Ignoring the Gatekeepers

This image is never going to hang on the wall of a famous museum -- it's more of a sketchbook snap -- but I still re-learned an important lesson by taking a second look and reprocessing it recently. My original approach to the edit was to force the result to conform to my mental concept rather than being open to what was actually present in the file and bringing that out. The other funny thing is that I was so hung up on technical flaws like blown highlights. Listening to self-appointed gatekeepers is okay I suppose, as long as you choose to ignore most of what they say. Become your own gatekeeper, I reckon that's the goal.

Blissfully unaware

I still remember taking this photograph using my first digital SLR camera way back in the early 2000s. I was pretty lucky to even have the camera in my possession, as I had stupidly purchased it from a sketchy place in Brooklyn in order to save a lousy $50. This photo was made when we were exploring an old second hand shop out in the country not too far from Columbus, GA. At the time, I was blissfully unaware of many of the technical aspects of digital imaging that I would soon learn about in great detail from the experts on forums and such. One of the things I 'learned' was that blown highlights are bad news, evidence of being a schlub, and so I wasted an hour of my life in a vain struggle to bring back some detail in the mirror. Of all the crappy advice I've been given, most of it revolves around turning photography into a sport. What a distraction! The best images are the ones that are most deeply felt.