An Advice to an Aspiring Photographer - from a Failing One



Dear Friend,

Sometimes you may have to ask yourself why you go through the hassle of sharing your images to complete strangers like in Flickr.  

You should not feel obligated to also like someone's work just because that person liked yours.  Unless if you belong to a Flickr group that requires you to do so.  People may like your images for a number of reasons.  It could be they belong to the group that I mentioned.  Or they want you to check their posts so you can like one or more of their images.  Or they just like your images with no strings attached.  I happen to belong to the last group of people.  I have no expectation.  If they reciprocate with a "thank you" note, I would be very grateful.

One of the reasons I share my images in Flickr and Instagram is these are platforms where I can observe how people behave.  I like to conduct social experiments to find out how one may react towards my work.  I think it may be selfish of me to do this.  At best, it's creepy.  Although I don't see it as setting up a bait as an absolute means to an end because I also want to share to others my work - to those who are willing to give time to appreciate and perhaps understand the message.  I feel that I have passed the point of creating merely for aesthetics.  I want to convey a deeper message through the perspective of aesthetics.  That is why I consider myself just as an artist who happens to know how to use a camera.  Not a lot of people including photographers will understand this.  

Stay true to yourself, my dear friend.  Know why you do the things you like to do.  And strive to better yourself to reach your goal.

Your Friend,
Juzno

P.S.  I'm sharing an image I took at the Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao - yes that is in Spain.  If you can figure out what it means, then maybe you can explain that to me.

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