An unexpected splash of criticism

This is a little bit of a different post to what I normally make in this community. Recently, I got an email. Someone had completed the contact form on my

. Now, I get a lot of spam through my web form - people offering to sell me "genuine" Instagram followers or the age old classic Internet spam.

Before I continue, I want to share some of my favourite images that I've captured over the years.

Greenie at Anstey Hill - 80cm Softbox, Godox AD200, 24-70lens

Rose in my old Lounge Room Studio - 120cm Softbox, Godox AD200, 24-70 lens

Greenie as the Oracle - 28cm Octobox w/ grid, Godox AD200, 105 lens

Jess as the bride - Natural light, 24-70 lens, hotel room?

Anyway, back to the email. This email was different. It was new. There was evidence that the submitter had read my website. And as I stood in the moshpit between bands, at a concert, I laughed. I also thought "who is this person?" They provided a name, and an email, but the domain resolves to a 404.

At the same time, I had the thought, "I've made it, I finally have a hater!"

The contents of the contact form?

sorry but on your site you say things like never settle for mediocrity and yet the portrait photos look like they are from the 1990s. Girls half dress and dressed and some photos just look like they were taken with an iphone..... i mean really! Have you ever sold one ye? Change your wording until your skill level gets close to professional.

_{(Also, is there a darkmode for gmail?)}

I read that statement with a piece of my photography currently sitting in a gallery, having been paid the week prior for a photographic job, and having received a highly commended award in an Australian photographic competition. I've posted about each of those events on HIVE.

I like to think that I am a good photographer. Now granted, my photographic style is heavily inspired by the pre-raphaelite painters, and the female form was indeed something heavily depicted in their work - and it is something that I capture extensively in my own photographic practice.

Are there a few scantily clad ladies on my website? Sure. Certainly, definitely. This work is always a collaboration. I endeavour to be as tasteful as possible in each and every image that I publish. After all, the only difference between a good and a bad photographer is what they show you.

Or, as Basquait once said, "There is no such thing as good or bad taste, there is just taste" (I may be paraphrasing there)!

I have a page on my site which just dumps every single image I've got in my media library onto a single ... loooong page.

The order is completely randomised... but er, I don't see how the or where the criticism levelled at my work regarding its quality or professional standards by this individual is valid?

I've got a tax return to prepare shortly, and there's much photographic work (and kilometres driven) to include.

So, I will not be changing the wording on my site. I will stand defiantly by the quality and the style of my work.

But I do want to know, if you were me, or you were you - what photos would you remove from my website? If you were to remove them, what could I do to make them better?

I am open to criticism, but I am also capable of separating the criticism of my output with the criticism of me as a human.

If I don't know what I am doing wrong, I can't improve.

I also know that critiques of my work are not critiques of me as a human being. I am too aware, that as a male, depicting females in my work, in controlled environments, it is inseparable from the default "male gaze", which genetics hath cursed me with.

Therefore, please, take me back to my university days, studying New Media Art (resulting in a Masters Degree in Visual Art and Design from the University of South Australia) - and give me some critical feedback!

(And please comment below!)

Also - another question to you all - how do YOU deal with feedback, and how do you like to receive it?

Or, should I sell all my cameras and refund all my pending clients? I'm told that's the best way to make money in photography - to sell camera gear!