One thing not stated is the very curious phenomenon of ego and its relationship to experience:
- a newbie thinks everything he/she produces is wonderful and will be loved as much by others as they do. When someone disagrees, it can be crushing. Occasionally flame wars are the result. It is almost as if someone is attacking "your baby"
- a season pro learns that love/talent does not equal acceptance and knows that there is no guarantee that his/her art will be "accepted" a priori (no matter how much time and effort go into it) -- so the really good ones get over it and produce art anyway regardless of whether or not it will be accepted. IMHO, this is a critical difference and is what makes a pro a pro.
You will find this behavior in all the arts. Movies are the classic example: hundreds of interviews of movie directors and actors over the years have been asked the same thing over and over again: "Did you know you were working on a blockbuster?" And the inevitable answer is "no -- we hadn't a clue". This always amazes me! You simply can't tell if the public is going to like you work or not. Seasoned pros realize that much of their work will be consider "stinkers". No matter, they go on to the next project. In the end, you should produce art for yourself and nobody else. If success comes, then it is all that more sweeter.
As such, I find that generally pros take criticism better than newbies (at least the mature ones do!). There is no getting around it. It is something you need to "learn" and only experience with criticism will temper it. The lesson is clear: ask for criticism! The more you get, the tougher you'll get (and the sooner you'll get over caring about it).
J Michael Sullivan
Editor/Publisher, MAGNAchrom
www.magnachrom.com
MAGNAchrom -- The Alternative Journal of Medium and Large Format Photography
