Do you find it hard to pick one shot?
I apologize in advance for what I think may be a long-winded post. I love to talk and write about photography (and think in the process).
I take too many photos. Always have. I use as an excuse and a motto a quote I once heard on my favorite podcast: "I have never regretted taking a photo. I have regretted many a time not taking one." Well, I have never regretted taking a photo, but I do regret taking 10 where I could have taken one.
With photography, I am like a railroad car the strongman pulls by the chain. At first, it's impossible to budge. Then it is squeaking and grinding as it starts moving. And then, as it picks up speed, it is impossible to stop -- and it may run over the guy if he is not careful.
I find it hard to take the first photo or two, but after that I am on a roll. I sometimes want to switch to film just so I have to control myself. (But not really).
Take today for example. There was fog in the morning, so I pulled over and photographed some trees and signs in the fog, and the cars driving in and out of the fog. I thought if I don't shoot anything else for the rest of the day, I definitely have a shot there.
Then I ate breakfast at my favorite Friday place and as I waited for my food to arrive, and even long after it arrived, I kept shooting people surreptitiously from the table with my long lens, because some had a good a beard, some were well lit, some had cool makeup, and some had all of the above. I definitely had a shot of the day after that.
My food arrived, and it was a bagel with eggs, Canadian bacon and melted cheddar cheese, and it was cut in half. I framed it with my iPhone, but decided, nah, I already had a good shot.
And then as I was driving from the bagel place to work, I saw a guy on a bike with a giant plastic bag filled with plastic bottles and other recyclables. The bag was easily twice the size of the guy, and I wondered how he sees the road or keeps balance. So I followed him and shot him a few times from the back. Eventually, someone who had a lot of recyclables they were carrying, flagged him and handed his recyclables to him so he could make a few cents on them. I shot him head on this time, and got his attention, and he told me that it was illegal to shoot in public and I said no it wasn't. I offered to delete the photos if they made him unhappy, he said don't bother, he could use some money though. I should have given him a dollar, but didn't. After all, he just picked up a goodish amount of plastic easily convertible into cash up the street, which is where he was headed all along. In hindsight, I wish I had given him money and asked for a chance to take a proper, not so rushed photo. Or just given him money. Either way, I peeked at the photos I snapped and some of them would be good enough for a shot of the day.
Then I was determined to make it to work without being late, but saw some interesting patterned morning shadows on the wall and pulled over and shot those. I don't think I was going to get a shot better than anything I had already taken, but I was steamrolling by now. Choo-choo!
Then I pulled into the parking garage and as I was walking towards the building, I noted how prettily a sporty, angly Chevy was reflecting our very nice looking building in its hood with its many ridges, slopes and angles. So I went back for the camera and shot the car and the reflections for a while.
I noticed that there was an infinite ways the same building reflects from the same car if you keep changing your angle and distance, and that it reflects differently from other cars. So I started shooting all the different reflections I could find. I went to the next level and then to the roof. Then I decided that I was going to do a project and call it something like "Our Reflections of PL" , PL being an acronym for my company as well as Poland. We have an intranet site that publishes stories by the volunteer employee correspondents, and I knew they would eat this idea up.
I shot about 40 more images of about 8 more cars. Some came out very, very good, and will definitely be in my project, but also they are as good as any shots of the fog, strangers at the cafe, or the recycling guy I had taken.
And the day has just begun.
I know the moment will come, and it may not be far, when I have shot and posted everything in the vicinity of my office and along my commute route, and I will wish I had left some subjects untouched. Re-shooting them for the purpose of posting to Tookapic will feel weird. Or it may feel good, and I may get better in the process.
And now, since I put a question in the subject, and so that this talk is not all about me, me, me:
Do you find it hard to pick just one photo for your 365 project? And how often do you think as you have taken the photo that it is the one?
For me the answers are:
"Incredibly" and "Almost never". And when I do, I usually prove myself wrong later. An exception was the photo of the girl in the park doing yoga tookapic.com/photos/522996. That was a no-brainer from the moment I saw her to the moment I posted. Just had to pick between three equally good shots of her :) Took me about 1/2 hour.
