By Kyle Ferino, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, student of Elaine O'Neil

7
Critique…Advancing Learning with Words

“Learn from the mistakes of others; you do not have time to make them all yourself.”

Chinese Proverb

The largest potential for learning in photographic/imaging education is in the critique. There are several reasons for this statement. Through critique, issues of importance can be addressed based on students' work, thus transitioning between words and technique to a visual outcome. Though the discussion in this chapter mostly addresses group critiques, it will also apply to individualized critiques. Critiquing groups and individuals may be seen as different, though each situation provides the same basic opportunities for learning.

Critique at its origin is criticism, and all too often “criticism” is taken with its negative connotation. Frequently the critique is seen as a grading and/or comparison activity. It need not be. Though a point in the learning process that can provide an evaluation, it is really a much more powerful tool for stimulating and instructing. Most students are worried about grades and they think that a negative comment in the critique means that they are failing. Since more can be learned from failures than from successes, it makes sense to have the students in the critique accept the short-term negative comments as building blocks for their future success. As the Chinese proverb that starts this chapter states, mistakes are a part of learning. Despite the fact that we strive for success for our students, the chances for learning from mistake-free work are limited.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”

Winston Churchill

When setting up the critique, if it is projected as part of the learning process, then the students can come to the critique more open to practical positive or negative criticism, with an expanded view of how the process can enable them to produce better photographs.

Using Existing Effort to Expand Learning

The most important reason the critique affords such a great opportunity for learning is that the concept of the critique is based on the efforts of the students. The students have produced work that has technical aspects of the process and aesthetic content. This means that students' personal visions, training, skills, and artistic abilities are all included in their efforts to varying degrees. Because the students have a vested interest in validating their efforts, critiques open up occasions to give insight and learning.

As with question asking, the students come to the critique connected to the conversation that will ensue. With their attachment to the images, the students are already concerned about how the photography is seen. This readiness allows the leader of the critique to use the personal interests to induce further learning into the efforts that went into the photographs.

“I try to make my points about their work rather than making statements about photography in general, what is good and what isn't good. The more I can focus on the work the students have made and that they have brought with them, the more interested and the more they tend to listen and become involved in the process.”

J Seeley

Wesleyan University, CT

With an atmosphere of attachment and constructive assessment a wide range of related topics can be visited. Particularly with group critique, the range of instruction and inspiration that can take place expands. Beginner or intermediate groups will have many technical challenges and growing artistic expression as they try to expand their visual vocabularies. We might wish that all students would accomplish all the expectations for the photos to be critiqued, but this is not realistic. It is not an expectation of failure. The students are learning, and that includes trials and varying levels of success and failure.

There are higher probabilities of learning presented by the correction of flaws. Though successes are wonderful to share with all involved in the critique, corrective critique for each mistake or misapplication of a concept allows learning for all. The critique can be constructive and expansive for successful images as well. This promotes the idea that excellence is not the end but rather a step along the way. John Sexton makes this point well when he says, “You must strive for perfection and tolerate excellence.” When students produce error-free images, the critique does not provide as many opportunities for learning because the success may be intuitive or accidental, and this does not translate well to learning for the individual or others.

“You work and work and work on the assignment and then you put it up and this is when the learning begins. When you start to look at what you've done right and what can be improved… If this is the first time you have seen this work from this far away then you've missed something!”

Jack Mann

Wittenberg University, OH

While the involvement of the learners in the creation of the image is key to their buy-in to the critique, it must be stressed to the learners that they will need to separate themselves from the work itself, to make the most out of the critique. It is not easy for learners, particularly new learners, to reduce their involvement in an image that they have made and to ee it as an object on its own, something that is the center of the critique.

Celebration of Students' Efforts

Critique is also a point in the process of making images at which to create small or large celebrations of learning. If the critique will be meaningful for celebrating student efforts, then the grading must be stripped from the critique process. This will require the critic not enter into establishing a valuation for the photographs.

There is a certain fulfillment to coming to completion, even if the completion is only a step along a continuing path. Individuals benefit from seeing their work as part of a showing that receives critical review. It is where many of the learners wish to “go”; having their efforts looked at, analyzed, and discussed brings them a sense of progress.

