Photography is a lot like a bad relationship sometimes
Last month the family and I went on a trip to Maine to attend a friends wedding and make a little vacation out of it. It was a great time to just hang out with the family with very limited internet connection and enjoy life in Maine. From the Lobster (we aren’t huge fans) to the amazing other seafood options and the beach… oh the beach! We were so close to the Portland Head lighthouse that I just had to make a trip out to it for a photo session.
My options were very limited as the first few days were rainy with very little clouds. I checked all my weather and photo apps and saw my only real option was to go on this one particular morning. There was no rain in the forecast, it was cloudy the night before, and sunrise was at 5:10 AM, or so I thought… These are typically great indicators for an epic sunrise. I packed up all my gear the night before, headed on to bed and set the alarm to wake up at 4:30, that would give me plenty of time to get up, shower and head out the door with a protein bar and a bottle of water.
As it turns out. I had my sunrise app set for the sunrise at home, in Missouri. The actual sunrise was at 4:53. By the time I got to the Lighthouse, the sun was already coming up and there were only a couple small clouds in sight. I failed…
So how is photography like a bad relationship you ask?
I have had my fair share of bad relationships. They seem great at first, everything is new and exciting for the first few months. Then you get comfortable, comfort leads to complacency, complacency leads to expectation, expectation leads to entitlement and then it all just starts to fall apart. However, before it crumbles before you there is this yearning to hang onto every last shred of hope that it can still survive, that you can make it work… We all know how this story ends.
That’s exactly what happened here with my Portland Head photographs:
1. Everything was new and exciting: A new location a new place to shoot!
2. I got comfortable and complacent: I was comfortable with my apps that would tell me the correct time to be out for sunrise, but my complacency led to the lack of awareness to check my app’s location.
3. My expectations led to entitlements: I expected that if I woke up early enough I would be entitled to a gorgeous ground breaking sunrise.
4. I hung onto any shred of hope: The whole way to the Lighthouse I was hanging on to the thought of this gorgeous sunset that was literally falling apart in front of me on the way out as the sun burned away the clouds. However, I went so far that I still drove all the way out to the lighthouse to shoot pictures and, even worse, I am sitting here editing the pictures still lingering onto that missed sunset.
Am I crazy for thinking this way?
I edited one of these shots in a recent Topaz Labs webinar. The webinar went well, the final product even turned out alright. So much so, my Dad asked if he could print out the photo somewhere to hang in his house. I should be honored by remarks like that, but I am still lingering on that missed sunset. The problem is I saw what the sunset looked like while I was driving out there. There was a thick band of red, orange and yellow clouds just above the water. As I drove out to the lighthouse (30 minute drive) I watched it all burn away.
By the time I got to the Lighthouse the epic sunset I was hoping for was gone. It was like I was shooting at 2 o’ clock in the afternoon with how harsh the sun was cutting through my lenses, but it was just after 5 AM. Take a look at the example below.
We post our highlights
In the grand scheme of things these shots are less than desirable, but much like any relationship, good or bad, we only post our highlights. These are the highlights from the Portland Head trip, but I am still not sold on them. They are the remnants of what could have been a great morning sunrise shoot.
I recently posted the picture below on 500 px and it did awesome! I thought maybe I should stop being so hard on myself about it, but I still keep lingering on what could have been.
At what point do we just let go of a bad photo shoot and call it a day?
At what point do we just stop editing them and realize they will never be what you want them to be?
When do we stop lingering on the missed sunrise?
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Ahhh the trials and tribulations indeed. Working backwards on your questions – when do we stop lingering? Well that is a personality thing but honestly we can only hedge our bets so far – yes, that one you could have hedged better but let’s face it we are dealing with nature and humanity here – neither are perfect. Stop editing – just STOP, they are what they are and I’m guilty of that same affliction all the while cursing myself for missing the shot. Letting go of a bad photo shoot – well most of the time I’ll still shoot and try to get my head around trying different things, different views and hey, even sometimes finding something even cooler to shoot along the way home. You never know and honestly, you can always trash can the photos when you get home – oohhhh the joy of digital! 🙂
I keep the “bad” photos. With plug-ins like Topaz Impression and Glow, sometimes I come up with something unexpected. If that does not work, then I put them on an external hard drive and maybe someday I will try again. Blake, you are young enough that you will probably get back to Maine sometime (remember the time zone difference next time).
Fist off Blake your photos are awesome I’m just starting out so at some time I will see the good from the bad { I do now] but I see nothing wrong with yours Like people say when you go on a photo shot , you basically know what you are looking for and sometimes it just doesn’t work out, but in the long run you do get some photos you can use and put the others away for parts to use in other images
I never give up on an image that, in my mind’s eye, I like, but KNOW it’s not good. I’m always hoping that someday I may see it differently with a renewed vision.
As for “missing the shot”, well, you learn from it, which I think you have, and go on. You don’t know, maybe it would have been a bust even if you had been there (that’s what I always tell myself :)).
The thing here is that you went out with a vision of what you wanted and, blinded by what you envisioned, you passed up what you COULD have had.
Good read Blake! Nice to know I’m not the only one who mis-times sunsets/rises. Speaking of which, you may want to run a word replacement script and replace sunset with sunrise in that post 🙂
Blake take the good with the bad the lighthouse photo still looks pretty darn good maybe not as good as you could have but better than most. I’m taking your advice though and put the editing away after 30 minutes or so come back a day or a week and you might see something that you didn’t see you earlier. Thanks for all the posts and help and your photos are still beautiful.
In pursuit of the Holy Grail… mistakes are a given, they do happen. On the other hand while we should always strive for development and not rest on our laurels being a photo alchemist trying to make diamonds out of coal may just not be productive. There are times to hold them and times to fold them and go onto the next day, the next hunt, the next game. Hey, the hidden gem you gleaned was the family time. So as it relates to your photo shoot and the perfect results “The maxim, “Nothing prevails but perfection,” may be spelled PARALYSIS.” Winston Churchill… Blake, tomorrow is another day, another opportunity. Don’t look back.
I understand exactly what you are talking about. I am not in your league as a photographer as you but I can relate it to a golf tournament. You take second or third place as position almost anyone would be happy with…..BUT if only you had made that one putt and didn’t hit it a little short on that one chip etc you would have gotten to hoist that great big trophy.