Monday, June 18, 2007

Burning Bridges

We all know better than to burn bridges, but sometimes we let emotions get the better of our thinking selves.

I'm referring to comments I made (and have now deleted) about photography instructor Gale Perry. I took a workshop with her in San Francisco, and got a great deal out of it. When we talked about housesitting, I jumped on the idea, loving California as I do. The housesitting just did not work out, and we exchanged a few emails and hurt each other's feelings, I'm sure. That was the burning bridges part.

Then I took a workshop with the famous Moose Peterson. Moose is sadly lacking in communication skills, which I consider an important part of a workshop, don't you? He surrounded himself with qualified staff, but I still didn't feel as though I got any kind of personal attention for my thousand dollar four days. Unless you count the 15 minute critique when he Photoshopped my images and told me not to look at what he was doing because he would be discussing it later in the evening. I didn't find that constructive at all.

On the contrary, in one day with Gale, she went around to each person more than once, looked through our viewfinders, made suggestions, asked questions, and got involved. She encouraged us to email images to her after the workshop. Very hands on.

I've emailed her, and told her I did her a disservice, and explained my Moose experience. To her credit, she was very gracious.

Today my studio is piled up with work! I've had a studio visit from a client, painted on the two triptychs, and prepared photos for printing. Since I'm still in an organizational stage, I'm working on that, too.

Inspiration of the Day: honesty

4 comments:

Bobbi A. Chukran, Author said...

Sometimes all you need is a little perspective.

bc

Walker said...

yea, amazing, isn't it!

Karen Jacobs said...

What's wrong with just thinking it? Nah... you gotta go and square it. You never cease to amaze, m'friend...

Walker said...

gotta give credit where credit's due, right?