Scott Kelby is one of the biggest names in the photography world. He’s not only a professional photographer he’s also a Photoshop expert, publisher of ‘Photoshop User Magazine’, has one of the most popular photography podcasts, and a weekly photography talk show called ‘The Grid’ (among other many things).

This week’s episode of ‘The Grid’ is a pretty powerful one. It’s called ‘The Power of the Unsolicited Critique’. He discusses his love for a Utah photographer named Regina Pagles. He was so enamored with her he sent her an email to get some advice on how she accomplishes such beautiful lighting and post processing in her photos. His email couldn’t have come at a better time. Regina had just received an nasty email from a “hater”. It impacted her so much that she hadn’t touched her camera since she received the email and actually considered quitting photography.

The discussion about fans, haters, the shield of the internet (that allows for extreme negativity), and what happens when you are really, really good at what you do is incredibly interesting. If you’ve ever been bashed or critiqued without solicitation — you need watch this. It’s an hour long but well worth the watch.

Scott thoughts mirror much of what I’ve already said before. If you’re successful or doing something really great there’s always going to be someone out there just waiting to tear you down. Nine times out of ten it’s from someone who is not even near your level and should not deter you in the least. An honest and useful critique will always come from someone who is better than you (or at least as good) in a particular field and someone who likes to see others succeed.

Thank goodness Scott reached out the Regina when he did. He’s an amazing an respected professional in the field and his email gave Regina the confidence to carry on.

Check out the episode below.