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:The color of the water in Hawaii was simply gorgeous. What I don't like in the picture:I'll admit that the version above is very bland. What I learned:I stood in this same spot and shot 287 different captures. Most of them are as bad as the one above. That said, a lot of them have an abstract pattern to them (like the one at left) that are subliminally interesting. The reason to shot the 287 is to have the potential to find what is interesting later, back home, when we have time to really look and see what was there. This required an amount of faith and perseverance, but it's amazing how many times I find a project in the midst of the unorganized chaos. |
