Each year I make a point to set aside some time to wrap up the previous year of photography. This usually starts in the winter months and may stretch in to the spring depending on how much work there is to do.
The first thing that I do is review each folder and set of images that I shot for the year. I often times do not process all of the "keepers" from a location during the year, so this is the time that I will go through and bring to light some of the gems that I've left hidden on my desktop.
I've found too that letting some images sit and "age" a bit gives me perspective when I go to process them. Coming back from a particularly productive shoot, of course there is excitement and I want to share what I've done. I may do that right after I return, share an image or two, but I usually don't work the images too much nor do I want to share the full breadth of the shoot. I do like to let the excitement subside a bit so that I can review and judge the images with as clear perspective as I can. I may like an image when I first get back home, remembering what it felt like to be there or the sights/sounds, but upon some aging and perspective, that image may not stand up in the final cut. That's why I like to let them ferment a bit.
Once I've processed my images, then comes the harder task. Curating my processed images for the year and condensing them in to a concise portfolio of work. Without a doubt I am my own worst critic! I am constantly striving to improve my photography, my vision, my "voice".....so that makes me a harsh critic when it comes to reviewing my images. Usually during this process I also take some time to lift out of the actual images and look across the body of work and try to identify trends in my photography or look for areas that I've grown in, and, look for areas that I'd like to improve upon in the coming year. It's all very introspective and can be insightful for me in my constant quest to improve.
Once I've culled the images down to what I think is a worthy set of images, I then create a book of my images. I started doing this 5-6 years ago as a way to chronicle my growth, realize my photography in a hard copy format (instead of having tons of prints lying around) and be able to share with friends and family. And with an eye towards the future, I can look back at my work and see what I did and follow my photographic journey through time.
I settled on using the Blurb company to produce my books. There are tons of print on demand companies out there, this is the one that i chose. I chose it based upon overall print quality, the ability to print larger sized books, the variety of templates, the control and customizations available for what I want to do. They are not the cheapest, nor are they the most expensive. Very good quality at what I feel is a fair price.
I've finished my book for 2015 and here is a short excerpt from it....
The first thing that I do is review each folder and set of images that I shot for the year. I often times do not process all of the "keepers" from a location during the year, so this is the time that I will go through and bring to light some of the gems that I've left hidden on my desktop.
I've found too that letting some images sit and "age" a bit gives me perspective when I go to process them. Coming back from a particularly productive shoot, of course there is excitement and I want to share what I've done. I may do that right after I return, share an image or two, but I usually don't work the images too much nor do I want to share the full breadth of the shoot. I do like to let the excitement subside a bit so that I can review and judge the images with as clear perspective as I can. I may like an image when I first get back home, remembering what it felt like to be there or the sights/sounds, but upon some aging and perspective, that image may not stand up in the final cut. That's why I like to let them ferment a bit.
Once I've processed my images, then comes the harder task. Curating my processed images for the year and condensing them in to a concise portfolio of work. Without a doubt I am my own worst critic! I am constantly striving to improve my photography, my vision, my "voice".....so that makes me a harsh critic when it comes to reviewing my images. Usually during this process I also take some time to lift out of the actual images and look across the body of work and try to identify trends in my photography or look for areas that I've grown in, and, look for areas that I'd like to improve upon in the coming year. It's all very introspective and can be insightful for me in my constant quest to improve.
Once I've culled the images down to what I think is a worthy set of images, I then create a book of my images. I started doing this 5-6 years ago as a way to chronicle my growth, realize my photography in a hard copy format (instead of having tons of prints lying around) and be able to share with friends and family. And with an eye towards the future, I can look back at my work and see what I did and follow my photographic journey through time.
I settled on using the Blurb company to produce my books. There are tons of print on demand companies out there, this is the one that i chose. I chose it based upon overall print quality, the ability to print larger sized books, the variety of templates, the control and customizations available for what I want to do. They are not the cheapest, nor are they the most expensive. Very good quality at what I feel is a fair price.
I've finished my book for 2015 and here is a short excerpt from it....
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