Beckett and Poons on Failure

As photographers, we are often advised by our teachers to 'work the scene'. Good advice. I was able to get a photograph of this scene that I liked a little bit better by doing just that. Although, I still like having this more literal shot in my archive as a reminder of the experience. Anyway, most of us have heard of the idea of failing up, or failing better, but many probably don't realize it comes from Samuel Beckett. And I recently stumbled upon some words of wisdom from painter Larry Poons.

'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better'.
-Samuel Beckett

'A failed painting is better than one that's just plain bad. The failed painting is one that could have been great'.
-Larry Poons

Tasting notes: Leica R9, 50mm f/1.4, Santa Rae 1000 film.

The thing that divides the world in two

Windows, mirrors, reflections... all enticing subjects for photographs. What attracts us to them? To quote Samuel Beckett, “...  perhaps that’s what I feel, an outside and an inside and me in the middle, perhaps that’s what I am, the thing that divides the world in two, on the one side the outside, on the other the inside, that can be as thin as foil..." Perhaps the imprint of the photograph is as close as we can come to creating a record of that foil.

Or maybe all we are doing is rearranging electrons...