There are two basic times for evaluative critiques: at some point in the learning process and as a culminating event. Each time plays a role in the continued development of the students' photographs. As a final event in a course, a critique needs to shift the balance from concentrating on progression to celebrating completion. If a course is the end of a sequence or there will be no subsequent work for some or all of the students, then celebration seems appropriate. It does not interfere with continuation to have a culmination for specific goals of the learning process.

Even when the critique comes in the middle of the learning sequence, celebration is an important portion of the critique. By using the critique in this way the student can look favorably on information and learning opportunities.

Evaluation Points

Critiques get in trouble when they become part of the grading of education. While critiques often coordinate with a requirement to apply grades, there is no need to use the critique as the actual grading vehicle. The evaluation in critique should center on growth. Whether growth by correcting errors or success in expectation, the evaluation done in the critique needs to relate to the learning path represented by the photograph being critiqued and to the images that will follow.

The evaluation in a critique needs to spend its time and mental energy and center on constructive assessment. This brings the evaluative effort within the critique to direct improvements in the process or vision. For a critique inside a curricular flow, the discussion should have a more process and aesthetic developmental function, while for a culminating critique, the discussion needs to look forward to how the work will function or grow in the future, after the course or curriculum.

When grading and critique need to take place at the same time, the students can gain more from the critique if the grade is calculated later. Within the discussion of the critique, grading evaluation distracts from the learning opportunities. Often when a student receives a grade they will tune out the rest of the critique.

Change in image following critique; by Cynthia Norcross-Willson (critique by Peter Glendenning, Michigan State University)

“It was the more successful critique because it was precise, showed by example and very specific. Least effective are general comments using terminology and jargon that the teacher knows that I don't.”

Cynthia Norcross-Willson

Cheyenne, WY

Going Negative

Pointedly negative criticism has its place in the process. Several teachers have said that something positive should always be said about every student's work. This is not required and it must be accepted that there are times when all in the critique will progress by negative comments about the work. In these situations it is very important to be sure that the critique concentrates on the work only.

Perhaps it is best seen that when the critique deals with technique issues, the effect of negative criticism is easier on the learner and tends to lead to more constructive situations than when the negativity is aimed at the artistic efforts of the learner. There is a difference between telling a learner that they are doing it wrong (technical) and that they are doing it uniquely (artistic). The goal of the critique is hampered when the energy of the critique goes astray because the corrective alternatives get lost in negative comments. For this reason it might be a strong concept if the negative issues are handled in an analytical way, leaving the evaluation of the aesthetic out of the criticism.

“Minor White said, ‘Honor thy response and honor thy neighbor's response.’ In criticism you are trying to move someone to your point of view; in critique you have a shared experience where you are trying to move the artist to a stronger place…it is not a blood bath. When you are talking about the work, it is about the work; you are not talking about the person.”

Craig Stevens

Savannah College of Art and Design, GA

Jumping-Off Points

The last basic potential for critiques is that they provide natural jumping-off points for advancing more in-depth concepts exhibited in the photographs. While the concept of a critique is to relate and discuss an existing image, the ultimate value of critique is aimed at the techniques that will be used for creating images in the future.

Beyond the production of new images, the critique provides the ability to switch the subject to those ideas that are important to image making but that are not part of the process—subject, assignments, and even activities outside photography. The critique expands the photograph. When carefully applied, the discussion makes the image enter into a world larger than just photography.

Preparing the Critique

If there is a key to a successful critique, it is in the preparation that goes into the process. This is more than the students making the images ready to serve as the subjects of discussion. While the students need to prepare the work, success will come from all participants coming to the critique prepared for discussion. The totality of the leader's preparation feeds into the success of the event. The students' history, education, and familiarity with the types of images to be critiqued are the support for the successful critique.

“I think learning to talk about images is a task that you spend your entire life on. I don't expect verbal equivalence, but I think the point is that you need some kind of clues… Your career will benefit greatly if you can learn to articulate your visual and ideological concerns.”

Jerry Uelsmann

The size and form of presentation will have a great effect on the success of the critique. There are times when work-prints and work-in-process images can be used, particularly in individual situations, but usually critiques should look at finished images. A “finished image” does not mean one that cannot be reworked or presented differently, only that it can stand as a completed image at the time of the critique.

