Your favorite of all your photos, and the story behind it.

Mine: Brief Blue. I was sitting in class with my camera, and say two people

talking across the room. I zoomed in as close as I could get, turned off the

flash, and took the picture. It turned out somewhat blurred from the zoom, but

I see it as my best photograph by far.<div></div>

I saw two people. I hate how I only catch my typos after I've posted the message.

Well my favorite photograph is the one I have yet to make.;-) If I don't think that way my

passion will die.

Favorite photo of mine is "mark p." (although honestly I probably have three or four

favorites so far and it depends what day you ask me which I'll choose!) because it tells a

quirky story and captures just the right moment and expression to me:

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/6033966

 

The one I respond to most as I look through your portfolio is "Chris." It feels real and

connected.

My favorite? Timeless in White (hopefully URL attached).

<P>Hmm. . . Interesting. . .</P>

 

<P>I follow both Fred and Rachel's portfolios and I am intrigued by their choices. I would HAVE certainly picked Rachel's choice as MY favourite of her pages and certainly would NOT have picked Fred's from his. I know what makes our own favourite image is very, very different from what is likely to be liked by others, but, an interesting observation none the less.</P>

 

<P>As for myself? Well, I like my <A HREF="http://www.photo.net/photo/6533909">Pitcher-Plant</a> photograph better than any other. </P>

 

<P>Firstly, I simply love pitcher-plants as plants. I find them fascinating and beautiful. I love the hairs. I love the veining. I love the tall vase-shaped form. </P>

 

<P>Second, I love the fact that they grow in swamps and bogs that so many people see as dead-zones or as waste-lands. It is a similar sentiment that originally attracted me to my dead-wood subjects. </P>

 

<P>Third, I love the play of light and shadow and the murky, fog-like, out of focus regions in the photograph. It makes the image feel so private, intimate, and personal to me.</P>

 

<P>Fourth, I love the triad of forms. I love how there is a very small and very large pitcher -- with the two physically turned away from each other and they are also in contrasting focus and tonal-ranges. The third fallen pitcher gives a dynamic quality that engages me more than might have been the case otherwise.</P>

One of my photographs is a favourite for a simple reason. The reason being that I see the moment I decided to take it as a defining moment in the subsequent direction I have gone with much of my photography. It's this one...

http://www.photo.net/photo/6566853

I have noted that most of Spencer's forum posts involve the concept of favourites. It must have meaning for him and obviously for others who respond to these posts, however it seems a totally fruitless exercise to me. In all my years of taking pictures it has never occurred to me that there would be a singular image that would be my favourite. Even if I invested the time in attempting to sort this out, I am not sure what I could hope to gain. We are all wired differently. When I am looking at an image, whether it is mine or yours, I see it as an individual experience. I see the photo as part of a body of work and that is relevant to understanding the photo, but I am not consciously ranking the image and having concern for where its standing falls on some sort of scale.

 

This is not meant to slight Spencer's post, clearly his 'favourites' questions are popular, I just find, that fact, more curious than his question itself.

 

I'm with Hansen on this one.

Gord, I'm with you and Hansen too on this....which is why I was careful to say "One of my photographs is a favourite"

I think it depends on the purpose with which I am viewing the photo.

 

Sometimes I look at photos, others' or my own, with an esthetic eye . . . an eye less

judgmental and less likely to pit one photo against another hierarchically.

 

Sometimes I look at photos, especially my own, with a critical eye. Here, I make more

tough judgments and comparisons may abound.

 

Sometimes these two overlap and sometimes I separate the two.

 

Especially when I am being self critical, it is important to discern which photos I think are

better. That helps me determine what works for me and what doesn't. It often guides me

in a direction.

 

Right now, photography for me is as much a process as it is about finished products.

Some of the products will remain with me for years to come. Some will quickly blend into

the background as part of learning and growing, important and vital but not long-lived as

products.

 

It may seem a bit simplistic to call the ones I think will last long "favorites," although I

don't mind the terminology, but I think recognizing these upon periodic assessment is

helpful to my growth, voice, and self-awareness.

 

In this forum, for instance, Ian seems to have learned something rather surprising about

my view of my work. That could prove a somewhat fruitful discovery both in terms of his

understanding of what I am trying to do and my understanding of what he sees differently

in my work. I imagine he and I may discuss this further as time goes on.

Hi Pete;

 

Yes I did notice that you chose your words with care :) For what it's worth - I too saw that image of yours as a turning point in your photography and a superb image in its own right.

Gordon, as you know, I just submitted photos for a 'best of' exhibition (instead of for an exhibition that wanted a series/portfolio/related set of images). In doing so I had to rank my photos and pick my best and favourite ones to print, dry-mount, and mat. There was a maximum limit to what I could submit and there was no limit to what style of image. In my portfolio here there are much softer limits, and in any other photo submission I have made there has been some greater external expectations (i.e. the submission had to be B&W and a related series, or it to be about trees etc...).

