Today we have a guest blogger – Kevin Foisy – who is exhibiting “Love Through the Lens” at our photo studio, Ottawa Studio Works, November 25th, 2011.

Kevin writes:

“Become a Better Photographer through Sharing.

We are taught as children to share with others but when it comes to our photos, we sometimes cringe at the thought of it.  A photograph is a reflection of the photographer; by sharing, we expose a part of ourselves that might be a bit uncomfortable.  

“What if they think it’s terrible?”, “My work isn’t good enough,” “Other people’s work is so much better.”

These and many other thoughts go through our minds before we take the plunge to start sharing our work on a regular basis.

I can remember when I first started sharing.  I would email a picture out to a few friends here and there.  To my surprise, they were quite kind and offered valuable feedback.  I started to see my work through other people’s eyes, learning that everyone has their own perspective, likes and tastes.  Other people see my work differently than I do and are generally very kind.

With time, I was encouraged to broaden my list of friends and so I scoured through my address book and invited many others.  The more people that I added, the better, fuller, richer the experience became.  It’s one of the things that I really love about photography … the sharing and the feedback. 

Kevin Foisy - recent photo work

The fall colours are warm and vibrant but none that I have seen match the incredible vibrant reds of the burning bush.  While most leaves have settle to the ground, this bush stands out as though it is on fire.  Today, it was further saturated by rain droplets that settled on these fiery leaves.

“So, where do I start?”

There are several ways to start.  The first and easiest is to start with an email list.  Create a group in your email program and add your friends to the list.  It’s a good idea to ask permission first because not everyone wants to receive pictures. 

As you become more confident, grow your list by adding more friends and colleagues.  Ask your friends if they have friends that would like to be on the list.  Before you know it, your list starts getting pretty large.  When the list grows large enough, you could consider using a hosted service like Google Groups, or Yahoo Groups.  I recently switched to GroupSpaces which allows people to sign up to join my list and to also unsubscribe.  This allows the list to “grow in the wild” so to speak.

Facebook is a great way to share your work too.  I have a friend that is an amazing sculptor.  He shares pictures of his work on Facebook and I love seeing what he’s working on.  Your friends will feel the same way about your photos.

Use a blog.  It’s free and it’s simple to setup with with Blogger or WordPress.  These offer a great way to share and to keep a history of your work.  I post my blogs to my website and to blogger.