a first treat

Last Sunday, the never-ending rain pushed me for a break and something sweet. The night before was a burst of social energy (which my battery wasn’t ready for), and I allowed myself some me time.

My favorite artsy theater held a screening for this really sweet documentary Agatha’s Almanac. I had no idea of its existence before looking at the schedule. My blissful ignorance combined with desire to escape turned the day around. Coming out into a dry-ish weather, newfound energy helped me venture around the block to find more sights to see.

I randomly entered into the following exhibition by 張智銘, focused on photographing trees only.

Browse through an extract of the exhibition here.

that lead to another treat

Now here’s my non-secret: I really like trees.

In fact, since picking up photography this year (a fruit of a wonderful gift I received for my birthday). Taking pictures of trees has been a sane default for my practice. I still have so much to learn, and the gentle giants teach me lightning, plus they always pose so greatly.

However, when it comes to scrying through all my pictures and selecting which ones to edit, trees rarely make the cut. On some rare exceptions, they do. The setting or uniqueness if the shot needs to be convincing enough for it to make the cut for me. At least I realized that’s how I approached what happened “after taking the pictures.”

This exhibition made me rethink what a good picture and a good selection of photography could be. These shots made me pause more than I thought they would, and my progression through the gallery progressively erased the prejudice I had. I caught myself stopping to look at the details of photos which subjects I wouldn’t stop for in my camera roll. Yet here, presented with purpose and intent, their position as center piece worked so well.

Now, the quality of the shots and artisty are incredible, and while walking through the exhibitons, I thought about the now numerous photos of trees that stayed in my SD card and were never exported or edited.

and a realization

I realized that I arbitrarily set rules about the photos I am taking and saving, why is that?

When I filter through the photos I have taken on a given day, I often think of how interesting a shot would be to see in isolation. My mind is wired so that each shot must be so intriguing and well made on its own so that it doesn’t need the support of other shots to shine. It needs to be different, standout, well framed, and unique.

As I am writing this, I realize that this is not the way I want to take pictures, or at least build a resulting album from a photo expedition. Photography, to me, is about moments (plural). I understand that one picture can be impactful, but multiple pictures supporting one another can also be. If one wants to experience photography as storytelling, there needs to be various chapters to build said story.

This exhibition and its ability to make me read the art differently, triggered some profound reflections about my art practice.

The same way this blog is filled with smaller and less impactful writings, a photo album should have pictures that don’t feel like they should stand on their own, that maybe feel like fillers at the point of editing.

Perhaps the magic in all this is realizing that giving attention to those less desired shots becomes standout when we give them time, appreciation, and care. The shots themselves don’t predicate their quality, the way we put them together does.

Any album is interesting, so as long as whoever made the shots decided to care for any pictures as much as any other.