 

It was a remarkably painful and exhausting process. I spent several full days deciding on what to submit. I tried for a while to second guess the judges and the nature of exhibition and in the end gave up. So, I submitted my favourites.

 

Deciding upon what images were my favourites was no less painful a process than trying to guess what the judges wanted. But, in the end, I'm glad I went through it in the way that I did. I learned a fair bit about what are my own preferences within my own work. The results of the process have re-affirmed what directions I want to pursue and which I would be willing to let fall by the way-side.

 

It was actually a rewarding exercise that I would recommend to others. I could now massively cull my portfolio if requested or desired and be comfortable with the results.

 

The only enervating part of the exercise was that my favourite two photos weren't selected for the final exhibit.

I just read what Fred was posting as I was writing. I couldn't agree more with:

 

"Especially when I am being self critical, it is important to discern which photos I think are better. That helps me determine what works for me and what doesn't. It often guides me in a direction."

 

I also agree with:

 

"Ian seems to have learned something rather surprising about my view of my work. That could prove a somewhat fruitful discovery both in terms of his understanding of what I am trying to do and my understanding of what he sees differently in my work. I imagine he and I may discuss this further as time goes on."

 

Yes, I guess I have. I certainly want to re-examine your portfolio with your stated preference in mind and see if that changes any of my perceptions. Right now, I have already thought about how much that photo seems to capture a specific and passing moment more than many of your other images -- while still having the massive narrative quality that your work always exudes. I can't help see a connection with the street-photos you used to have in your portfolio. I wonder what you might create if you went back to some 'street' photography now after all these other works.

 

I also think you might want to know what my favourite of your photos is. Well, it is Michael, on the steps.

My personal favorite, taken more than 25 years ago. My then-toddler daughter was napping and liked to lull herself to sleep by gently kicking her rocking chair, which had a little music box on the leg that played along with the rocking.<div></div>

I have no problem being self critical without being hierarchical about it but that's just me, like I said we all have our own approaches.

I couldn't begin to narrow it down to one image. Here's something I've not posted before, off roll #1 (of maybe 60 rolls), from slides through the years. It's not that chronological though, my slides got seriously jumbled. Just across the street park walkies:<div></div>

I just went into my photo manager and brought up level 5 of favorite photos on a scale of 1 to 5. There are 14 of them, about 1 for every year I have been photographing seriously. But of these fourteen, 7 are not pure photography, being manipulations, out and out digital creations, collages, etc. I could not choose between them, besides my favorites sway from day to day like a willow in the wind, depending on perceived personal emotional attachment, others opinions, how close to creation date it is, and the amount of creativity I feel was put into the image. Out of these fourteen I could never define a solid personal favorite. The more recent the image the more likely I am to think very highly of it.

How do you chose among your children, which you love most? I love them all differently.<div></div>

For my college photo class. Tri-X, my Canon A1, a beautiful fall day in the woods, and a leaf that I caught in a panning exercise.<div></div>

I apologise if all of my "Best" and "Favorite" posts are getting annoying. I'm just very new to all of this and want to start conversation. I'll try to make more interesting posts in the future.

Spencer--

 

I encourage you to keep asking what comes naturally to you. There will always be some

who don't like what you have to say or how you approach things and there will be some

who are interested and want to engage you on your terms. Believe me, some people love

what I have to say and some people think I'm a big bore. On PN, I find it helps to have a

thick skin. I have found most of your posts refreshing and I think you've started some

good conversations.

 

--Fred

<p>I was hiking the Vernal Nevada Falls Trail in Yosemite. It was a long day and I was down to my last frame of film, and I came across this...

<a href="http://www.InspirationPointStudio.com/IPS/Welcome.html " rel="nofollow">Inspiration Point Studio. </a></P>

<a href=" title="Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap and Half Dome in Yosemite by Inspiration Point Studio, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2137/2313728388_437ba33ab5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap and Half Dome in Yosemite" /></a>

<P>Spencer, I notice you haven't been around very long. Maybe not long enough to grow a thick skin. But don't assume because people disagree with you that they are annoyed or find you annoying.</P> <P>We need people around here who will put up viewpoints that others will disagree with. That's part of the entertainment here. I agree with Gordon that I don't think in terms of a favorite, in photos and in many other things. But if you do, that's valid as well.</P><P>Also, think about Hansen's comment. Look to the future - probably your favorite picture hasn't been taken yet!</P>

Not technically good. But my favorite is this photo where I turned around to a fight, blood streaming down this guys face.<div></div>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6411840-lg.jpg" alt="fight" />