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
Images that led to projects
In my Here's a Thought … commentary #2530 Searching For the Thread That Binds, I proposed that a project can grow out of a single image. In fact, sometimes multiple project can grow from the same image. This week will be examples from my Kokoro publication of projects and the thread that binds them into a unified artistic expression.
What I saw that I liked:
I mentioned here that the above image was used in two projects. This is the other one.
The Possible Threads:
My childhood home had several pine trees on the property. Perhaps that explains why I have so many photographs of pines.
The Project:
The image above was the seed — a simple project of looking up at pines with a sky-filled background. I had lots to choose from. I didn't have to include the image at left, but I just loved the way this tree was leaning out over the edge of a cliff. The problem was that the hillside in the background was defeating the sense I wanted. See the image left and below. This one required a lot of deleting and cloning, as you can see. Yet another example that it is less important what we "take" than it is what we "make."
Here is a link to the PDF with this project.
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