Brooks Jensen Arts - Every Picture Is a Compromise

Site Table of Contents
Complete List of Projects

Kokoro
Bi-monthly PDF Image Journal

Every Picture is a Compromise
A Series About Keepers, Also-rans, and Learning from Mistakes

On Creativity
Books, articles, podcast

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.

Click on the image to see it larger

Previous image | Next image

Original digital capture

Click on the image to see it larger

More fun with Film Noir

Last week was Film Noir week. I had so much fun processing images for that film noir look that I have another five for this week. I'm starting to think about how to string these together with text or voice over to tell a hard-boiled story. Now I just need to practice my Humphrey Bogart delivery.

What I saw that I liked:

As a "straight photograph," the image above is not very interesting. The shape is fun, but out of context it is undecipherable.

What I learned:

Context is everything. This warped an distorted shape fits right into the film noir aesthetic. Twisting and distorting reality is a common trope in Film Noir cinematography. I didn't make this distortion in Photoshop or something. The shadow's shape comes from the curved surface of the underside of the ship.