I had mentioned in the previous post that relaxing a bit on the whole 35 images thing might be a good idea. My comment was more about the desire to not compromise my own preferences just to make up the numbers, as opposed to making a declaration that I wouldn't follow the rules of the project to aim for 35. The goal is still 35 - I'm sure I will take many, many pictures, getting to 35 isn't really difficult - it's getting to 35 "keepers" that will be the tricky part. And I think I would be much more satisfied with the resulting PDF if every image in there was one I really liked and wanted to include - which may ultimately be less than 35 in number. I won't beat myself up about it, if that ends up being the case.
I've been thinking lately about perfectionism (I have it, oddly, concerning some things and yet not for other things) - basically my tendency to hold myself up to standards so impossible that it frequently becomes more of a roadblock than a benefit. For the SoFo book up to now, I've been thinking only in terms of producing shots that others will find interesting - and being perhaps overly concerned about audience. Considering the audience is a perfectly reasonable strategy, don't get me wrong, but perhaps not so much when that strategy gets in the way of producing something that I myself like. I don't just want to finish the project, I want to finish it with a body of images I feel 100% ok about.
So why should I care if any one viewer happens by my SoFo book and likes only some of the images, or even not any? I have loads of books by photographers I like, but I can truthfully say I don't like everything they have produced - some images just don't speak to me. But I get the books, and keep them. So why go about thinking that I have to hit the ball out of the park with each and every image, for each and every viewer? Ridiculous. I don't hold other photographers to that impossible standard (You must PLEASE me! Always!), so I shouldn't hold myself to it, either.
Odds are if I just go with what I like, there will be at least one or two people out there for each image who will like it too. And that is enough.
I think your right in being selective in what to include in your book. If I were to produce something with pictures I don't like, I would probably be equally proud of it as were it a half descent school project from a 10 years old. I will have that strategy as well.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I don't worry too much about audience (well I do consider audience as a starting point) once I get into the "work". I try to follow a compass into unknown territory to see what I will discover. In the end, any photo book is a story about the psyche of the photographer than it is about the photos. In saying this, I qualify that statement with the notion that the photo book isn't about meeting a commercial assignment such as a photo presentation of a sports team or a new edition of a car, etc. Being selective after wandering through a photo exploration is about listening to inner voices. You have said it well.
ReplyDeleteRobert
I don't know much about photo books, and nothing at all about FoMoJoBo or whatever it is, but I do know about pictures of giant grass, and this one is of the top rank. Rank ... giant grass ... there's a little joke in there. Get it?
ReplyDeleteI also know that I have never been happier in my photographs than I am now, when I make images to please only me.
But I could not make them without all the influences I have absorbed from you & Rachel & Zeus and a few others. So I suppose you could say I make photographs for a select audience after all, just by way of a tribute and a thank you. I'm happiest with a small audience anyway ... I'd rather be Tom Waits than Cold Play.