I reflected on how hard (and often dissatisfying) it is for me to pick just one photo in the story behind this photo I posted yesterday: tookapic.com/photos/525650
You may say, and you will be right, that this is a good problem to have. Before Tookapic I did not take any photos for weeks, and now I have too many good ones every day. So am I complaining? Not really, just musing.
Thanks for listening.
Now tell me about your experience with too many vs. not enough, and whether you feel like a railway car or the guy pulling it.
ponzu Do you ever regret selecting a photo, especially if it was a hard decision, based on a reaction -- or lack thereof -- from Tookapic?
Do you select a photo, consciously or subconsciously, to get the most likes? Or to be the best representation of your day as a whole? Or just your favorite image of the day?
P.S. Your Chernobyl work is outstanding. Hope it was safe for you. It might please you to know that the moment I saw "steering room" I wondered if it was from Chernobyl.
ponzu You know, I don't select photo to get likes either. But I have been taught by my past experiences, that it is incredibly hard for the photographer to pick his own best shot -- that's what this thread is largely about.
Because we have experienced the moment, we experience the shot through our impressions and memories of the moment, and of our experience making the shot. None of that is present in the photo as it is viewed by others. Only our skill at translating our experience and emotions into the photographic media. The Likes (and more so the comments) are a decent measure of our success at this difficult task.
Of course, one can approach the 365 as a documentation of one's year and every time post the most personal, the most meaningful shot of the day. But if most people's stated goal is to improve as photographers, I think Likes are important.
For the second time in a three days, I have replaced the photo. I replace Thursday's photo because I did not go with my instincts and posted what I had thought would be pleasing. And I replaced yesterday's photo because I relied too much on my emotions.
Michał
That's why I quite often ask my wife to help me choose. She looks at my selection, narrowed down to only a few pics, and point the most interesting for her. Most of the times we have different selections, but eventually it's up to me what I will upload :) Also I quite often try to capture something matching the weekly theme as I find it more challenging. In case I got other photos from that day, my wife usually prefers those unrelated. The remaining ones are being kept in the "outsiders" directory.
Of course there are days where there's nothing to choose from, so it's "easier" then.
ponzu You are lucky to have such support.
ponzu I usually have no problem picking the best among other person's photos. It's only mine I can't choose. I should remember to post the story of the blind photographer. You will like it.
Michał Indeed, I'm lucky and it's helpful :) But still there are other options such as flipping a coin. Or a prior uploading here, create a pool asking your closest friends about their preferences. I think it's doable at facebook.
ponzu On Flickr, when there is a contest, we play the "1-2-3" game: post our shortlist numbered "1", "2", "3", etc., and other group members vote as to which photo we should submit. Sometimes for just one photo, sometimes for several in order of preference. But a group needs to be lively, and I don't see doing this on a daily basis, and certainly not on Facebook.
Tomek Zimnocho On those rare occasions when I'm going out specially with taking photos in mind it usually is difficult. I'm choosing few that are good and picking one I've learned something new while taking it and posting it no matter it is or isn't the best pic of the day. Rest of them are landing on instagram anyway. On 'normal everyday' days I'm happy if don't have to improvise to have any photos :). And no regrets - that's my photo of the day chosen for my reasons :) ... it is nice if viewers likes it too, thought its a bonus and not a necessity :)
Katrina Yu
My case can be a bit different but I would also have hard times choosing a photo daily too. But mostly in the situation where I need to decide on which body language or mood that can convey the story I want to tell.
I also don't select the photo that would get the most likes (I even turned off the like notifs on my channels because they are insignificant to me) but chooses the one where I felt the story in the photo can be interpreted in so many ways. What help gets me going is when I've created a piece and people would tell me what they see in it. That is when I think I did a good job. Then tomorrow is a brand new day and the hard process starts all over again...sigh haha This everyday project is turning me into a masochist. 😂
vera Hi Ponzu! At the beginning of my first project, I took much more photos than now, during all the day and everywhere , searching freneticly THE photo of the day. I had so many (too many) pics of different subjects!!! It was very difficult to choose one! Now I make photos in a different way. I limit myself to one or two subjects and I make around 50 photos per day on average. I see faster which one I prefer, sometimes hesitating between two or three. I've got some critera to make a decision. For me, impossible to know which one will be liked by the other Tookapikers! I just deeply hope they will like my photo if I'm satisfied with my work 😉 !!! Good luck !
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