Viewing images is key to a good critique. In a beginning course, students tend to make, or are assigned to make, small images. Also, many students will not come up to the front of a room to view an image up close. This degrades the quality of involvement for these students. Further, lighting of print images can be used to isolate and accent, to allow focusing on the images. For digital photography and slide-capable images, projection is a good method, since by projecting the images they will be large enough for all present to see. The drawback is that print qualities are not well conveyed through projection. However, design concerns are benefited from projection.

Preparation for the critique also includes developing the proper atmosphere. If students assume that there will be a knock-down attack on their images, they will come into the classroom defensive. A defensive atmosphere blocks learning from happening. This obstruction to learning affects more than the image's creator: it spreads to the rest of the critique and stops the flow of knowledge for all. On the other hand, if students anticipate only pleasantries, they will come to the critique with a lighter mood, but without expecting or accepting problems that come to light in the discussions. To promote learning in the critique, the concept of knowledge expansion needs to be introduced at the start of the critique.

“Be ever so soft and pliable like a reed, not hard and unbending like a cedar.”

The Talmud

While it is difficult, the images used in the critique need to be separated from the maker in most cases. Psychologists tell us that creating art is part of the id. As such, it will be hard for students to separate themselves from their work, but successful critiques do this. When images are shown in galleries or museums, the artist is far removed, and if this approach can be used with the students, they may be able to view “the” work instead of “their” work. Unless there is an obvious need for intentionalism, images need to stand on their own.

It is also important when setting up the critique's atmosphere to know what expectations the students have. The potential exists that what the leader sees as the reason for the critique is not what the students see. Do the students want only compliments or do they want to know what the leader thinks? Are they there to show, or to learn?

Most commonly, the critique is the culmination of an assignment. Since the objectives of the assignment and the flow of the course are defined, the instructor can prepare for likely problems or direct the discussion to include meaningful expansions. The leader of the critique can assure that the technical and aesthetic opportunities are anticipated and can plan the introduction to the session. While unexpected images are occasionally brought to the critique, broad preparation will allow for better function even when surprise photographs are introduced. The critique is benefited: as Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Perhaps the best example that can be brought to this discussion of preparation for critique will be to talk about Henry Holmes Smith (1909–1986). When at Indiana University he taught many photographers; student photographers included Jerry Uelsmann and Betty Hahn. A major portion of Smith's approach to education was his critique. His preparation was legendary. Part of this was because of his failing eyesight. Because of his physical limitation, he required the students to turn in their work prior to the critique so that he could use a magnifying glass to view and prepare how he would critique the work. Beyond his preparation he required the students to prepare for the critique by reading and researching directions for the upcoming discussion. He wanted the critique to focus on the work, to be a careful reading of the images and expanding visuality, not wanting to hurry to say something about images and then move on.

Setting the Parameters

Part of the preparation that will determine the effectiveness of the discussion will be the parameters used to develop the critique. Regardless of method used in the critique, the emphasis needs to be on the work. The critique must focus on the image, not on the person. The verbiage of the discussion must center on the work and should not deal with the maker. While it will be hard to remove the artist from the artwork, early in the critique the image is paramount.

“In order to teach about images, personally you have to be quiet. You cannot concentrate first on the things you want to say; you need to focus on the work and try to let the work talk to you before you start talking. You have to be observant instead of being smart.”

Barbara Houghton

Northern Kentucky University, Kentucky, KY

It must be understood that the method used in a critique will vary depending on the level of the learner and the purpose of the critique. Based on many years of working with very advanced and graduate students, and from working at the other end of photography with beginning and intermediate learners, we believe that the critique concepts can be constructed to apply to these two points in the learning path.

There is the more structured and more sequential method for use with newer learners, while a more open structure can be used with advanced learners. For advanced learners, because of their previous learning and experience with critiques, you may wish to use the information included in the steps described in the following section in different orders, to concentrate more on the meaning and effect of the images.

Critique for Newer Learners

From the structured side there are many good models for using the parameters of critique. Two good methods for critique are found in A Viewer's Guide to Looking at Photographs, by James T Brooke (out of print), and Criticizing Photographs, by Terry Barrett. Though similar, of these two approaches, Brooke's is perhaps better as a model for critique strategy. In this model there are four stages of reading a photograph. These are to describe, analyze, interpret, and value.

Steps for critique:

1. Describe the objects in the image.
2. Analyze the technical, design, and perceptual functions.
3. Interpret the meaning of the image.
4. Value the image.

