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:LOL! We all have this picture — the one where you accidently trigger the shutter as you are putting the camera back into the car. This is an image of my photo vest. What I do like in the picture:Accidents are sometimes a doorway to an idea. When I saw this accidental exposure in Lightroom after importing the day's images, I realized I have a bunch of "cloth" abstracts. Hmmm.... What I learned:I found quite a number of cloth abstracts and pulled them together into a project titled, The Light Gives Rise to the Dark. I found nine cloth abstracts to use in this project. I did not use the one of my photo vest. Nonetheless, without that accidental trigger release, I may never have come up with this project idea. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextMaybe I could do some of these on purpose — bundles of cloth arranged for the purpose of photographing them. Interesting . . . |
