Criticism and Letting go
“A Certain Light,” digital, archival ink print on Epson Hot Press Bright paper (9.5 × 12.5 framed)
A couple of months ago I wrote about the process of selecting photographs for an exhibition. Now, back from a holiday in Scotland, I’m ready to report my decision and some benefits I didn’t anticipate. The AZPA had arranged for Dr. Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator from the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, to review the show and select three works for special recognition (spoiler: not my photos). She also agreed to walk through the show and review most of the photos for the AZPA You Tube channel (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4T9638HKTU. If you want to skip to a review of my photos, go to 53:35).
Regardless of how much you watch, I found her critiques of the photos in the show to be so helpful for me, a still-learning amateur. I can look at my work (kind of) critically, and I can use the likes or lacks on social media as some kind of critique, but to hear from an expert, a professional who has spent her career in photography, is a real gift.
“Grasswork” digital, archival ink print on Epson Hot Press Bright paper (12.5 × 15.5 framed)
I didn’t consciously submit these as a pair, but Dr. Senf looked at them that way, pointing out the contrast in palette, scale, and perspective. She also pointed out how the size of the seascape was pleasing (the image itself is 4.75 x 6 framed to ), and that she finds a small print of a big landscape often works better than a larger print. I might have thought the opposite when I first began printing. I’d suggest that anyone looking for ways to improve your photography ought to give the video a look.
I submitted them because they were both color, and I think my color photos are stronger than my black and white, and I wanted to demonstrate not what I see but how I see, that I spend time looking down and beyond what’s in my everyday field of view.
Here’s something I also didn’t anticipate: that someone would purchase one of my photos. I’m honored to think someone liked the seascape enough to put it in their home, but parting with it wasn’t so easy. I had decided to have the photos professionally framed, and they looked great on the wall of the exhibition. Here’s my sad way of showing you how it felt to let it go: packaged in recycled Amazon wrapping, plain and brown.