The description activity has the parts of the picture defined. By describing the picture in great detail, the students start to grasp portions of the image structure that will be needed in later stages of the critique. It is too easy to overlook this step because it is obvious. However, the obvious may only disguise image elements that can provide context to the reading of the picture. Because the activity is at a low level of involvement, students can enter into the critique without fear of embarrassment. The leader can use this entry point into the critique to include individuals who are shy or quiet.

It will become noticeable when this first stage of the critique has reached an end. At this point, the dialogue changes to the analysis of the image. By this, Brooke meant a technical and design breakdown of the picture. In beginning and intermediate-level critiques, this allows for the correction of process problems. The closer to the beginning of the course of the study in photography, the more time will be spent on the technical issues. While many students will work their way through technical problems with the instructor prior to the critique, these corrections can be discussed in the critique to share the technical problem-solving process with the rest of the students. Particularly in a beginning course this stage allows all students to understand how others have solved or can solve technical problems.

Regardless of the growth of technical skills exhibited in the work, the design elements in the analysis and the perceptual function of the image will continue to be an intensive area of the critique. Design and perception of images are the underpinning of all image making. for the purposes of this book, the perceptual psychological functions are grouped with design. Though in classic dialogue perception is not defined within the “elements of design,” it makes up the foundation for all design and lends a great deal to the analysis of a photograph. if the descriptions in the first stage of this method of critique are the “words” of the image statement, then design and perceptual organization of the image are the “syntax” that gives understandable structure to the picture. Through discussion of the elements that make the image work, the participants in the critique can learn how to use image structure to make their statements more clearly. While we wish o get to the next steps, the criticality of this step sets up the ability to delve more deeply into the image.

“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit. To design is to transform prose into poetry.”

Paul Rand

When we discuss reading pictures we are first and foremost talking about how the structure of the image portrays the meaning we will gain from the image. In the analysis, it is helpful to show how changes in the design modify how the image is seen and thus what the image can convey. Failures come out easier in the analysis than do successes, because of the dissonance created in the image, but time needs to be spent on the successes and how they work beyond just dealing with problems. While successful, analysis of the image can be used to explain how differences in design might alter perception of the photograph.

With the analysis of what has been described in the picture, the critique is ready to move on to interpreting meaning for the image. This is what the discussion is driving toward. When we try to interpret the image prior to analysis we often miss what the image really means. It becomes part of the “intentional fallacy.” If we start the discussion with the meaning we change the way we view what is going on in the

Man in Yard (original in color); by John Pascarella, West Virginia University, WV, student of Young Kim

picture. We can easily miss things, even very important meanings. This is particularly the case if, entering the critique, the photographer states what the image attempts to mean and chills discussion of alternatives in the hunt for analysis to support the stated meaning. The real drawback to allowing this a priori interpretation was best stated by Minor White when he said, “Photographers often photograph better than they know.”

Only after the preceding three steps do we value the image. Too frequently those involved in a critique start with the statement, “I like it,” or the converse. This start does little for the discussion and means little in terms of learning. As criticism became an evaluation term late in its development, so should the critique reach the same level of valuation. The critique will, in the final assessment, become a valuation tool, but that is only a small and minor part of the process. Valuation has little effect on learning.

Shortly before his death in 1986, Ernst Haas had an exhibit of his flower series at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He came to lecture and also to meet with students in the gallery exhibiting his work. One of the students familiar with his earlier work asked him why he was now photographing flowers. Mr. Haas thought for a few seconds and responded directly to the student with these simple but profound words: “I like flowers.”

Using this step-wise process takes time, and that is the point. Regardless of the method used to critique, providing enough time to totally address all the issues brought up during discussions can ignite learning. It is more important to go through the entire critique process than it is to rush everyone through every step. Take time, don't be in a hurry, but don't delay, plan for enough time…learning is time dependent.

Critiquing without Words

“Criticism of my work…now means something to me whereas previously my self-deception admitted nothing.”

Paul Klee

While critiquing can deal with the single images for newer learners, normally as learners progress they start to move away from technical and process images toward personal expression. They also begin to work with series of images as opposed to singular images or assignments that center on learning a technique or finding a voice. This change in why images are made by the learners dictates a potential change in the way a critique can assist them in moving their photography forward. In Perception of Images, 2nd edition, Richard Zakia discusses a method as an example of a more advanced critique aimed at the photographers' understanding of the meaning and import of their images.

