When I take pictures, I take lots of pictures, not as many as a professional photographer with a three burst flash (or whatever that’s called), but still quite a few. But the difference between me and the professional, aside from a sheer lack of skill on my part, is that I don’t curate my photos.
By “curate,” I mean sort through them, find the best ones, post those, and trash the rest. I don’t do that. Instead, I publish pretty much everything I shoot.
I have a few reasons for doing this. You can decide for yourself whether you like these reasons or not:
- It’s like writing. If I’m writing, I need to just write, not edit. If I’m taking pictures, I need to just take pictures, not sift through them, culling out the lame ones.
- I feel that if I leave the lame ones in, then it makes the experience more real. Instead of just posting the best, I post all the in between stuff too. It’s a different style. Instead of aiming to only show off the best work in the most efficient way, I aim simply to show what I took, show the process.
- It’s easier to publish photos now than want them published later. I’m not advocating a pack-rat approach (“never through anything away”) as much as I’m advocating the practice of producing. It’s way too easy to wait, to put off until the project feels perfect. I’ve found, though, that if I did that all the time, I’d miss far more opportunities than I’d gain by staying picky.
Whatever you decide about it, this is where I am now. Maybe I’ll change my mind sometime, but for now this is my strategy and some of the motivation behind it. But I’m still learning.
Also, I think in this case, everyone could take a different approach, and that actually turn out better. Like some people will play on other strengths. Maybe they’re really good at editing or really love that process. Wonderful, then go do that.
For me, though, I want to publish.
