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:Fall color cranked up to 11 — by Nature, not by Photoshop. What I don't like in the picture:The colorful tree above is lovely. That's about it. What else could I say or could we get from this image? It's pretty. Move on. What I learned:Add the road to the colorful trees and the image gets much more inviting. I can easily imagine walking down this road. I wonder what I'd find there? And just like that, my imagination is engaged. That's the real difference between these two image — the image at left prods our participation through imagination, the image above is a simple declarative statement. The one above is about color (oh, wow), and the one at left is about a journey we might launch. |
