My good friend/author/photographer/digital darkroom expert Rob Sheppard recently sent me this note. I thought it was well worth sharing.

Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. This picture has nothing to do with this post, except that it was in one of my books, Flying Flowers.

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Hi Rick --

I am a big fan of Seth Godin and have been reading his book, Tribes (which you actually know all about). Anyway, I read his section on criticism and thought about of our experiences with reviews on Amazon.com. He says this:

(Talking about criticism and bad reviews of his books) "One bad review doesn't ruin my day because I realize what a badge of honor it is to get a bit of criticism at all. [By and large, most books are ignored.] It means that I confounded expectations -- that I didn't deliver the sequel or the simple, practical guide that some expected. It means, in fact, that I did something worth remarking on."

That is an interesting idea and a different attitude. He ends this section with a very unexpected idea:

"How can I create something that critics will criticize?"

Rob