creative types understand that creativity and inspiration ebbs and flows and just like athletes, we have our on and off games. This last month has taught me alot about myself. I would never say I am or ever have been popular so the fact that people would waste their time writing all of these things and disguising their names is just beyond me. I am a strong self motivated, passionate and driven person and right now I love the work I am putting out (For those that know me that is amazing thing in and of itself) and apparently the models, designers, agencies and companies I am working with/for think I'm doing something right as well.
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