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| Boston (Reilly, 2015) |
I.
Sometimes when I make an image, I know it is failing.
The composition is off.
The clarity of the work is too opaque.
I really don't have a clue what it is I'm trying to express.
And the more I try, the worse it gets.
I don't publish an image that is failing. I keep those unfinished works quiet, private.
II.
A few days ago I read Joyce Carol Oates in The Faith of a Writer discuss failure. She writes:
The artist, perhaps more than most people, inhabits failure, degrees of failure and accommodation and compromise; but the terms of his failure are generally secret (p.52).
I thought--this blog of mine can also be a place where work is more tentative, unfinished, error-ridden. So today I placed at the top of this post an image that I tentatively titled, Boston. I'm not sure what I'm trying for, nor what the image is expressing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Unfortunately, I have also no idea what this photo means.
ReplyDeleteBut mistakes and "accidents" are an important part of photography - especially with analog film. Many photographers want this "angel of chance 'cause like Sally Mann or Trent Parke.
Yes, I'm not sure either. Think I'm going to leave it alone for awhile.
Delete