https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullight/8900756218
This Month's Photograph
My
first street photographs had no people in them. I wanted to photograph
people, but I had no idea how. Once I learned how, I continued to
photograph spaces without people, because I think these photographs
reflect people's aspirations and dreams. This photograph was taken in
Liberty Square in the Financial District of Boston on a Sunday. On
weekends, this area tends to be very quiet. I have walked thru here on
Saturdays and Sundays for years thinking about making photographs. Last
year I started and continue to photograph here - always very slowly and
deliberately. I plan to continue to photograph here.
So many photographs, so little time
I
have tens of thousands of photographs that remain in storage waiting
for editing. I like them and would like to edit and print all of them,
but that would require too much money, too much time, and too much
storage space.
After I had done photography for
about eight years, I was determined to figure out what to do with all of
the photographs I had shot. I asked for advice from two photographers
who I knew produced large quantities of photographs. At the time, I was
using film, since digital photography had not yet been invented.The
first was Garry Winogrand. He just laughed and advised me to get a big
file cabinet , where I could throw the undeveloped film. He went on to
explain that if the photographs were good, someone would develop and
print them after you died. Sure enough, when Winogrand died, he left
behind approximately 6,600 rolls of film in a big filing cabinet. All of
this film has now been developed, and 56 of these photographs have
appeared in exhibits at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and
currently the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/garry-winogrand
The
second photographer I approached was William Eggleston. He said he
printed everything he shot. At the time, he was working with three
printers. One printer worked on the images that were too dark. A second
would print the images that were correctly exposed. A third printer
handled the lighter images.
Although I
appreciated their advice, neither Winogrand or Eggleston's advice worked
for me, so I had to come up with my own solution. In this age of
digital photography, I use the delete button frequently to eliminate any
photographs that I don't intend to print. This is my initial editing
process. I try to post the remaining photographs on Flickr rather than
creating prints. I use the audience response, as well as my own response
over time, to determine which photographs to print.
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