Posts that make you think always stand out, and a couple recently did that for me in spades – the original over at see the details, and a followup one done by Paul Lester. Both related to discussion about what people do with all the images they make and questions about quantity, reflection upon old images, what we do with them, and the feedback loop we generate to perhaps alter our vision for the next time we make an image. All thought provoking questions worthy of discussion on either of those blogs.
But one aspect of it got me thinking about this “space” these old images sit in – waiting for someone to do something with them. Whether they sit on your hard drive, in your closet, or in a file cabinet – I think most photographers would agree that they have shot, and certainly kept more photographs than anyone has ever seen except for themselves. We all have our qualification process, our editing rituals, our purposes for rescuing these images from what I think of as a photographic purgatory.
Desert Primrose
Maybe not all of them are worthy, but I would be willing to lay money that some have simply fallen out of sight, out of mind simply because most of us have too much to do already. Looking back through our libraries sometimes reveals gems long forgotten, images of times past, or simply beneficial for a trip down memory lane. I shot this image of Desert Primrose back on April 24, 2004 – it was a slight variation of one I already have in my gallery – but I never bothered to go back on post the slightly different composition. That happens with a lot of my work – I shoot a variety of compositions, end up processing only one or two of them for the site, and leave the others sit for who knows how long. So it is really nothing special other than I came across it,felt like processing it, and thought about the posts linked above how many images just sit around doing nothing. I suppose in some ways this image is symbolic in that these flowers, vibrant and alive, are sandwiched in between pieces of wood that couldn’t look more dead. Their blooms symbolic of my rescue of the image.
With that idea – I thought of a series called “Rescued from Picture Purgatory” that I invite the blogging community to participate in. Take a look back through your images and rescue one that may have never been seen if I didn’t prod you with this challenge. It doesn’t need to have any significance to it other than it was rescued from that cold, dark place. It doesn’t even have to be what you consider a good image. Maybe it is jaw-dropping excellent, terrible, funny, or just plain creepy. All that matters is that you rescued it and broke the stigma of only being seen by your eyes. Maybe write a little about how you came across it, and why you posted it.
Who knows, maybe this will be fun. If you include a link back to this post, I think they should show up as trackbacks in the comments and a little community rescue project can be born. Those poor, lonely images – long forgotten – they need someone’s attention. I’ll do some looking myself, and perhaps update this post with a few more.
Mark, what an excellent idea. I think that I’ll do that this weekend. I have some pictures from 2004, as well, when I got my first digital camera. It will be a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Looking through the archives is always an interesting and eye opening experience and it brings on a variety of reactions from within. Anything from “what was I thinking?” to “Wow, I forgot all about this one. I wonder why I never posted it?”. I always end up weeding out a lot from my archives and opening up more space on my hardrives!
I was thinking of something along the same lines, also as Paul had replied to someone else who mentioned not posting some thigs they think are maybe a bit too different, I have a few of those I’ve been too reluctant to share – so it sounds like a plan for an hour or two this weekend!
I just ran into a similar discovery, rediscovered a photograph that had been moldering in a folder for almost a year. I wrote about it here:
http://blog.danielsroka.com/work-in-progress/work-in-progress-glass-slipper.htm
I would give it a go, but man, I went through my archives last year and did a “major delete” of images that I would never show a client.
Wow, … that was some two week period!
But still, … I can easily create some new junk to rescue!!
I love this idea, although I don’t have time to participate right now, unfortunately. I’ll be back when I do, however!
It is interesting how we look at things differently as time passes. I submitted work to an Audubon Calendar a while back that contained some older work. An image that didn’t strike me at first was used and has become a popular print. It’s an important exercise Mark, thanks for lighting a fire. Because of your post I pulled out an image I blogged about here – http://photonz.wordpress.com/
Given the luxury of time, the expectations of what we might have hoped to catch for a shoot pass into appreciation (or disappointment) for what we actually capture. It can take a little time for the mind to “change channels” about our expectations.
When I have that time (I usually don’t), I try and take a week or two before making final edits. Fresh eyes bring a second look removed from the immediacy of the moment when the image was made.
This is a similar idea to reviewing the old dustbin of discarded images.
I also have a catalog that is for “review later” when images present technical challenges, or need more time than I have to refine such as complex panorama images that need stitching, or captions that need extensive research.
When time allows I will put some of these images back in the workflow – such as this photo of a Malaysian Rainforest that I stitched long after my return.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2327421019_1e7ab1f139.jpg
Great topic mark…lately I feel like all of my photos are sitting in picture purgatory since the day job has exploded in activity (recession…what recession?) and photos languish on my hard drives waiting for my eventual return.
I guess the question in my mind is: does purgatory only start if you have already done a first pass through a set of photos? In my case, I’m saying yes…otherwise I would feel more guilt ridden than I already do.