As a character, I am very helpful, kind, and generous; however, I am touchy and involuntarily a little arrogant, and in some cases, I have little patience.
I have been enrolled in a famous photographic club in my city for a long time. I got tired of internal politics, of the various groups of people created for personal interests that rarely had anything to do with photography; it became a loss of time. I stayed in touch with them; sometimes, I bring them some photographic presentations or propose and present some famous guests. Still, I no longer have an interest in attending him assiduously. When the compromises to be accepted outweigh the benefits, I tend to change direction quickly. I'm already married, and that's enough for me.
Contests can undoubtedly provide important information. However, I'm not very competitive, so I tend not to sign up. I did it at the time of the photographic club more to participate in internal initiatives or at the insistence of others.
Apart from some gratification to my ego, which in any case interests me little, I have never received significant help that would allow me to improve. If the image is beautiful, it reaches important positions or is rewarded. If it is not, it is discarded without a justification, or at least, I have never had any.
I prefer to ask for an opinion from a greater mass of people, such as on a forum. The amount of comments is another essential aspect to evaluate.
If I were to one day turn this passion into a business, I think it would be handy to understand the approval rating of a photo.
The comments received will always be evaluated from person to person. Still, looking at the type of photos proposed by those who commented on mine, it is easy to get an idea of how important his comment can have without necessarily creating a debate.
In the list of my photographer friends, some have a significant artistic vein, and others are very technical. Knowing these characteristics, I can get an idea of the type of comment I will receive in return.
For example, I posted some technically questionable "panning" photos on this blog some time ago. Some of you have made very constructive comments which I appreciated. Thank you.
Most of my "artist" friends appreciated those photos for graphics, while many of my "technical" friends criticized them for not conforming to the standards of that technique. Both opinions have been beneficial to me.
In my city, there is no well-organized photographic club like that described in the post above by Mr. O. I'm not so lucky.