Well clarified! But is this another vote for Grant's take of the selfishness of the photographic exercise?
hmm I don't think so (provided I understand him correctly), for me the resulting photo, and my own and others' response to it, are the reason I photograph. That said, I do see some similarities to his feelings and mine...
I'm definitely hesitant to post some of my photos online... Not so much the ones where I try to make a pretty or strong picture, because I'm quite sure I can grow to a level where I'm satisfied with the "pretty pictures" I take, and I feel it's just important to take my time, practice a lot, and put them out there to see how others feel about them so that I can become a better photographer. I must admit that my own level of satisfaction with a photo does increase greatly if others like it too!
I'm much more hesitant about those photos which are more a reflection on my inner self, my feelings, the things I'm attracted to, what I dream about, how I interpret certain concepts or phenomena etcetera (this also includes some of my "documentary" photos, but not all of them). It's exactly because they reflect my inner self to a greater degree than "just a pretty picture"-photos that it's a bit scary to post them, especially if I myself don't fully understand what is being reflected yet; it's more comfortable to keep them close to my chest so to speak, and try to decipher them on my own.
Ultimately, I think displaying my photos can be a very useful tool to grow as a photographer ("pretty pictures"), and perhaps through other people's response to my "reflective" photos I'll be able to increase my understanding of myself too, but so far I'm being very selective about the people to whom I'm willing to show these.