Why Your Photographer Sends So Few Photos

Another first Wednesday, another poetry slam. Almost. This week, the quality was decidedly better than usual. I probably say that every week, but every week it’s true. Some some newcomers, some new usuals, and some old-timers, we all had the same dream of the same city, and came in search of it. And when there was no city, we built it.

Seems even as I shoot more, I post less.

Yeah. I’ve been thinking about the events I shot in 2014. Basically, aside from Farm Family Dinner at Erda Gardens, that’s Pornotopia Fundraiser at Effex and the big event at the Guild. I included none of these on this site because I wanted a clean break as 2015 started, and because the quality of the 2015 work was a clean break worth of different.

I’ve noticed that even as I shoot the same number of frames, I still come up with fewer. For today’s post, I kept 1%. For Def-I’s release party, for which I shot over 2000 frames, I kept about 1.25%.

I sense a significant shift over the holidays. Something about the new year cleaves “old” work from “new,” and though it’s supposed to be arbitrary, I keep feeling it with substance. As though going into the “new year,” I want to up my game. Sometimes that means leaving my viewers asking why their photographer sends so few photos.

Well, this is why your photographer sends so few photos.

I can’t always manage to up that game in a room darker than my camera can account for. But I do have a magic second chance to get things right. I can simply release only six photos from the 600+ I shot. The six that really tell stories. The six that feel like I’m living up to my commitment to my craft. (Other times I’m outdoors, mid-afternoon, and then my only excuse is a lack of muse.)

Last year I volunteered to shoot a local march against Monsanto. When I delivered 14 images, my organizer friend was beside himself. I’ve gone out of my way since to shoot more (and more), and try harder (and harder) to make every one count. But I’d rather prep a client by telling them I’m profoundly demanding than earn a reputation as a mediocrist.