My many years teaching educational psychology taught me the importance of a safe learning environments where students support one another as opposed to competing with one another. When I retired and became a “photography learner” I quickly realized that working with other amateur photographers would improve my photography. Learning together in a peer mentor program would improve all of our skills if the environment were safe, respectful, and supportive.
After sharing my own photo challenges in the 2015-16 FirstAnAmateur.com blog I decided to create a Peer Mentor Program for photography. It started slowly with about 6 amateur photographers. We met once a month for a photo shoot and a group meeting. Our monthly meeting focused on getting to know one another, discussing basic camera issues, and what I called Informal Critiques. These critiques emphasized learning from one another in a way that will help everyone improve their photography.
At our second meeting I introduced how to give feedback at our Informal Critiques. I had taught interpersonal communication to teachers for many years with a emphasis on the difference between Evaluative Feedback and Informational Feedback. Most of the peer mentors had received comments on their photographs on social media where evaluative feedback was not very helpful. Evaluative Feedback is a simple statement of support or non-support (e.g., awesome photo, beautiful, etc) without any explanation of what was “awesome” about the photo.
I emphasized the importance of Informational Feedback to help each of us improve our photography. Informational feedback is a thoughtful explanation of why the photo is good or how it might be improved. It requires some understanding of photography or art but does not require photo jargon. This type of feedback is valuable to the photographer who took the image, and also to everyone else in the group. This emphasis on respectful Informational Feedback is still a foundation of the Peer Mentor Program.
I started the third peer mentor meeting in summer of 2016 with two questions about their improvement in photography and a discussion:
How far has your photography improved compared to other photographers?
and
How far has your photography improved today compared to when you joined the PMP?
This led to an interesting discussion that allowed me to suggest that the key to all of our success was NOT how we compared to others, but rather how each of us had improved over time. I suggested that some of us were likely to be motivated by inter-personal competition; comparing themselves and their photos to others. Others in the group were likely to be motivated by intra-personal competition; comparing their own photo improvement to their prior photos. It is interesting to read the recent peer mentor survey (2020) to see how some peer mentors enjoy competition (inter-personal competition) while others are not particularly motivated by inter-personal competition. More on that in a later blog post.
During the first few months the Peer Mentor Program grew from 6 to about a dozen members who had gotten to know one another personally and also photographically. The photographic experience, skill level, and post-processing was quite broad across the group, but the personal connection was developing with support. We were learning about the photography of one another (Canon or Nikon, Landscape or Wildlife, etc.) and learning from one another. We had successfully built a respectful safe learning environment where we supported one another by answering questions and guiding learning. We were photographically different on many skills, interests, and motivations but we were developing a sense of community that was about support not interpersonal competition.
The sense of community among the PMP members was growing in a very different way than what might be the result from “monthly competition”. The peer mentors attend the meeting to help one another, not to “beat” one another. Often peer mentors asked the group for help, whether that related to the menu on their camera or an image adjustment in Lightroom. We had created an environment where we recognized that Success was not always easy and Success was often the result of extensive hard work.
Please understand that I am NOT suggesting that there is not a place for “monthly competition” and “critical feedback”. But for many amateur photographers it is difficult to feel comfortable beginning what may be seen as a complicated learning process with a competitive group. The 2020 Blog will not take a step-by-step journey through the 3 years of the Peer Mentor Program, but I hope to share some of the critical characteristics of the program that kept amateur photographers with all levels of photographic skills involved and contributing to the program.
It’s scary to put your photographic work out there. “What will other think?” is our fear. Sadly, that comes from our experience in middle school. The best thing about a program like the Peer Mentors is that feedback is positive and constructive. You learn and you grow into a better photographer.
The more I read your blog the more I am convinced that I missed an excellent opportunity to learn from you. And I was not one of your students, I was your boss.
I’m still a teacher and glad I can help you learn. AND you were one hell of a boss 🙂 that gave me both evaluative feedback and informational feedback.
Certainly Randy’s Peer Mentor Program has helped its members grow their photographic skills to various degrees, but personally I also enjoy the social aspect to what can otherwise be a solitary pursuit. It is just fun to get together with other locals for a photo shoot or for a meeting where photos are critiqued and different topics are discussed. There is a real sense of community.
Our peer mentor community is really helpful to folks of all levels of skill. And it keeps me, and I think us, motivated to get out there for a photo shoot and come back with a theme photo and a pair or photos for everyone to critique. Right now we are faced with sticking this out alone 🙁 , which is the right thing to do, but I’m getting a bit antsy to get back to work with all my peer mentor buddies.
There is a place for both informational feedback and evaluative feedback in improving one’s photographic skills. In our photography club of over 400 members in Sun City Hilton Head, the motto is “Friends Helping Friends.” This is not just a motto, it is a way of living within the club. While we have monthly competitions, of the 400 members, only about 20% participate, and that works for them. However, during the majority of the club’s activities, there is an expansive educational program which is formalized, but there are many, many help sessions held during the week from unstructured walk-in assistance, special interest groups, and creativity sessions. Further, the club sponsors an abundance of field trips year-round which promotes camaraderie and creativity.
It is difficult for most people to improve based soley on evaluative feedback. Evaluative feedback ONLY makes a statement of something being good or bad, it does not give any explanation of WHY they believe it is good or bad. Facebook is almost always a place where only evaluative feedback is given. For example, many folks post photographs on their Facebook page but I would guess that more that 80% of the comments on the photographs are Evaluative Feedback with no explanation of why they believe the photo is good or bad. It is certainly possible that members of a photography club who were very devoted to their photography could advance thru Evaluative Feedback if they were involved in regular competition on a regular basis AND they were confident in their photography. But for new photographers this is much more difficult. Let me give another example outside of photography that an English major should be able to follow. Which would be more helpful to a high school or college student in an English class; getting a paper returned with an A or an F, or getting a paper returned with an A or an F with a lot of specific comments about WHY the student received an A or an F? Informational Feedback and Evaluative Feedback can both be valuable but for the vast majority of most people they are more likely to learn from Informational Feedback. Thanks for your comment Tom and thanks for the information about your photography club.
Tom, Having a very large photography club that has many levels of skills, motivation, and competitive spirit is oh-so valuable to the members. Having welcoming programs for new photographers with basic questions, growing amateur photographers that can choose to join the competition or simply join the photo shoot, and serious amateurs who enjoy the evaluative feedback from a juror leads to a growing club. Being able to meet the needs of all these levels is critical and size matter.