Free to compose more anonymous, less obvious shots

It’s taken me a while to realise that since I started to focus more on portfolio sets (as they convey, or help push you towards a style), that I’ve found myself including images that are more anonymous, or perhaps less obvious as contenders to help support the portfolio set.

Portfolios in a way, although they may stipulate constraints so that the images conform to a look or a feel, have in a way allowed me to go looking for compositions in the landscape that might not feel immediately apparent as a strong contender as an individual image, but instead, help or be a supporting image in a set.

I think there is a danger in always looking for the Alpha shot, and discarding the Beta shots as a result. We’re so intent on looking for those images that have a strong composition etc, that they are perhaps too powerful to be included in a set, because they would compete, rather than work with the others.

I got told a while ago that my imagery had moved away from the less iconic shots to a more abstract view. I think this is true, but it wasn’t a conscious decision: it just happened, and I think it mostly came about by my fascination on working on sets of images.