Enough with the winnowing

Walking through the frame at LA's Union Station. I like the light on the man's hair and face. The dashes of light camera right add interest, too.

As reported last week the editing process continues apace and with it our experiment with the ideal number of images in a weekly post. Last week had two related photographs from the sun kissed Viansa Winery in Sonoma. There was a glass of good Sonoma rosé next to my camera as I recall. Somewhere I have a photograph to prove it.

Since the goal was two images last week that’s what you got. And to bring this experiment to its logical end, a single image graces this page. The photograph which I’ve called Through the Looking Glass sees two figures walking behind large windows above the concourse to the gates at LA’s Union Station. The window frames a couple who are seen in something more than silhouette. Since the photograph has no counterpart, it stands alone today. I’ve been holding this one for this single image post. I can see a stylistic relationship to last week’s duet so the segue from last week seems apt.

It does take less words when a fellow posts a single image. That prompts to me to ponder how much text is ideal for a weekly post. Please don’t say none.

As to the ideal number of photographs in a post I'm persuaded that less is best and that unless the post is really enhanced by the image in question don't use it.

 

Winnowing on the Bay

Topiary, Viansa Winery, Sonoma, California

Artist Albert Handell framed by topiary at Viansa Winery

Three forces are at work as I relive my street photographs over the years. There’s the simple but arduous task of reviewing hundreds of images since 2014. Earlier than that will be a very deep dive. Then there’s the more difficult task of choosing which ones should be preserved in some fashion for posterity. Those are matters that occupy a still agile mind as it approaches 83. The final component is to select the best of that lot for the street photography portfolio on my website and for preservation in printed form. That presentation will be accompanied by a carefully curated digital archive from which prints can be made. In other words I want to leave a lifetime of photographs in a space sensitive and protected form.

In the short term I’ve been posting small handfuls of images that relate according to location, subject and style according to me. The question of how many photographs are best for a blog post is a subject that elicits many opinions I have learned. And while I’m persuaded by arguments for presenting fewer better images and that’s the path I’ve chosen I understand and appreciate the alternative approach to present more. My marketing consultant is a committed minimalist whose contentions are persuasive. So, at least for now I'm in concision mode.

As I write these words on Thursday, I’m editing my cache of possible entries for the week’s post to a goal of two and once again they come from the same place and about the same time of day. The same location element was not what I intended. I simply wanted the photographs to belong together. These do.

Winnowing away the hours

Pigeons in flight, Plaza Catalunya, Barcelona. We'd traveled all night yet Peggy insisted we stay up till bedtime. By the we got to the Plaza or Placa with a lisp in Catalan I was asleep on my feet.

Catching rays, Plaza Catalunya, Barcelona. We were both laying down with out heads on our carry-ons when I took this midday beauty. I may have dozed off at some point but I'll never admit it. That evening we chanced upon a little tapas pace on the Gran Via. It was 11pm when we left. The next day we were acclimated and ready to boogie.

Tourist throngs, Las Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. Gaudi's masterpiece was three blocks from our hotel in the charming L'eixemple neighborhood.

When I limited my images to four last week, I intended to reduce it to three this week then two and one. I also aimed at mixing it up so the images wouldn’t all be from, say, Barcelona. Yet the images needed to hang together as if on a gallery wall. That proved a daunting objective. This less is more approach stems from a Ted Talk that showed that too many choices can lead to fewer sales or clicks than fewer more selective choices. One of the research projects was of the olive oil selection in a big box store that displayed sixty brands and another that offered eight. The research showed that the smaller eight variety selection yielded more sales. It made some sense to me, and I could fathom how too many choices might lead to confusion and fatigue. So, the question becomes what is the ideal number of olive oils that represents variety but encourages sales. I don’t claim to know. In my posts I typically offer five or six photographs appropriate to the theme of the post and that still seems reasonable. My marketing consultant seems to think fewer yet might be better and less images might not cause attention deficit disorder. Another result of posting fewer images should be that they are better ones. Addition by subtraction is another way to frame it. A subset of this pursuit is not to post images that are too similar. If the image doesn’t tell a different story than its companions don’t use it.

So, here are a paltry three images all from Barcelona. I was unable to choose that few images from three different locations and have them flow to my satisfaction. I’ll keep working to that end. It’s a work in process, kiddos.

Winnowing the pooh

This rugged campesino was photographed at the Mercado de San Juan de Dios in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico in the fall of 2018. It was under a corrugated roof over the loading dock for the sprawling enterprise so the light was diffuse and soft. It was my first memorable image from my shiny new Sony RX100 V.6.

Tia and Paul Kratter, both accomplished painters and two of our housemates in Brittany, were captured in the carressing light of the falling sun on a hillock above the beach in Keremma in July 2019. This is but one of a dozen elegiac photographs taken as the sun dipped into the Celtic sea. It was 10:00pm. Summer days are long at land's end.

I photographed this sad soul walking through the shadow before crouching in the in the sunlight for a smoke. I invented stories to explain his plight. Now it's your turn.

This was made from my window seat on the Madrid to Malaga train. It was the last stop before its terminus at the Estación de Malaga-Maria Zambrano. Based on their attire I made these folks to be expats not Spanish.

The sorting and winnowing process proceeds though slowly. Because I’m up to my keester in hard drives and a gazillion folders I’ll make this quick. If the goal is to wind up with 20 or so meaningful candid photographs for my Street Photography portfolio, I remain hopeful. What lies ahead is a ruthless edit. For now, here are a handful of candidates. Perhaps the captions will be more robust than normal in the absence of much body copy.

I'm experimenting with Mies van der Rohe's "less is more" today.