Many people tell me I’m good at taking photos. I don’t believe them. I think I suck, big time. When someone tells me that they like my work, I don’t get any validation from that. It doesn’t warm my heart one centigrade. Instead, I think to myself: “What a brute… What does he know… I need to get much more sophisticated friends…”

I publish pictures on Unsplash, which is a place that brings me both joy and depression. All I keep thinking as I look at people’s work: “Why is everyone so good at this except me?”. And yet many people tell me that I am, indeed, good at this.

Liers? Morons?

I'm not sure. I think it's more of a failure to separate our feelings from our objective judgment. “Dunkirk is a great movie” usually means “I enjoyed watching Dunkirk”. But it doesn’t. These are two distinct propositions. One of them is an assessment based on standard objective criteria, and the other one is an account of personal experience.

Part of my profession is about making objective assessments of a piece of visual communication. I'm good at that. That’s how I know for sure that my photos suck. But they’re still some of my favorite photos. They bring me tremendous pleasure. My photos, my way, which is also my favorite way. They suck, but I love them.

Part of being a designer is pitching. I pitch several times a week. After I pitch, I often do a quick critique. I say things like: “This thing right here was a huge success. I don't know how I came up with this”. Sometimes you can see folks get uneasy because they perceive it as arrogant and self-congratulatory. And then I say: “I also made this other thing. That's some nephew shit. I know I can do better”. And sometimes people start praising the thing to make me feel better about myself.

What they don’t understand is that I have little to feel about either. It’s just a critique. My feelings for it are largely independent of the quality. If it’s architecture, I probably love it anyway. If it’s visual design, I certainly hate it anyway 😁

Quality is objective and it matters. Our emotions towards our work are subjective and perhaps they matter even more, though only to us. We can benefit from drawing a line between the two, consciously, and constantly. It’s good for our sanity and our development as craftsmen and artists.

In your next encounter, tell your friend or colleague: “This sucks, man. Holly Molly, What a stinker. But I love it. It’s the best thing I’ve seen this week. Keep'em coming”.

That's possible. We can separate. We should separate. Drawing these lines is healthy. It means we can keep raising our standards, and refining our senses while maintaining our sanity.