Give us your best shots! A suggestion from Keith.

[imagetone]

Thanks Matt, yes it was. Over-familiarity, time and changing fashions make it hard for me to compare old work with newer stuff. I don’t know if others find the same.


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[Arlen]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I'll add an image that I don't think is my overall best, but is probably the most momentous.

For years I had been trying to get a good up-close and personal photo of a mayfly hatching on the water surface, for a book I was writing about aquatic insects important to fly fishing. Mayflies live the majority of their lives as nymphs crawling around on the bottom of rivers and lakes. Then they swim to the surface, break open their exoskeleton, squeeze out and onto the top of the water, where they take a few moments to expand and harden their wings before flying away. It all happens very fast. You have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right equipment, and a good deal of luck.

On a spring day in 2007 it all came together. Using a macro lens and extension tube, I got several snaps as a western March Brown mayfly made the transition. As soon as I reviewed this shot on the back of the camera, I knew I had the image that would be on the book's front cover. And indeed, my first book, BugWater, was published in 2010 with that picture serving as the flagship image.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Wow! Persistence really paid off.
Great shot.

[Arlen]

Thanks, Eric.

[TippHex]

Wonderful thread this. And it posed a question in my mind... how do you know what is your best shot? Many, many times a shot I personally like very much has been dismissed with a shrug of 'so what?' Usually after I show them to my spouse and off-spring. I tend not to do that these days... In the end beauty, or even just interest, is in the eye of the beholder. As the originator, I've found I'm often the worst person to decide if an image is of any real worth. Revisiting an image a year or two later, can make me wince. What was I thinking? Ok, maybe all this should be for the 'art of photography' threads, I'm just rambling.

So to this picture. I really don't have a 'best shot' to show. But this is currently my favourite or 'best image' but then again it might not be when I revisit it. Why have I chosen this one? Because at the time I was down and out, bored, fed up, cold, wet and generally pi**ed off with everything, wandering around my boring home town in the rain with my camera looking for something to shoot. Forcing my depression away by doing 'something'. I noticed people walking through this alleyway and recognised here was a potential shot. So I stood there like an idiot getting increasingly numb and wet just waiting for someone to walk into the frame. And just like that, this guy did just that. His demeanour, hunched under his brolly, matched my own glum mood completely. Sometimes fate works in your favour. As soon as I chimed this image, my mood lightened. And that is why this is (currently) my best shot. Thanks for reading and looking!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

^ Welcome to the forum (LuLa?) Tipp. Good shot and story. Matches my feelings when I go out to shoot.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

^ Welcome to the forum (LuLa?) Tipp. Good shot and story. Matches my feelings when I go out to shoot.

Ditto to what Slobodan said.

-Eric

[TippHex]

^ Welcome to the forum (LuLa?) Tipp. Good shot and story. Matches my feelings when I go out to shoot.

Thanks, yes, first time here. Decided to engage for a change. Glad to know people often feel the same sometimes. Photography is essentially a introspective if not lonely activity. We are all essentially observers I guess.

[Rob C]

Thanks, yes, first time here. Decided to engage for a change. Glad to know people often feel the same sometimes. Photography is essentially a introspective if not lonely activity. We are all essentially observers I guess.

Those sentences are the reason some of us do what we do here. They also underline the reason why some of us, money no object, still wouldn't dream of going on jaunts with other photographers of any kind.

Strangely, being alone does not inevitably equate with being lonely. It can also be a relief.

Welcome to the forum, and a great image, too.

Rob

[TippHex]

Those sentences are the reason some of us do what we do here. They also underline the reason why some of us, money no object, still wouldn't dream of going on jaunts with other photographers of any kind.

Strangely, being alone does not inevitably equate with being lonely. It can also be a relief.

Welcome to the forum, and a great image, too.