Photographs that are not being made for some kind of an assignment, such as a classroom assignment or a commercial assignment, are often not specified in terms of intent or criteria. These are personal photographs that are created out of some need for individuals to express themselves. This personalized approach is the common direction of the photographer becoming artist rather than a technician.

Personal photography involves approaching a subject from a sensing or intuiting position—in Jung's term, from a non-rational position. Here we look for clues in the photographs that will reveal what is being expressed at a level below consciousness. This will require more than a single photograph—a series of photographs would be required.

Once the series is completed, the prints are viewed and studied by both the photographer and the critic. Considerable time is spent in studying each photograph individually and in relationship to the other photographs in the series. As insight into the series is gained, the criticmay edit out some of the photographs that do not seem to be relevant, and repositions others. In effect, what the critic is attempting to do without words is to have the photographs speak for themselves— to reveal in the pictures the latent information that is waiting to be discovered. Words are not necessary, but attention to the photographs and what they are saying is. It is as if one were given a scrambled text and had to edit out some words and rearrange others in order to find the statement being made.

“Work with the images, don't talk about them. Let the photographs speak for themselves.”

Nathan Lyons

Visual Studies Workshop, NY

Similar procedures have been used in a movement called “Photo Therapy,” the use of photographs in a counseling situation. A client may be having difficulty resolving some nagging problems, and sessions with a counselor, based on words, may not provide an avenue for insight into the problem. The counselor may then ask the client to bring in a family album of photographs or series of photographs that the client has taken recently or over the years. The counselor then goes through the same procedure a critic does, carefully studying the photographs, editing out some and sequencing the remainders.

“A photograph is always seen in some context; physical, remembered, imagined.”

Rashid Elisha

A psychiatrist from Toronto, Canada tells of a relevant experience with one of his clients who had a severe problem that seemed to resolve around her childhood relationship with her father. Each time the psychiatrist would inquire about her childhood she would become defensive and tell about her close-knit family and her closeness to her father. After weeks of no progress, she was asked to bring in a family album, which she did. She and the psychiatrist went through the album, looking at the series of photographs that had been taken over the years. As the psychiatrist was looking over the photographs, he was also editing out some and rearranging others. He noticed that in most of the group photographs the client was at one end of the photographs, near her mother, and her sister was at the other end, close to the father. Her sister was often smiling and very often the father had his arm around her. When the psychiatrist pointed out this visual evidence to the client, she broke down in tears and was then able to admit that family relationships were at the roots of the problem. This led to more productive therapy sessions and a resolution of her problem.

“A sequence of photographs is like a cinema of stills. The time and space between the photographs is filled by the beholder.”

Minor White

Photographs are statements that can be read and that provide useful information, but like all statements they must be read in context— in context with other photographs or verbal information, and in historical context, for all photographs to some extent are historical. Traditional disciplines such as sociology and anthropology, realizing the importance of photographs as a source of information, now have offshoot groups specializing in visual sociology and visual anthropology. Their research involves not only using photographs others have taken but also photographs the researchers have taken to document events.

Participation

Critique, whether group or individual, benefits from participation from many voices. It is easy to see that the instructor's participation directs learning, but the students' involvement is more potent.

There are four participant types common to the critique activity. These are the leader, normally the instructor; the photographer, the maker of the photograph(s) to be critiqued; non-maker students; and guests. Each of these participants gives and gains differently from the critique. Obviously, students gain more than instructors and guests, but instructors and guests also gain from a successful critique. Instructors can gain because students usually see differently, and this is a powerful opportunity for the instructor.

“My idea with in-process critique is to help students gain confidence in their ability to make decisions. Rather than telling them what is wrong, I ask them what they are attracted to, what they like, what they think and use these as guides to make choices, rather than me just telling them what to do. The major difference between in-process and final critique is that in-process is one-on-one and in a final critique it is not one-on-one, it is about everybody in the room—finding that there are other opinions and letting that open up the discussion.”

