gloria baker feinstein's blog: last day in santa fe

Sunday, June 03, 2012

last day in santa fe

One of the most honest crits I received on day one was from a fellow photographer. He recommended some edits to my Uganda portfolio and did so in a constructive, positive, but no BS kind of way. When I woke up on day two, I was beginning to feel a little braver about possibly showing the Estate Sale portraits and decided to ask my new friend for a truthful appraisal of them. He loved the work.

(I needed that boost of confidence.)

So I put it in my back pocket and set about showing two bodies of work to the reviewers yesterday.

I think I feared the Estate Sale pictures were too personal. I also worried about the fact that they were shot with my iPhone.

To a person, the reviewers thought the work was funny, poignant, fresh and beautiful. I was bowled over and very happy. (I mean, you'd like to think your most current project is working, right?) I also got some really good suggestions about how I might move forward with the project, which I greatly appreciated.

I made a great connection with the woman from PhotoPhilanthropy, which could be very good for Change the Truth. My most exciting and fulfilling review of the day, however, was with the photo editor from the NYT Lens Blog (one of my favorite places to visit on the web each day) who basically told me he shouldn't and didn't want to like the Uganda work (he sees 1000's of pictures from Africa each day) but did and that he was smitten by the estate sale pics. In fact, it seems there will be a spot for both on his blog in the very near future. Hurrah!

OK, time to pack up and head back home to the midwest and begin the follow-up correspondence with those reviewers who have asked for it. Here are a few pics from the day, though. Happy trails!