Rob

Thanks Rob. Yes, very true, shooting while with other photographers doesn't work at all. And you're right of course, being alone is not the same as loneliness. I wonder if photographers in general need to be something of a breed apart? (but excluding social and fashion photographers I suspect...) Another discussion for the philosophical threads perhaps!

[Rob C]

Thanks Rob. Yes, very true, shooting while with other photographers doesn't work at all. And you're right of course, being alone is not the same as loneliness. I wonder if photographers in general need to be something of a breed apart? (but excluding social and fashion photographers I suspect...) Another discussion for the philosophical threads perhaps!

Fashion photographers: each different; I was one for many years and worked with the minimum number of people possible around - more often than not just the model and myself. It made for an uncomplicated shoot with concentration where it should be, not split between the job and trying to keep a client feeling valuable rather than ignored and resented, though I guess some saw through the charade anyhow.

Other guys were the opposite, and maybe it worked for them.

That said, it's a funny thing about trips somewhere where more folks are included: at the end, arriving back at the airport when it's all over can be a bit sad. I suppose that for a short time, with the right folks, you become a sort of commando unit: fly in, go into places where maybe you should not, get your shots, get the hell out again. It's not really dramatic as that of course, just feels that way sometimes, and you know you may probably never work with those same models again. Once or twice that was blessed relief, but usually I got quite find of them in a kinda way. That said, it was a capsule, a thing separate from your home life, which quickly brought you back to reality and the work you then had to knuckle down and do after the fun bit was over. That changed when I managed to talk my wife into coming along on trips to help out... she certainly changed the dynamic of those shoots by removing some of the inevitable pressures that crop up.

Rob

[TippHex]

Fashion photographers: each different;

(Actually I was making a small joke on the 'social' side of photography) Commercial work of course needs people around you to make it work I know, having working in the advertising field for many years. What I was pertaining to was personal work that is free of art directors, briefs and assistants. No direction or agenda to get any shot. Here you need your own personal space to concentrate on what it is you 'see' or 'feel' about where you are and any emotional connection. That I suppose is the lonely road. Having even a friend along in these circumstances can derail focus. (oh dear, bad pun) It does mine anyhow.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Most of my photography has been totally solitary (except that often my wife is with me, silently urging me to move a little faster.)

But I had a unique "group" photography experience a few weeks ago. A photographer friend who had seen some of my Plum Island beach abstracts was curious to explore my favorite shooting locations there. We met at the parking lot at the first beach (there are seven different beaches), and three of his students were there as well.

After introductions, we all trooped off over the boardwalk to the beach and spent a couple of hours photographing. As soon as we hit the beach, we scattered in all directions, and not a word was spoken, and no two of us were within fifty yards of another photographer.

We then traveled to my favorite beach (number 7) and the same thing happened.

It was quite liberating: Nobody looking over anyone else's shoulder or interrupting in any way. And I think we all had a good time, snapping whatever we found interesting, not caring if anyone else had a "better" shot.

I was certainly expecting my focus to be derailed, but surprisingly it wasn't.
But maybe it was like getting in a car accident without serious injury. It may be possible to photograph with a group, but I'm not eager to try it again.

[John R]

...That I suppose is the lonely road. Having even a friend along in these circumstances can derail focus. (oh dear, bad pun) It does mine anyhow.

Great image and interesting narrative. I think 'best' image is a red herring anyway. Body of work is much more important, IMO.
 
JR

[Rob C]

Great image and interesting narrative. I think 'best' image is a red herring anyway. Body of work is much more important, IMO.
 
JR

No, it's not a red herring at all.

It's a straightforward choice, and precisely what this thread was designed to encourage. No deception there or derailment from anything else as would an attempt at a red herring be.

If you want to create a thread around body of work, you can easily do so. Even red herringa may have a valid rôle if you confine the thread to colour.

;-)

[TippHex]

Great image and interesting narrative. I think 'best' image is a red herring anyway. Body of work is much more important, IMO.
 