Jaclyn Cori-Norman

Savannah College of Art and Design, GA

Looking at instructor participation, we can clearly see needs and advantages from differing strategies, depending on where in the flow of the students' education the critique falls. At the beginning, the faculty needs to both set the atmosphere and lay out the guidelines for how to critique. Just as asking questions benefits from a structured approach to learning how to make the most from them, so do critiques. The instructor needs to lay out expectations of those involved. This includes laying out the steps to follow and the preparations to be made for the discussion. Beyond these two foundations for the success of the critique, the instructor, as leader, needs to control the flow and tempo of the discussion.

Early in a course of study this will mean more direct involvement by the instructor. As time and successive critiques take place, the leader can ask for participation from the photographers and others in attendance, to a point where the leader then rounds out the discussion by bringing in new topics, techniques, or aesthetic points of view. The leader's participation in input is more in the analysis of design and technique early in the flow of the course of study, and in changes to meaning and eventually to comparative valuation. In a successful early critique it will be important for the leader to exit their role of critique leader and move into one of instructor. When critiquing an individual photograph presents an avenue to move to the next area of study or to new skill development, the leader needs to take the interest in the ongoing discussion and move to an instructional mode, to bring in these learning opportunities.

The maximum learning will happen when students and those coming to the critique reinforce their previously encountered concepts and see them applied to the images. Beyond the students having created the work being critiqued, the act of hearing their words and concepts being applied to an image codifies the meaning and allows for correction of flaws in their work and thinking. Therefore, it is beneficial to have as many students as possible take part in the critique discussion. It is also better if each student takes part in each area of the process, but not necessarily for each image or in every critique.

“I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?”

Bill Maher

Because of normal individual and group dynamics, there will be those students who aggressively enter into discussion while others will retire to the background, and some will prepare better for the critique activity than others. To maximize the learning for as many as possible, the leader will need to invite comment from the shyer students while limiting input from the more assertive students. This is a ticklish situation, since the critique leader does not want to dampen input and wants to encourage all to take part.

As mentioned previously, it is easier for students who are inhibited to enter into the critique model at the first step (describe the objects in the image). There is less threat about being “wrong,” and as they become more comfortable they will involve themselves in later discussions within the model. However, if an individual continually withdraws from the critique discussion, there may be nothing the leader can do but accept this inactivity. Of course, it is easier to involve even shy students when it is their work that is being critiqued.

Unfortunately, some students come to critiques fearing the negative comments that might be coming in the discussion. Therefore, many students come to the critique defensive about their photographs. This sets up an interesting dynamic when they are asked about choices they made and about the outcome exhibited in the work itself. It is common to have a student who has some ability in photography to reject critique at this stage by saying, “That's the way I wanted it.” This defense can be a discussion ender or a convenient point to engage the student in discussion about other variations and directions that they took to arrive at the way they wanted it. If there are serious flaws in the outcome and the student insists that these were intentional, then this provides an opportunity to discuss the problem-solving method or aesthetics that led to the decision to make the photograph.

“If you are not your severest critic, you are your worst enemy”

Jay Maisel

As a caveat, note that even students whose images have no flaws can make the same statement, “That's the way I wanted it.” Though successes make dealing with this statement justifiable in the eyes of the student, here again, engaging in directional and choice-based discussion is beneficial to all at the critique. Just as “That's the way I wanted it” is not helpful for the learner in the critique, it is not helpful for learning in the critique situation when the critic says “that is great” and then moves on. As much effort needs to be applied to critiquing success as to failure.

Realize that the value of critique is in the correction of flaws and in the growth of the photographer. In order for the critique to be effective, the person presenting the work for critique needs to be invested in the outcome of the process. This was brought home many years ago by watching a young artist at a Society for Photographic Education conference. The aspiring artist bounced from educator to educator, asking them to look at the artist's work. After looking through the Fiberbuilt case over-filled with over-matted prints, the noted educator quietly handed the case back, with the only comment being, “Thank you for sharing your work.” When queried afterward why the viewing was “silent,” the educator said, “there was no personal investment or expectation by the student in learning what was wrong.”

“The gift of truth exceeds all other gifts.”

Buddha

Energy

During a critique, it becomes obvious that there will be ebb and flow in the energy level exhibited, both by the leader and by those whose photographs will be critiqued. Particularly as the energy wanes, continuing a critique becomes problematic. Awareness of the energy level is required, since when attention slacks, the ability to make corrective comments and to receive information about the way to improve images drops. In the critique it is not an issue of how long each image is discussed, but that the critique of any particular image addresses as many issues as can be handled by those involved. The age of the participants is important, since the continued concentration of the younger and older participants is a limiting factor.

