You don’t want to make your photos too obvious. You want the viewer to work hard to come up with his or her own interpretation of reality. You do this by adding mystery and removing context from your images:

"Photograph who you are!" - Bruce Gilden

that’s the arena of a work of art. It is to disturb, it to make you think, to make you feel.

Remember: you are not your photos. When people critique or criticize your photos, they aren't criticizing you. They're just judging your photos.

Human beings are uncomfortable with unambiguity, and they always want to see where they are in comparison to you.

There are two things that make a great photograph: content (what's in the frame) and form (how it is composed). You need a perfect marriage of these two elements to make a compelling image.

“I find that young people tend to stop too soon. They mimic something they’ve seen, but they don’t stay long enough. If you’re going to photograph anything, you have to spend a long time with it so your subconscious has a chance to bubble to the surface." - Bruce Davidson

as a photographer, we need to imbue meaning into the images we make.

There is no “objectivity” in photography. As a photographer, you are a filter of reality. You decide what to include in the frame, and what not to include in the frame.