JR

I think what was being alluded to was that in my narrative, I said it's difficult, if not impossible, for an author to 'know' what is the 'best' image. Personally, my 'best' image often changes quite frequently in my mind. Usually it's the latest one... and then over time, say an hour to a year, it can become my least 'best' image. Sometimes I feel I have no good images at all, never mind a best one. Existential angst can rear its head too often. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...

[Rob C]

I think what was being alluded to was that in my narrative, I said it's difficult, if not impossible, for an author to 'know' what is the 'best' image. Personally, my 'best' image often changes quite frequently in my mind. Usually it's the latest one... and then over time, say an hour to a year, it can become my least 'best' image. Sometimes I feel I have no good images at all, never mind a best one. Existential angst can rear its head too often. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...

Doubt is part of the later years; if you have any at the beginning, well, there wouldn't really be a later.

I find that what happens is that one gets ever more into a particular thing, and when that's done, gone with the wind, one faces a vacuum that can't often be filled. Probably personal extrapolation, here, but attempts to fill personal vacuums don't really amount to a hill of beans: they become poor relations, substitutes that eventually leave one flat and disinterested.

I agree that a true best is probably emotionally subjective, but I think it's pretty easy to find at least two or three shots that one feels are as good as it got.

Rob

[TippHex]

Doubt is part of the later years; if you have any at the beginning, well, there wouldn't really be a later.

I find that what happens is that one gets ever more into a particular thing, and when that's done, gone with the wind, one faces a vacuum that can't often be filled. Probably personal extrapolation, here, but attempts to fill personal vacuums don't really amount to a hill of beans: they become poor relations, substitutes that eventually leave one flat and disinterested.

I agree that a true best is probably emotionally subjective, but I think it's pretty easy to find at least two or three shots that one feels are as good as it got.

Rob

Wise words. Yes, once the certainties of youth have gone, only doubt remains. I think as photographers, (just as with poets, writers, painters, etc) we have something rather special within our grasp. Something that allows us to see outside of ourselves, even if only a little. In that sense, there will never be a vacuum to fill. So, is any outside validation needed, or in fact is it more of a curse?

[morristaub]

Wonderful thread this. And it posed a question in my mind... how do you know what is your best shot? Many, many times a shot I personally like very much has been dismissed with a shrug of 'so what?' Usually after I show them to my spouse and off-spring. I tend not to do that these days... In the end beauty, or even just interest, is in the eye of the beholder. As the originator, I've found I'm often the worst person to decide if an image is of any real worth. Revisiting an image a year or two later, can make me wince. What was I thinking? Ok, maybe all this should be for the 'art of photography' threads, I'm just rambling.

So to this picture. I really don't have a 'best shot' to show. But this is currently my favourite or 'best image' but then again it might not be when I revisit it. Why have I chosen this one? Because at the time I was down and out, bored, fed up, cold, wet and generally pi**ed off with everything, wandering around my boring home town in the rain with my camera looking for something to shoot. Forcing my depression away by doing 'something'. I noticed people walking through this alleyway and recognised here was a potential shot. So I stood there like an idiot getting increasingly numb and wet just waiting for someone to walk into the frame. And just like that, this guy did just that. His demeanour, hunched under his brolly, matched my own glum mood completely. Sometimes fate works in your favour. As soon as I chimed this image, my mood lightened. And that is why this is (currently) my best shot. Thanks for reading and looking!

I have felt this way about a 'best shot' since forever. Years ago I think it was Winogrand who said he liked to put his film/images away for quite a long time and look at them objectively. He felt looking at his work immediately created an emotional attachment to it that wasn't objective. I think it was Gary. I could be wrong.

It's why I never toss images right away. Actually. I only toss the white and black frames. I keep the rest and let time pass. I often find images, compositions, years later that I just didn't 'see' when they were taken.


just a note to Josh : again, I'm not sure how many times it is now, I had to type in the letters shown and answers to the math questions to be able to post. It is getting really tiresome.

[degrub]

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