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
Potential Project Ideas Week
I'm on a two-month long trip to the West coast to do some photography and a couple of presentations. This week, I'll explore some potential projects from my first couple of weeks on the road.
What I saw that I liked:
In rural Montana on US Route 87 is the little community of Carter. Lots of grain distribution there.
What I don't like in the picture:
As we drove by, the sky was a steel gray from the haze and smoke from nearby fires. The camera may have seen the above, but my mind's eye saw the high-key images like the one at left.
Is this a potential project?
Absolutely. In roughly 90 minutes, I captured 51 RAW files consisting of 33 compositions. I'll not only end up with a Seeing in SIXES project from this, but possibly something else with many more. This was a very fun 90 minutes and the kind of experience I love to have while I'm out photographing.
Additional comments:
I know that some photographers might be tempted to remove the power lines and Adobe has a new feature that will do that with the click of a button in Photoshop. Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. I like the swoop of those lines, so they are staying in. In fact, I cropped out some of the sky above them to get them into a more prominent position in the composition. |
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