Chapter 7. The Photographs That Work

The Photographs That Work

Someone once asked me why a person would keep a photo blog. He suggested it might be a little self-indulgent. I said that we photographers are like the kids who come home from school with a hundred paintings who want them all hung on the fridge and cry if they don't all fit. I told him, "We're those kids grown up. With cameras."

I still run into my house and insist everyone within ear-or eyeshot come and "look at this picture" if I capture something particularly wonderful on one of my "picture-taking walks" or have cooked up something I like a lot in my office studio. The photos In Figure 7-1 and Figure 7-2 were each like this; I couldn't wait to get them out of the camera, and each of them was very well viewed after I posted them to my blog. Your own instincts become honed with experience, and soon you just know when you take a shot whether it will have mass appeal or not, or whether it will be remarkable to only a portion of your audience.

7-1

Figure 7.1. 7-1

7-2

Figure 7.2. 7-2

I've been doing this a very long time so I have an advantage, of course, and loads of data that tell me that things with skies work better than things with a lot of dark areas, and that ...

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