Evolution Of A Small Project

Part 4: Rejects and other random notions

Did Old Bay sponsor this or was it a labor of love? I may end up doing a project inspired by this frame some other time.

We’re rapidly approaching the end of the summer, at least in the northern hemisphere. If I want to achieve my fall 2023 goal of finishing the small project I started in late spring it’s time to get serious. Finished means a few things to me. The first and most important thing is to have a final edit. I’ll talk about the other conceptual and mechanical things another day.

In the last installment, I talked about my thought process and general framework for editorial work on a project. The focus was on inclusion rather than exclusion. Today I wanted to talk about exclusion. There are countless reasons to reject or include images. The obvious reason is they are lousy. What about the other reasons such as color palette, thematic, or other reasons of “fitting the story”? Rejection of images while still producing work plays a large part in shaping what a project is and what you want to say.

Color and theme rejection

Looking at the image at the top, there are many reasons I could have included that image or excluded it. By itself, that picture suggests a lot of things, many could immediately guess the region where this picnic table exists. I had other frames attempted I could build a story with. I could build on this quite literally with other picnic tables by the water that were colorful and still use the working title of ”Water Colors”.

I’ve make dozens of pictures of painted picnic tables over the years, maybe there’s a project to come buried there?

I could possibly tie it in with a lot of diverse subject matter and compositions having similar color palettes. Many of those I just couldn’t get to work compositionally. The geometries and juxtapositions of elements in the frame just didn’t seem to work visually. We all work in a visual medium so that’s kind of important if somewhat subjective.

Similar color palette and textures of compositions I just couldn't make work.

So why did I reject this direction? Was it that I couldn’t get other images with similar textures and color palettes to work compositionally? That’s entirely possible but there are probably additional reasons both conscious and subconscious that played into developing a focus for this project.

One conscious reason that comes to mind is a conversation I had with a friend over dinner while sitting on a dock on the other side of the bay discussing a random selection of those small proofs I made. While trying to articulate what the the project was about, I said something like; “In a way I am trying to show what the water sees”.

In a way I am trying to show what the water sees.

It’s important to have ongoing conversations with others who may be interested in what you are producing. Those early selections and small proof prints help facilitate that. This is one of the reasons our editorial, project-based workshops start with those conversations months before the gathering to produce physical output. Someday (sooner rather than later) we hope to provide a means of doing that here in this community… Someday, if only there were more hours in a day.

Rejection of different versions of the same subject

Wildly different compositions of the same subject. I have dozens more.

It’s easy to reject literal duplicates of the same frame, shooting digital seems to breed a dozen shots of exactly the same framing, from the same vantage point, with the same lighting, taken for no reason other than not knowing when to stop hitting the button and move on. If you have many compositions of that scene it does get a lot harder choosing one. In my case, I have quite a few scenes where I like compositions that are wildly different. I revisit the ones I’ve marked a lot.

Even though I am currently at 18 selects I still take a look at wildly differing rejected compositions of the same subject represented in my selects. Nothing is written in stone yet. That time will come when ink is put to paper. Don’t be too dogmatic, then again don’t second guess yourself into despair. Remember that starting the editorial process early, while still producing work is to make the project better not just faster.

Based on my decision to show this project either two-up, three-up, or four-up in terms of how much linear wall space I’ll need for prints I am still open to the possibility of showing more than one view of the same exact subject. That’s not reflected in my current set of selects right now but I didn’t exclude that possibility. That notion is probably at the heart of the question I asked myself in the last installment; ”Am I done making pictures”.

I can now confidently say; YES, I am done shooting material for this small project. If the total number of prints I make is a few less than my original target of twenty, that’s okay. If I end up rejecting some of my selects and going with a pairing of wildly different views of the same subject that’s okay as well.

Determining which path I take for a two, three, or four-up image pairing is now the biggest decision I need to make to progress toward my final selections. I’ll start by producing the best version of each “virtually”. When I am satisfied with both sets I will probably make another group of small prints that represent each.

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August is a crazy month for both Les and me Les is in the Yukon leading an adventure photography tour and I’ve been in South Carolina for the better part of two weeks. It’s also a long month in terms of the number of Tuesdays. I hope you enjoy this “extra” newsletter and certainly hope all of you enjoy the remaining days of summer. As always, both of us appreciate all of our subscribers, especially those who have helped fund this. Next month starts our additional “DIY” series so those funding us can expect an additional installment in September!