Smith Rock State Park, Oregon. (Camera: Hasselblad 503cx; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)
This was an interesting year for me in photography. Here are seven shots that I posted in 2016. The odd number reflects the oddness of the year.
This was the year learned how to not take pictures. I know that might sound like blasphemy to those who subscribe to the school of thought that says you only improve by shooting lots and lots of photos, but I feel as though I finally reached the point where I knew when not to press the shutter. And it took a while to get there.
I did more real-time editing in the viewfinder than I did in my “shoot now, ask questions later” phase. I tried to remember to consider whether or not the picture I was about to take was something that I’d be happy to see again once the roll was developed. If the answer was no, I didn’t take it. As a result, I made fewer exposures this year, but I like to think I got a higher percentage of keepers. And of those, here are the ones that, at the moment, I like the best:
(Click on an image below to start the slide show.)
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Hi, Gary.
The library one is my personal favourite this year. I can’t quite explain why, but the composition feels right despite not being perfectly centered, and overall mood of the picture is calm, if it makes any sense.
I’ve been reading your blog for two years now, and it seems like what you wrote on not taking pictures also applies to your blog. Or at least it seems like posts are less frequent then they were a year and a half ago.
Anyway, hope you’ll have a great year, with many pictures worth seeing a second time.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks for the kind words Peter.
Yes, I’ve been posting fewer images, largely as a function of taking fewer. But I also try to post only when I feel I have something worth posting. Creativity (regrettably) doesn’t run on a schedule, at least for me. I think a common mistake a lot of photographers (and other creative people) make is committing to a regular schedule, be it a photo a day or a roll a week, or whatever. You can get trapped into posting stuff that might not be your best work. I try not to do that. And while the pictures that appear here may not appeal to very many people (or even be particularly good), they do represent the best I’m capable of. That’s really all I can offer.