Listening to Brooks Jensen’s podcast (LW0412 – Which ruler should we use?) brought to mind all sorts of concepts that I think about often when evaluating images He brings forth the question of how we measure the quality of photographs Is it against the historical masters or perhaps the pictures we see in a magazine or book? While Brooks questions which ruler to use, I often wonder just how many we need to have to carry around After all, in the world of measurements, we have metric rulers, standard ‘english’ units rulers, rulers with finer increments than others, some certified for accuracy This question can come up every time we press the shutter The rulers for an image may entirely depend on the context of their intended use and how we wish to evaluate our own images.
Is the ruler you carry around constantly refined by your own image history, or do you let someone else create the scale for you? And is having the scale defined by someone else a good thing? Is it a business potential ruler, or a personal growth ruler? Is it a camera club ruler or an environmental significance ruler? If you are involved in various aspects of photography, especially for business and for personal use – I don’t think you can avoid carrying around a pocket full of them Quite often an image that may measure very well with one, will do quite poorly with another.
Besides the rulers that you are carrying around with you personally, perhaps also worth considering are the rulers that your intended viewers are also carrying around Is your image being judged by a photo editor that has seen thousands upon thousands of similar shots, by a gallery curator looking for a piece that might fit their clients, or simply someone trying to match the color of their couch? All have very specific sets of measurements in mind that might be mutually exclusive.
When evaluating images that we are looking at, I think it is important to be conscious of the ruler we are currently using, how it was developed as far as the scale, and if it may be necessary to change rulers all together While the question of which one to use is certainly an important one, I also wonder just how big my pockets need to be.
Wow, Mark! Great post! I don’t know that I can add anything to this.
I guess the number of rulers that you carry would be equal to the number of intended audiences. Each photograph has its own contextual merits.
Though I’ve never thought about it, I guess that I do judge or measure when I go out. Sometimes it’s against past work, other times, the work of others. Still, other times it’s to learn a new technique and to measure to see if I accomplished it.
Since I don’t do commercial work and am not trying to get a particular “something” to sell, but something to satisfy my own desires, I try to leave as many of those rulers as possible at home.
Great post!
Mark,
I suspect every creative process has rulers. In writing, I learned to be conscious of what audience I was targeting. If it was a science paper, their was one style, if creative writing, then another. Rulers can be the audience, whether it be the general public, an editor or myself. My goal is to try to maintain a ruler unto myself and then find an audience for that work. I’d be lieing though if I claimed that a larger preconceived audience doesn’t creep into my process.
Hey Mark,
Add me to the list of those praising you here: “Great Post!”
The hardest one to live by, of course, is one’s own muse. That’s the defining ruler for each of us, though it may not get rent paid on time, if at all.
Speaking of rulers, I can think of one ruler I’d like to change ASAP.
Cheers
Carl
The word “Ruler” explains it all…. we are ruled by so many variables that the core of ourselves that truly measures what is important to each of us, has the potential of getting lost. Having had a month away from the photography/art world, I return with a different perspective which there again, emphasizes your point of having multiple angles.
Having said this, I just perused your latest images in your gallery and got totally mesmerized and lost in your rock formation images. Really lovely, artistic, abstract and creative, Mark. A perfect entry way back into the world of contemplative measurement!
Hey Mark,
I was so caught up in the topic of your post I didn’t really look at the image here – stunning photo, man, stunning.
Cheers
Carl
Carl – thanks bruhtha. Pauls, Diane, Kayte, thank you as well for your thoughts here.
Great read Mark, but sometimes I think I am using a yardstick when I should be using a ruler
Great subject & good points. My only ruler is what I like (I can afford that, as photography’s merely a hobby for me.) I use different rulers when I paint, however. I used to do a lot of fantasy scenes, particularly involving dragons. Unfortunately, down here in the deep (& superstitious) South, that’s frowned upon as satanic. *snort* As a result I’m forced to focus on “the usual” landscapes, abstracts & animals if I want to sell anything. Kind of bums me out…
Lana, that is something I hear quite often from artists – spending time on what sells vs. what they actually want to do.
Let me chime in with a ‘Great Post” as well. Really quite an expansion on what Brooks was speaking about. A lot of stuff to think about here.
Hi. Nice post. Jez
I guess I “sneak” fantasy into my paintings in other ways, y’know? I may do a landscape, for example, but I’ll use almost obnoxiously bright colors.
Still, I miss dragons…
Mark, no matter what ruler you use to measure your images they rock, and this one in no exception, no pun intended. Joshua Tree is an interesting place.
Ron
Ron, Howard, Jeremy — thanks!
It ´s the first time that I visit your blog, very good post and a wonderful picture too!
Tanks