In dealing with the way energy impacts the critique, it is not as much an issue of measuring the energy, but of observing how it will affect participation. This places an added dimension in the role of the critique leader. Leaders not only need to have direct discussion to assure that important concepts are introduced and discussed in the critique, they also must be highly observant of the actions of the participants to assure that, as the energy decreases to a critical point, there can be a stop or break in the critique. Depending on the intensity, breaking can help or harm a session: a critique with a high energy level may not restart at that level.

“Intelligent attention to and discussion of a photograph may help some individuals appreciate more clearly some difficult pictures.”

Henry Holmes Smith

Methodology

While there are various approaches to the critique, here are some ideas that may be useful for presenting a successful critique.

Place

First, the viewing conditions should be altered as necessary to maximize the participants' ability to see as much as possible of the detail in the pictures. Often the room to be used is assigned, and this determines the way the work will be viewed. But there are several concerns that can be controlled. The way the space is handled will help enhance the view of the pictures and will facilitate communication during the critique.

The viewing light is of primary concern. Diffuse, bright light will open up the detail in pictures without glare or increased contrastiness. if possible, control the light so that it illuminates the images in such a way as to modulate the light, with the light environment being strongest in the picture viewing area, compared to the rest of the room. Spotlighting the images works with the other lighting off, but this builds flare and increases the contrast in the pictures.

Addressing several concerns with the space can be of benefit when planning for a group critique. Both seating distance and ability to view closely are important to a successful critique. When possible, reorient the seating to minimize the distance from the picture display area. This normally means setting up a shallow semicircle of chairs. Obviously, the more people viewing the critique, the greater the distances from the furthest seats to the pictures. Also, when a group will be viewing images there is a need to devise a way for participants to get close enough to the images to see details. And of course, the more comfortable the seating, the better.

“The human being is immersed right from birth in a social environment which affects him just as much as his physical environment.”

Jean Piaget

While less problematic, the single-participant critique also needs to be done with proper lighting and space. Too often space is not available to set out a great number of images, even when they need to be viewed sequentially. This is less than optimal. Regardless of whether the critique is for a group or an individual, when a number of images need to be viewed in sequence, then the space in the available facility becomes important. In an individual critique, the images can be viewed on tabletops, but with a group critique, the images should be presented so that they all can be viewed at one time.

Some images may be produced as transparencies or in a digital format. This is a positive for the critique activity. Projection critique has some great advantages over a print-based critique. First, because of the lighting intensity created by the projection, attention is controlled and the critique environment is less of an obstruction. Second, the image being discussed is larger and easier to see in all areas of the space. Last, particularly with computer projection, imaging software can be brought in to allow the critique to become a demonstration of a modification method.

Procedure

It is important for those involved to know their roles. Part of setting the parameters of the critique is to provide the participants with an understanding of the demands of the critique. This should include levels of contribution for each group and the purpose and goals of the critique. If there will be follow-up assignments generated by the critique, then the expectations and outcomes should be clearly articulated. This should provide a set of procedures for the progress of the critiques and the directions for any targeted outcomes. This should be done in a non-threatening manner. Grading should be separated from the critique when possible.

The most important part of the procedures, to be stated in preparation for the critique, is defining the criteria that will be used. These need to address the variation of abilities, techniques, and aesthetics and the vocabulary to be used. If a model such as the one explained earlier in this chapter is to be used, then criteria for discussion and evaluation should be stated for each area of the critique.

Expectations

A favorite critiquing story is about a lecturer at a conference. When the lecturer was approached for an impromptu critique, the suddenly engaged critic asked, “Do you want to hear something that makes you feel good or to hear what I think?” It is important that all participants in the critique have a clear understanding of what is expected to be their role and what is the desired outcome of the critique.

“Degas is repulsive.” (A prominent art critic over 100 years ago)

“Matisse is an unmitigated bore.” (Chicago Tribune, 1913)

“He has no talent, that boy [Renoir].” (Manet said this to Monet)

“The Dada philosophy is the sickest, most paralyzing and most destructive thing that has ever originated in he brain of man.” (Art News, Re. 1921 Dada show)

These quotes are all from Art News, November 1999, page 208.