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:Walking through a village in rural China, I rounded a corner and saw this guy working these pots of steaming somethint or other. What I don't like in the picture:What guy? Precisely. Just as I was lifting the camera to my eye, he walked out of the frame. He hadn't seen me, he just needed to go inside, I guess, to get something. I waited a few minutes, but he didn't come back out. Damn. What I learned:Make lemonaide. The picture would have been better with the guy in it, but the steaming pots were still interesting. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextI wish now I'd have had the presence of mind to ask my driver or translator to knock on the door and ask him if he'd come out for a portrait. He might have said no, but since we didn't ask, we'll never know. |
