I was just reflecting on NUMBER of photographs we are all creating these days… thousands, tens of thousands… It’s overwhelming. In fact, it is so overwhelming, that we see articles all the time about optimizing our workflow, tips for maximizing our productivity in cranking out even MORE photographs, presets and plugins that increase our efficiency in pumping out quality images with less editing time.
Don’t get me wrong, we ARE able to create excellent images with the currently available tools, but so much of the focus seems to be on QUANTITY. We have to get those pictures edited quickly so we can get them posted on instagram, facebook, on our blogs, and a long list of other social media and image sharing websites. That way we can get our affirmation from the world about how great we are. We want more “likes” because if we get more “likes”, we must be doing something right. We want to win more online photo contests, because, well more is better, I guess. (?)
Having learned photography back in the “good old days” of film, and knowing the long hours I spent in my darkroom painstakingly working on creating one good image, I am finding myself sort of missing those days. The focus was more on “let me get this ONE image just right”, rather than the stress of “how do I quickly perfect these 4000 photographs I took last week on vacation?” Who the heck is going to look at all those photos anyway? 😉
Sometimes I feel like I am on this treadmill of cranking out more and more images, and someone keeps turning up the speed faster and faster. Who the heck is turning up that treadmill?? Wait, is it ME?
Maybe it is time to slow down, and focus on creating a few great images, and ignore all this talk about optimizing workflows and pumping out large quantities of images.
“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” – Ansel Adams
Dear Ansel Adams, What would you have done in this “digital age” of photography? Instead of using your view camera, if you were using a digital camera, would you still say that twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop? Somehow I think you would have.
Note to self: S-L-O-W D-O-W-N
Focus on quality over quantity.
Kevin Gourley
I totally agree! A comment you made in one of your classes, which has stuck with me, is to try to “get it right in the camera”. When I slow down in the field, check my settings and histogram, I find I “get it (closer to) right” more often, (but not always) and I take fewer shots. I find I feel more pride in a picture taken that I need to do little to no post-processing then one I have to “fix” in post.