Behind every good piece of work, often hides a mountain of effort.
If the work is successful, then enormous amount of care, thought, deliberation, reconsideration, delays, reworks, and great care in the execution of the work will be hidden from the viewer.
‘I could do that’, are often the words said by someone who has limited experience. The work they are looking at succeeds in casting an illusion over the lay person that it was effortless. Whereas, for those who have experience know only too well that for work to be successful, requires more effort than is apparent.
Rest assured, that anything that was created by someone, which we like, had a mountain of effort applied to it. It had what I would call ‘great care taken in the execution’ of the work.
Yesterday in my post about the town geometry photographs, I mentioned that I spend the least amount of time in the image capturing, and most of my time in the ‘finishing’ of the work. I may spend just a few minutes capturing the photos, but if one were to zoom out and look at the execution of the work from start to finish, the length of time applied to the work increases towards the end of its execution. I will often spend weeks deliberating about an edit adjustment, a luminosity change in the final image, whereas the initial edits were done in a few minutes.
I think this is rarely talked about. For most work to get to a mature level of completeness, the creator has often spent a lot of time and effort on it.
Being a good artist, or creating better work, does not, and should not imply that the work becomes easier to create. I am often asked ‘how many successful images do I get on a roll of film’. It is the wrong question. The question should really be ‘how much thought and effort goes on in the background, to create the work that we see?’
The question of ‘how many successful images do you get to a roll of film?’ hints at the assumption that becoming a better photographer, means you’re able to shoot more successful images. When in fact it was just a case of ‘shooting whatever interested you, to try out different ideas’. The care and effort were actually in selecting, editing and presenting of the work. That is where the greatest of care was taken, and to assume it’s all about just capturing good compositions is too over simplistic.
So today I wish to say, that if anyone wishes to be a better photographer, it will often be found in the great care that was taken in the execution of the work. To the inexperienced, this will sadly be hidden from view. Good work tends to look effortless. Good ideas tend to seem ‘obvious. But it is worth knowing, that for everyone, no matter their level of ability, always great care, and an inordinate amount of time and effort is taken, to make the work look as best as the photographer can make it.
If you are struggling with decisions about what to do with your edits, then know that you are not alone. Everyone, including even those that you admire or are world famous, are not exempt from this. The difference perhaps is that they know they must work at it, and to create anything of any value, great care must be taken in the execution of the work.