I’m not really a fan of groins, poles, or Tori gates in water. It isn’t my thing.
But I did find these pillars a little out of the ordinary. The rust colour was also unusually appealing. Which is why I think I followed through to actually finishing the work and presenting it here.
These were the only photographs that I made whilst in South Korea last October that I am happy with. They also feel sufficiently strong enough for me to include them on this blog. I see photography as a diary of my life, and my blog is a mirror of that. So here they are.
The follow through test
To me, there are several stages in the birth of images where the process can come to an abrupt end, or to put it another way, becomes still born, and if I manage to get through to editing the work and presenting it, then it has had to stand up to several tests. Here are my thoughts on what they are:
I have to be interested enough to shoot it
Judgement on whether something is of worth has to be present from the very beginning. I don’t just shoot anything, and I’ve found that I’ve become more selective over time (this does not mean it’s a good thing - as I think being overly selective can result in myself missing out on potential images). But I have come to realise that if I’ve shot the scene, I think there is some merit to it.
I have to be interested enough to scan and edit it
I have found myself reject the work when it comes to scanning it.
I have to be interested enough to actually publish it
I sometimes get to the end, and just don’t feel the work is strong enough. I think this has taught me that I often feel that hunch pretty much right through the process and I need to trust it more.
I have to live with it for a few months or maybe even a year
Sometimes our best work only becomes evident with time. Conversely, more often, I find work that I liked at the beginning, can become tiring or I just feel I see it for what it truly is much later: it’s not as good as I had hoped. So it is removed.
I feel connected to the work
I just have to find something about the work that pushes me forward to work on it. If I’m not engaged enough in it, then I think it will become evident during one or a few of the phases mentioned. I do sometimes find I pursue weak work right through to the very end, and still manage to publish it.
As it stands at the moment, I’m really not sure what I think of this work from South Korea. I can’t figure out if I just had to finish it, and publish it, because it was the only thing I found while I was there? Or is my uncertainty because it’s not within my usual style of subjects? I really don’t know. So I really need to live with it for now.