So, before my aunt passed away last year she said something about what to and what not to tell artists... What to tell then was that they had your support no matter what they produce, and that you're behind their creative choices. What not to tell them is what you think would sell - since then they would create art with sellability in mind and that would take away from their ideas and from the art its self.
That applies to photos because we all have to make the choice between selling and making money, or going forward with our artwork and live with the results. Granted, some of us will find that are work will be received well, some will find a cool reception, and so on.
This, our style, is the hardest thing to learn of everything we're going to do with photos. It is the next step past the technical skills we need, it's a step past from dabbling into fashion or kids, or whatever, it's what defines us from another person. Personally, and I'm a mid paced learner, it's taken me 4 years to define who I am, and I'm not even close yet. This doesn't happen overnight.
Once we find our style things become fun, we pay less attention to who is doing what, since we're all on the same level - our work separates ourselves. So it's a stress reliever to see that I'm different from someone else, or that my direction is just different enough from another person to give a client a choice.
=)
So it's something to work towards, and keep working at.
