In my recent session with her, she has come to me and asked me for my suggestion on her recent struggles.
She was planning to conduct a photographic project. This project is going to be a part of her submission this term. She is a fashion media student; and this project is going to be like a fashion stylist shooting.
Here is how the story goes. She really wanted to use an outfit that belongs to another student (who is also my student). She does not want the other student to have creative input. However, she wants to borrow the outfit from that students. She said the outfit belongs to the other student, but the styling idea belongs to her.
She wanted to ask me about how she could negotiate with the other student.
This is very interesting because she was saying that she thinks she is better than the other student; and that the creative input from the other student would ruin the whole photographic project. However, she could not financially afford the outfit, so she wants to use the outfit but nothing else from that student.
The problem now is: why would that student want to lend her the outfit if that student doesn’t partake in the project artistically?
As a result, I was telling her that she and the other student want different things.
She wants to have the outfit; and that student wants to have a creative input.
“In other words, you want A and that student wants B, which is okay. It would only be a problem if you want A and that student wants NOT A,” I said. Thus, I told her that she could allow that student to be one of the photopapers, but then she could make sure they take different set of images. She could make sure she is in total control of her own pictures.
Again, as I mentioned before, she is a bit arrogant and looks down on the other students. I think she has a very straight sense of vision, and she doesn’t let anybody or anything (like the site of photography) change her vision. I told her that I think it’s better for her to be a bit more flexible; and allow happy accidents to happen. “What’s the fun of it if you know exactly what you get and you get exactly what you want to get?” I asked her.
Meanwhile, she is very anxious about the submission. She kept asking me, “What would happened if I fail? What would happened if I fail?“ I tried to comfort her by saying that she was on the right track and was not going to fail.
She pays too much attention to the quality of her work and forgets to have fun. I have told her that, according to a pedagogical experiment (for which I cannot find the source), paying too much attention to the quality does not necessarily lead to the production of quality work.
In a pedagogical experiment, a professor asked one group of students to pay attention to the quantity instead of quality; and asked the other group of students to pay attention to the quality instead of quantity. It turns out the students who pay more attention to the quantity actually produce better works. This is because those students are less anxious about producing works.
She understood my suggestions very well. I have been trying to lead her to an appreciate direction. She is both arrogant and anxious; and she is very straight-minded about her work. Therefore, I did encourage her to be a bit more humble and less anxious; and enjoy the happy accidents from the space (site), time, and collaborator.
There was a plot twist. At the end of the session, she told me that I am her favourite teacher. She went from being very upset about my grading to saying I am her favourite teacher. I am glad that at least she is willing to take in the suggestions nicely. It seems like now she is struggling both artistically and emotionally. I hope I could guide her to be a better artist with a better mentality.