A Sense Of Belonging

Culling and curation using small proof prints

A few final images on Unryu aside proofs used for the final culling and curation of Les’ prototype ‘Mountains In The Mist” book.

I’m sure you will all relate to this scene: you want to put together a slide show, or a gallery exhibition, or perhaps a book. On your monitor are 262 thumbnails, every one a jewel in your Top Shooter crown. Now what do you do?

Last year I faced this situation in creating a book proof-of-concept, based on a trip I made to a mountain chain in China. These mountains are often bathed in a thick mist, which lends an otherworldly feel.

I faced the same predicament that most of you have encountered. On my computer I had a few hundred images. For days I whittled down the group, session after session, until I was bleary-eyed. I had Bob give me his input and with that I had narrowed my focus to about 50 images.

Telling the Story on Paper

As I looked at the pre-final selection, I had to decide on what the story was that I wanted to tell. Was there some connecting thread? I wrote on Substack previously about this aspect of the process, so I won't go into detail about that here. Suffice it to say that I decided on the title of the book to be "Mountains in the Mist", which describes the story I settled on.

I had the added complication of roughly pairing images with the poetry of a 4th century recluse named Hsieh Ling Yun. I felt this helped tell and deepen the storyline.

I still had to face the task of culling the images down to the 20 or so that would appear in the book and, eventually, in a gallery exhibition. I love my BenQ monitor, but when it comes to making decisions on what will go into a book or an exhibition, a paper proof is the only way my addled mind can truly judge.

So, we printed each candidate on a half sheet of letter-sized Moab Entrada Natural. Even though we planned all along for the final prints to be done on Moab Unryu washi paper from the Awagami mill in Japan, the Entrada proofs gave us a good idea of tonality. Most of all, I needed a way to physically move the prints around to decide on sequencing.

Culling

Now came the agonizing part of any multiple image project. What to cull? For literally two weeks I shuffled those prints around. Does this ones belong? Which ones add to the storyline and are not distractions? Should I add this one just because it's a good image? And, is the sequencing right?

I'll take a moment to talk about an aspect of sequencing that affects all our work. I try to start a sequenced presentation, whether book, slide show, or exhibition, with a powerful, dynamic image. My philosophy is to capture the viewer right from the get-go, then weave in the other threads to create the tapestry you want. So I try to start with an image that sets the stage, followed by images that build on the story, adding depth.

Of course, by the end the viewer will hopefully understand the story line, so I try to end with an image that leaves a lasting impression.

Okay, enough digression. Now back to culling. Here is an example some images that I decided to cull because they did not add to the storyline, were repetitive or did not fit the “mist” theme.

A sample of photographs that didn’t make the final cut.

In many cases I resorted to an A-B comparison, placing the prints side-by-side, and selected the "stronger" image in each case. By stronger, when talking about mist, that sometimes meant more subdued, less contrasty, more ethereal images.

I'll end by asking if you find the choosing, culling and sequencing to be a challenge? If so, please share with us your frustrations, but also your solutions.