Dawson Tire, Dawson GA, 2011
When we look at the work of any accomplished photographer we assume that every time that he or she goes out photographing their resulting photographs are destine for museum walls. After all, most every Ansel Adams photograph I have even seen has been perfect. The thing is, that Adams is known for about 300 or 400 images that have become shown on a regular basis, but he made thousands of images that have never made it to the print phase. The fact is that we have only seen the best work of some of the photographers who we have grown to respect and admire. Of any given photographer there are, for every good photograph made, hundreds of those that did not make the cut. Some of these images are pretty good, and we would have not minded taking them, but if we were to look deep in the inner reaches of any photographer’s collection we would find many images that just are not that good.
How can a well-known professional photographer, who has made many great pictures, have any duds? It is my guess that his duds played a roll in many of his or her great images. While I do not think that anyone thinks of me as a great photographer, I try as much as I can to take as many photos of a given subject as I can think of. Any group of these images fall into three groups: there will be some that are down right bad, I should have never wasted the pixels taking the image. What was I thinking? There will be another group that are OK, good compositions and exposures, but nothing special. The last and smallest group is where I hit the home run, out of the park. I have been doing photography for sometime, so how come I had that group of bad photographs? Really great photography is not done without risk. That is not to say that you are putting your well being at risk, but in every photograph one should take visual risks. It is the visual risks that allow us to explore the deeper possibilities of what a photograph can mean. So when taking photographs, taking visual risks allow for the opportunity to make an image that is special, but as is true with taking risk we may also make an image that is shot down in flames. The risk did not pay off. When they work, the photograph is something special, when it doesn’t we cannot hit the delete button soon enough less the person we are photographing with see it and makes fun of us. With risk there are many rewards, but there is also peril. In the end, no one has to see the stinkers, and in fact that is why they have a trash button, but one has to give them credit for the role they played in getting the better image.
The best photographers that I have known are those who are fearless in making their images. They do so knowing that the visual risks that they take are not always going to work out. But when they do, it is often times those images that they make their mark with.
Surely no one you go out and photograph with regularly would make fun of your misses. : ) I think this idea of being willing to risk failure in pursuit of greatness gets lost today in our world of “getting it done,” which doesn’t give time for reflection, careful consideration or editing, and “getting it right,” which makes people fearful to let their weaknesses show.