Don’t use the word “but” in an unsolicited critique. Either say what you like and nothing else or say nothing at all.

Similarly, brutal honesty should be reserved for requested critiques. If I ask, say, Zack Arias for a crit, I’m expecting to have my images torn limb from clichéd limb, should that be needed. But I’d think him a bit of a tool if he turned up and just started bashing my work out of the blue.

One of the things I try to do when providing criticism is to make it constructive, and by that I mean, provide it in a way that the author can learn from and improve in the future. Saying, “The composition in your photo sucks”, isn’t helpful, even if it might be true. Instead, something like, “It’s hard for me to focus on your subject because they’re off center and the bright piece of furtniture behind is distracting me.”, is better. I try to apply this rule to code reviews too.

Excellent, interesting idea. (Reminds me of my silly little project I was telling you about last time we met for coffee, in which I had my portrait subject hold a mirror as to reflect me into the shot with the Hassleblad).

I thought it might; that was one of the things that I had in my head when I came up with it (the other was Zack Arias’s Faces and Spaces project).

I’m no photographer, whether you will be interested in having me involved in the project or not is your call.

Yes you are. A lapsed one maybe, but still a photographer. I’d definitely be interested in having you involved.

Might be the thing to kick me into being creative.

That would be immensely cool.

Would type of portraits did you want to take? Casual or more informal ones?

At the moment the plan is to shoot at least two portraits of each subject: a simple cyc portrait (pure white background) and something environmental. The first is about capturing the person for who they are and the second is about capturing something about their world, or the way that they see it.

Tell you what, let’s have a coffee again soon (we can talky Lindy, too, which I keep meaning to talk to you about) and work something out.

Sound cool?

Excellent, interesting idea. (Reminds me of my silly little project I was telling you about last time we met for coffee, in which I had my portrait subject hold a mirror as to reflect me into the shot with the Hassleblad).

I’m no photographer, whether you will be interested in having me involved in the project or not is your call. I would be interested though. Might be the thing to kick me into being creative. Would type of portraits did you want to take? Casual or more informal ones?