Every Picture Is a Compromise
Lessons from the Also-rans
Most photography websites show the photographer's very best work. Wonderful. But that's not the full story of a creative life. If we want to learn, we'd better pay attention to the images that aren't "greatest hits" and see what lessons they have to offer. Every picture is a compromise — the sum of its parts, optical, technical, visual, emotional, and even cosmic – well, maybe not cosmic, but sometimes spiritual. Success on all fronts is rare. It's ok to learn from those that are not our best.
This is a series about my also-rans, some of which I've been able to improve at bit (i.e., "best effort"), none of which I would consider my best. With each there are lessons worth sharing, so I will.
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Original digital capture
What I saw that I liked:I've been told that these are rental costumes and that many of the young women whom one sees wearing these kimono are really Chinese tourists. What I don't like in the picture:Based on their incessant use of cell phones, I have no doubt they were tourists. I have 158 street portraits from this trip, and every one of them is looking at their cell phone. What I learned:I've read that the Japanese think the nape of the neck is a particularly important fashion statement. Just for fun, I thought I'd try that, but I still couldn't avoid the cell phone. Oh, well. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextI suppose this type of photography would to better if I could speak Japanese (or Chinese) better and could have switched from candid street portraits to posed compositions. Again, oh, well. And, by the way, it's not just the women.
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