What is Reddit's opinion of Sam Abell: The Photographic Life?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

IMO don't feel a lack of ability/expertise somehow makes your opinion less.

It's exceptionally difficult to make art and get any sort of actual feedback. Read through the rest of the posts in this thread - this is what people say. "Wow, that's great! You're so talented" with maybe one or two quibbles.

Maybe people don't want to offend. Many simply have no concept of art and even what 'they like' to refer to. Some people perhaps feel they need to be a qualified artist to opine about particular art. I like to cook. I give people my food, and they say 'ooh, that's good,' but they can't give any sort of meaningful critisim of the food. They're not Alton Brown, after all...right?

My dad likes to show me photos he's taken. I like to rip them to shreds. I'm no expert and it's pretty easy to do. He'll show me a picture, and I'll simply reply 'but everyone else has that same perspective as that event, as well' simply because he took the picture as he was walking up to whatever object - more or less the same height as everyone else views the subject. Or he'll take it during midday - and the colors will be washed out. Or whatever. But, it's things to think about the next time he's out taking photos.

One can make unconscious art. One can simply start drawing something or whatever. But, IMO anyways, to improve, you have to make conscious decisions about your art. When I go out and take photos, I'll find some subject, and just take a picture of it. But when I want to get better at it, I think about how I can make the subject more interesting. While the saying goes 'a photo never lies,' in reality, a photo is all lies*. How to adjust the shot to make the photo interesting is the art of photography, not simply clicking the button. But, one doesn't think about improvement unless one gets feedback on ones art.

Granted, there's two different types of feedback - a trained individual is going to give very different feedback than someone who isn't. But that doesn't mean the untrained feedback isn't any less valid.

• That thumbnail doesn't remotely do it justice. This book is an amazing book to look through. It shows the before/after shots of some of Sam Abell's famous photos. That 'fallen tree' is actually a pretty small branch of a tree - I seem to remember it basically being a twig. There's another excellent photo in that book of what looks like palm trees on the top of a dune in a desert. Turns out they're just small flowers along the crest of the dune.