The Dilemma of Feedback
“From All Sides” Aiken, SC, June 2026
Hello Friend,
I think I’m like most people when it comes to hearing feedback: If I like the feedback and the person who is giving it, I’ll likely listen to it. If I don’t like the feedback or the person, I’ll likely not listen to it. Even if the same thing is basically being said, if I like the feedback and makes me feel good, it’s good. If I don’t like the feedback, and it makes me feel bad, it’s bad.
So, how does feedback help us get better at our art, and at the same time we stay “true to our art”? If we want to get better, some type of feedback is going to be part of the process. We don’t work in a vacuum, and the people who experience our work are also not living in a vacuum. They have their own opinions of what they like and dislike. Thus, it comes down to each of us being able to sift through all the noise to get to the heart of what is being said and if it will be beneficial for us and our work.
“Ghost of Hotel Aiken” Aiken, SC, February 2024
Then the issue is what to do with the feedback that was given. I think a big part of it is where we are in the process of creating and our relationship to the person. Early in the process, it feels easier to ask for and take feedback. Maybe the idea is still unformed in your head, and someone says something or asks a question that helps us get your thoughts more in order. Those thoughts and questions can – and should – come from ourself, though, other ideas can be of benefit. We do this all the time when we ask ourselves why we might be doing some type of art, or when we chose one element over another.
As I’ve been recently working on my “Urban Tree Project”, there are times I use color and times I use black and white. But after a few outings, I realized black and white worked better for consistency. I did some photos during the day and some at night. In color, the different light temperatures would be a pain to fix or too distracting in the final work. Black and white “leveled the playing field” so to speak. That was feedback I gave myself.
As I started showing some of the work to others, they would give me ideas on how some images were working together and some seemed to be outliers. Some people even noticed details I hadn’t keyed into yet. That’s helped me look for and incorporate some of those details when I’m out shooting. I even started playing with different ways to process the images in Photoshop. Some people liked one way, and others liked them other ways. But as I keep working through this, the final decisions are mine to make and what I like and want to say.
“Side Alley Noir” Aiken, SC, May 2026
When a work is considered “complete” and is sent out into the world, criticism and feedback can have a different feel and impact on us. We are often told that when we release our creations, we are no longer in charge of them. And we can’t control what others will think or say about our work. Oh, this is so much easier to say than do, right? And since we are people who are never “complete”, we could always approach this later feedback as part of improving the next thing we work on. (You can see my earlier blog on how we never really finish anything called “Fear of Abandonment.”)
And what about who is giving the feedback? Whose feedback matters to us? Our family and friends who know us the best? The stranger leaving a comment on social media or we bump into at a showing? The gallery owner/director we want to have represent our work? Our peers? The “legends” in our field? The teachers we want to impress? Can we step back and, regardless of who the person is, take in and process what they are trying to say? We don’t have to agree with it. We don’t even need to act on it. We can put it in a box over to the side. But at least take a moment to process it, because the person did take some time to give you their thoughts on your work.
“Up Against the Wall” Aiken, SC, April 2024
This whole idea on feedback came to me from a very odd place: comedy. Specifically, I was listening to Trevor Noah’s podcast “What Now” when he had on Estee Adoram who runs the Comedy Cellar in New York City. She said when a comedian starts having issues and not doing well, it’s because they stopped listening to the feedback of the audience. Now at first this seems very different from other forms of art. Didn’t I just say, that if we are putting out honest work that reflects who we are and what’s important to us, what the audience thinks and does is not important to us?
Are comedians and other live performers the only artists out there that really need to be in tune with their audience and how they are reacting to their art? As Estee Adoram said, “Yes, a joke can bomb and you can have a bad set, but if you don’t listen to the feedback, you’ll never become a better comic; you won’t grow or flourish. I think this is the biggest mistake the beginning comic does. They don’t learn and grow.” She’s saying, if an artist doesn’t “listen”, they won’t get better.
One of the really interesting things to come out of this conversation was how comedians, like other artists, are at different stages of their “projects.” They may be working the clubs to work on ideas. Work on their timing. Seeing what’s getting people to laugh. When are people not laughing when they should be? How is the story and comedy flowing? And, like the rest of us, they are creating something out of nothing.
Thank you and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
August 2026
P.S. Give me your feedback on the idea of feedback in your own work. What’s good and/or what’s bad feedback you’ve gotten?
“Mirrored Ghosts” Aiken, SC, February 2024
As has cohost, and fellow South African comedian, Eugene Khoza breaks it down, there are three reasons a comic might be working at the club. 1) The comic is trying to find the “funny”. 2) The comic is trying to find themselves. 3) The comic is trying to find their audience after they found the first two. If we step back a bit, doesn’t this now sound like all of us as we work on our creations? We are trying to find our creations. We are trying to find ourselves. And we are trying to find our audience when we believe we have found the first two.
If we do have a bit of a handle on the first two, it’s this third one that I think feedback plays an important role and why we need to listen to our “audience”. And I don’t me listen to them in the way that they influence the creations we make. I mean, listen to hear if the people interacting with us and our creations are “getting it.” Are we hearing that they appreciate what we’ve created? Are they engaged with the creation and with us? Or do they quickly move past our work? Do they say things like, “Boy, my five-year-old can do better than this.”? It might not be that our work is lacking, but maybe we need to develop our audience more. Their feedback and support or their dismissal of us can help tell us if we are moving in the same direction. Or if we are at cross purposes.
How can we know when the feedback will help us? Depending on where we are in the process, will the feedback help us refine our work and ourselves? Or distract us and send us in the wrong direction? Each of us are the only ones that can know that. Can we take a step back and think through the feedback? Do we have a sense that the person giving the feedback is honestly trying to help us better develop our work, better develop ourselves, and/or better develop our audience? And it won’t matter who that person is. They could be an absolute stranger or the closest person in our lives, because both are capable of giving us helpful as well as damaging advice.
“Social Climbers” Aiken, SC, March 2024
Only we are able to know the difference. And sometimes not for a while. We might have to think about what was said; then spend some time putting the feedback into practice before we know if it was useful or not. Ultimately, we alone have to weigh the feedback and decide if it’s helping to better create our work, better create ourselves and better create our audience.
Lastly, when we are the ones giving the advice and feedback to someone else, what’s the honest reason for saying something? Are we giving the feedback to make ourselves look good or hurt the other person? Or are we giving it to help the other person create better work, create themselves as a better person, and/or create a better audience?
Just because we received some type of feedback, it doesn’t mean we need to act on it right away. Sit with it for a bit. And since we as people are never complete, some type of feedback will always be coming our way. And only you can see how the feedback given will help you be a better you.
“Trees Will Grow Anywhere” Aiken, SC, July 2024