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.
|
Original digital capture
What I saw that I liked:This old seesaw was found in the yard of a one-room school house in rural North Dakota. What I don't like in the picture:I used this image in Kokoro #31 in a project titled, Home Base in 2015. In reviewing the images from that school yard, I now realize the one at left would have been a better choice. The big rock above doesn't add any context to the seesaw, but the school at left does. What was I thinking? What I learned:Everything we produce is a function of our artistic decisions at that moment. But we change and (hopefully) mature. That's why I date my work when I made it, as well as when I capture it. If I were to revise this project today, the one above would be out and the one at left would be in. I wonder how I'll feel about this in another ten years? 2nd Chances: What I might try nextAn unfortunate merge between the right end of the seesaw and the background. I wish I'd lowered the camera about a foot. |
