3-HOUR WORKSHOP · LIVE & ONLINE
Learn How to Critique
Learn to give and take honest, useful feedback as a group.
3 hours
You choose the date and time
Small group
Up to 6 people
£270
Live with Emma, online
Good critique is one of the fastest ways to improve and one of the hardest things to do well. Too gentle and it doesn’t help; too blunt and it puts people off picking up the camera at all. Most of us have sat through both kinds and know exactly how each one feels.
This is a small, live session for up to six people: either a group who already know each other, or individuals who’d like to form a critique group together. We’ll learn a simple, repeatable way to look at any photograph, describe what’s working, and offer feedback that builds people up rather than deflating them. Because you learn it together, you’ll share a common language by the end.
The whole point is that you don’t need me afterwards. You’ll leave able to run your own critique sessions (and, if you came as strangers, with a ready-made group to run them with).
This is for you if you want to grow through honest feedback, whether you’re booking as a group of friends or joining to find your people.
Interested? Start by getting in touch here.
Once she has your details Emma will be in touch to find out more about your group (or let you know about a forming group if that’s what you want), and then agree a time and date that suits you.
Nobody ever teaches you how to critique
Here’s the odd thing about critique: almost no one is ever taught how to do it. In most camera clubs it falls to the longest-serving members, and (through no fault of their own) that often means feedback that only points out what’s wrong with a photograph, rather than starting a conversation about what you were trying to do and building from there.
I’m a teacher, and useful critique is a skill I can teach you. It isn’t saying nice things because you’re worried you’ll upset someone; that helps no one. And it isn’t listing faults, either. It’s learning to start with the photographer’s own goals, and work forward from those.
That’s why you learn it together, as a group. When everyone learns the same approach at the same time, you all come to see that none of this is personal. You’ll leave with the tools and techniques to run genuinely supportive, collaborative critique sessions of your own; the kind where the goal is simple – everyone leaves feeling they’ve been heard.
How the session runs
We practise both sides of a good critique (giving it and receiving it) and how to hold it together as a group. I’ll start by explaining the difference between judging a photograph and critiquing it, because they’re not the same thing at all.
When you are giving the critique
✓ You’ll learn to describe a photograph factually first, with no opinion attached; just what’s actually there.
✓ I’ll give you ready-made phrases for making suggestions without crushing the person who made it.
✓ And I’ll show you how to add your opinion in a way that leaves the photographer free to keep an open mind, rather than feeling told.
When it’s your photograph on the screen
✓ You’ll learn to listen to a factual description of your own photo without feeling judged; which is exactly where the insights live, in the things you hadn’t noticed.
✓ I’ll help you put a little distance between you and your picture, so it’s clear it’s the photograph being talked about, not you.
✓ And I’ll show you how to keep an open mind about everything that’s said, so you can decide from a place of strength what to carry forward and what to leave behind.
As a group
You’ll stay friends, and you’ll grow together. You’ll end up as proud of each other’s improvements as you are of your own.
All the sessions run online on Zoom. They are not recorded. Worksheets summarising the session will be available to keep.
You’ll need a stable internet connection and a willingness to try something new.
By the end of the day you’ll be able to say:
✓ I have a calm, repeatable way of talking about any photograph.
✓ I can give honest feedback that encourages rather than deflates.
✓ I can listen feedback without immediately being defensive.
✓ I have a critique group and the confidence to keep it going.
At a glance:
FORMAT
A live, online session for up to 6 people who know each other or who’d like to form a critique group together.
WHEN
3 hours at a time convenient to you.
PRICE
£270 for the session, whether that’s two of you or all six.
Ready to go? Start by getting in touch here.
Once she has your details Emma will be in touch to find out more about your group (or let you know about a forming group if that’s what you want), and then agree a time and date that suits you.