Newbies beware

Newbies and even photographers wanting to grow beware there are monsters amongst us. On any given day or given topic in photography forums and social media outlets you can find good advice, great advice but you will also find monsters amongst those willing to help. The monsters offer horrible advice or love to hurl insults at the questions or work of others. Rarely do you find these monsters submit any work of their own for review but they always have something negative to say about the work, knowledge, and/or questions of other people. I’m sure these types have always existed but in days before we had such availability of contact with such a large number of people around the world they were much more isolated.

Why do I say to beware? These types can eventually affect your confidence in learning, applying knowledge, and experimentation. I had left many large groups for that very reason some time back but recently went away from my self-imposed guideline and joined some forums that have over 20,000 members. While most of the active members are decent there is also a large percentage that works to sabotage the efforts of others. So beware, find people willing to help you both learn and grow and be able to filter out the monsters.