In praise for the 3-Star image!
Last Tuesday, on one of my work breaks, I went down to Ann’s office and, after discussing the image she was working on at the time, I shared with her my thoughts about a new blog post. I don’t usually tell her my nascent blog ideas, but this time I did. Basically, I felt that I gave 3-Star images short shrift in the post that went up last weekend, as if they were ok, but so what? I mentioned to Ann that, although in the post I said that sometimes it isn’t until I work with a 3-Star image that I realize an image is something more, even special, I still felt I didn’t give 3-Star images the credit they deserve.
I explained to Ann that, really it’s the 3-Star images that keep us going and doing the thing that we love, which is getting out and photographing in places we love to experience. They’re the driving force behind, “Hey, let’s go . . . (name the place)!” When you just pick up the camera and head somewhere. Whether it’s to Bryce Creek for a Saturday morning jaunt, the Painted Hills for a weekend, or a stop off at the Portland Japanese Gardens on a trip up to Portland to run an errand, or . . . (we haven’t found our places here in the Netherlands . . . yet). You go there not expecting much, but knowing that you’ll enjoy yourself and walk away with some fine images. Those are 3-Star images. And sometimes, just sometimes, you come away with something more. But generally, you have no reason to believe you will, unlike a planned trip to photograph at Bandon, during an exceptionally low-low tide at dawn. Yeah, there might be fog at the Japanese Gardens on Saturday, but you’ll be going anyway regardless, unless it’s pouring down rain or something. That’s not why you’re going there, you’re going there just to photograph.
In many ways, 3-Star are the direct consequence of our passion and are the thing that keeps us going even when photographing gets hard. They show us the fruits of our labor, improving as they do over time. They remind us that even if we weren’t totally successful photographically, we were there to experience a wonderful place doing something we love to do. Most, if not every, 3-star image is enough to evoke memories, to bring back those pleasures of being in that place, even if they do remind us that we didn’t execute as well as we might have hoped on that particular day. Just as often, they remind us of how truly crappy the conditions actually were and, wow, we actually came away with something decent from a day where you’re never going to get a 4- or 5-Star image. But that shouldn’t stop you from photographing.
We talked about that for awhile, the fact that you can be both pleased and a bit disappointed with an image. Then there is the struggle to not “settle” for just 3-Star images. They may be good, but while you’re shooting, you work to see if there isn’t something that is, for lack of a better word - more. Because sometimes, it’s from working a 3-Star image while you’re photographing that you discover a new way of seeing and you start working that new frontier with excitement. I’m reminded of the morning of Devon’s favorite photograph of me. It started with photographing an isolated off-shore rock and turned into a discovery of how time, wave motion and seemingly flat, heavy overcast skies can reveal colors the eye fails to recognize. You can grow from 3-Star images because if you photograph with intention, there is always something there and sometimes intuitively you make something that reveals the more to you, something you hadn’t seen before.
So yes, 3-star images are often the motivators for just getting out, even when conditions or locations aren’t perfect. To do something you love to do. Knowing that you’re likely to produce something pleasing if not spectacular, because there is something about looking to see, exploring, framing a subject, and the realization that there is something to be made with a subject. And, of course, simply that feeling of being out there. Sometimes that’s all you need (there it is again - excuses) to motivate yourself to grab a camera and get out of the door - knowing that you’ll likely come home with a 3-Star image or two that you’re not embarrassed to show someone.
So imagine our surprise when, on Wednesday evening, Thomas Heaton (a YouTube photographer we follow) starts talking about why he focuses on the process instead of the images for his photography. Like us, he likes to plan his trips to get him to locations where opportunities are hopefully plentiful. But, also like us, he does not drill down to planning for specific images in the hopes of making a masterpiece. He (like us whenever we’re really tried that) has walked away disappointed (even depressed) if he fell short in any respect when he’s planned one of those types of shoots where you’ve almost pre-determined where you’re going to set your tripod, envisioning you will walk away with an award-winning (5-Star) image. Inevitably, you fall short. Something always comes up - weather, light, people - you name it, and you’re disappointed with the whole experience, not just the failed image. Instead, like us, he goes to a place and accepts what is there regarding the subject, the weather, the light, etc, with as little expectation about the images you’ll make as possible, leaving open that sense of discovery of the unknown one can have with a camera. He may decide to come back to a location later that same day in anticipation of better light, but it will be what it is. Better to go to a location and do what you can and accept that not always will you walk away with a great image instead of going with high expectations for a particular image and fail to attain it, with all the crushing disappointment that comes with it. He calls it focusing on process, and yes, process is a part of it. Stick to a process that focuses on experiences in truly interesting places and you usually walk away with something decent (a 3-Star image) if not outstanding. And a great experience. As he put it, that way even in a worst case scenario you’ve spent some quality time in a quality location doing something you love.
So to Thomas Heaton, I couldn’t agree more. That’s worth tipping a pint for!
So to the 3-Star images, please keep coming. You help make life worth living and you keep the wonder in photography. And please, help show us the way to the 4- and 5-Star images. At least every once in a while. They may be more glamorous than you, but I’m not sure they’re more important.