This may be confidence suicide,

but I'm going to do it anyways.

I get great feedback from my friends and family about my work, and it's always positive.  Don't get me wrong, I couldn't function without that constant support and praise! There's no way I could keep going without it!  However, growing up the way I did, I've grown accustomed to constructive criticism.  I took ballet, art lessons, piano lessons, and I spent 8 years playing the violin.  Of course my mom and dad had nothing but wonderful things to say about my playing (parents think everything their children do is wonderful).  But my teachers and private lesson instructor knew the difference.  It was their responsibility to point out my mistakes so I could learn from them and improve from there, instead of continuing to play that one note flat over and over and over...etc.

I encounter the same issue with my work in photography.  Of course my mom is going to tell me it's wonderful.  So will my friends.  If someone doesn't like it, 99.9% of the time, they wont say a word.  I admire the few people out there that have had the guts to tell me when something isn't right, or when I've made a major blunder. 

I've definitely made my share of mistakes.  I'm talking plagiarism.  (Yeah, yikes.)  I had a client that wanted to replicate another photographers work, and I was naive enough to agree.  I was young in my business, and ignorant to the ramifications, but I still should have known better.  Of course, I had to answer to many people.  I know that photographer was more hurt by my mistake than they let on, but their grace was such a valuable lesson. and thankfully they were kind, gracious, understanding, and helpful in making me understand what could happen to someone who makes that mistake. 

That mistake changed the way I work.  I almost never look at the work of local photographers now.  It's not because I don't like what they do, because their work is always beautiful.  It's because I don't want to have anything but my own creativity influencing my work.  I don't read their blogs.  I don't check their facebook pages or websites.  It makes me confident that I'm sticking with what I know and doing my own thing. 

I want your constructive criticism.  I'm not fishing for compliments.  If you've got 'em, I appreciate them.  Leave them on the photo you like on my facebook page.  Right now, I want that kind of criticism that will help me improve in my art and business.  I don't mind if you want to be anonymous about it.

I need those people that are going to point out that flat note so I can adjust my hand position and play the song the way it was written.