There's a photographer, locally, whom I met this summer. She seemed sweet and we had a great conversation regarding photography, post-processing, etc. She mentioned that she spent a lot of time in post-process. I asked what she used, and mentioned a few pointers to help her. She said she didn't know how to do that, and I offered some help if she wanted it.
A bit later, she mentioned she had a FB fan page, told me the name, too. So later, I checked out her page, "liked" it, thought her work was fantastic, and told her so. Also reiterated my offer to help her with post-process if she wanted it, and asked her to come to LinMac Photography on FB and check out my work. I also commented on several of her pictures, all in a very positive light.
A day or so later, I went back to her fan page, and noticed that she had deleted the comments I'd posted...the one on her wall, and those on her photos. Mind you, I can't post from MY fan page, just from my personal FB profile. I couldn't understand it. Nearest I could figure, she may have felt that by posting my page up there, I was trying to "steal" her business. This was NEVER my intent, of course.
It has been my experience that, as a photographer, you make friends with other photographers. They can help you out, and you can help them out. How? Well, of course there's technique in photography and processing with Photoshop and Lightroom and all that good stuff. But the bigger thing is that when you have a connection, a camaraderie with other photographers, you can throw work at them. If I'm booked on a certain day, and someone contacts me for another job that day, I'd definitely recommend them to a photographer I'm friends with! So it becomes a win-win situation for both of us. I would hope that other photographers would think of me as well.
I felt that this person was unjust in her judgment of me.
But the "I wonder" in my title?
She just requested my FRIENDSHIP on FB. Seriously. I thought about ignoring the request. And I considered sending a message asking "why bother?". But you know what? Instead, I chose to accept her request. And we'll see where it goes from there. Because I can grow and learn from experiences.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
I wonder...
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3 comments:
You never know what people are thinking when they do things online. It's probably good to accept the friendship, like you did, and see where it leads.
This is one of the things I hate about Facebook, Twitter and, frankly, all tools of social media: Something as simple as a status change or comment - or lack thereof - can touch off all sorts of stress and speculation.
Years ago, we'd simply talk it out. Today, we post stuff remotely and try to figure out what everyone else means. We have the most advanced tools of communications in history available to us, yet we don't communicate as well as we did when we simply chatted across the fence.
Good on you for accepting the request. She's probably clueless!
How weird. I have had similar experiences on FB (which quite frankly I find to be quite a cold and hostile place at times). Sometimes it's not worth figuring people out.
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