The Gallery of Forgotten Images
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Everyone has their quirks, and while I’d rather not go into a list of mine, (since they all seem perfectly reasonable to me) it’s worth mentioning one photo-related quirk. While not always true, for the most part, when I return from a shoot, I usually don’t look at any of my images. Sometimes, in fact, I wait months before reviewing my shots. I understand that I’m in the minority in this regard, and that there are a number of arguments for why you should review your images right away. And while I’m not going to try to convince anyone that letting images “cure” for a while is the best practice, I am going to show some examples here of how returning for another look at projects you thought were finished can lead to some nice discoveries. |
I suppose the general reason that I usually don’t look at images right away can be summed up in a single word: cowardice. I simply don’t want to be disappointed by what I find, and with the reality of the scenes still fresh in my mind, photos are too often disappointing. But if I wait a while – weeks, sometimes even months – then when I look at my images, it’s almost as if I’m looking at someone else’s pictures. I tend to look with a much fresher eye, have a better appreciation of the images, and often find I’m more enthusiastic than when I look at images immediately after shooting.
Over the weekend, I had to prowl through some old shoots to find images that could be used for an upcoming tutorial project. I did a lot of traveling last year, and decided to begin my image foraging by searching through the images from some of those journeys. I had already been through these folders and worked up some of the images. But on this perusal, I spotted some unprocessed images that I hadn’t given serious thought to before, and I managed to work them into final images that I liked.
Somewhere in Missouri.
What I found particularly interesting about this project was that it was a lot like shooting. As I looked through the thumbnails in Bridge, my eye would be caught by a play of the light in one image, or an almost-complete compositional idea in another. In other words, I was engaged in the same visual process that you go through when shooting, the difference being that those same things had caught my eye before, and so I already had them captured.
While I remembered all of the locations, I didn’t necessarily remember shooting these particular shots, so it was interesting to discover that whatever the initial impulses were when I shot, they were still strong enough ideas that I could see them when returning to the images. So, I worked up the files into finished pictures.
These aren’t my most favorite images – after all, they didn’t make the first cut, when I originally worked through the projects – but finding them was a fun process.
So, if you find yourself unable to get out shooting, or if weather foils your plans, or if you find yourself felled by a winter cold, try taking a safari through your existing archive. You might find material you didn’t know you had.
View the gallery of 12 recently-found images
Comments
6 Comments on The Gallery of Forgotten Images
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Rowan on
Thu, 18th Feb 2010 6:15 pm
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Ben Long on
Sun, 21st Feb 2010 10:31 pm
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Rowan on
Mon, 22nd Feb 2010 6:16 pm
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Terry Reed on
Tue, 7th Feb 2012 8:02 am
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Sherry on
Sat, 7th Apr 2012 2:46 pm
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Rebekah on
Wed, 31st Oct 2012 8:27 pm
I adore photo #12! Can you please tell me what settings you used?
That was a composite of a couple of files. I took three frames of the scene, bracketed one stop apart, and created an HDR. I think took one of the original frames and composited it over the HDR with a layer mask, so that i could keep the HDR sky, but have a normal-looking foreground. I then painted a lot of custom highlighting into the scene using adjustment layers.
I’ve been meaning to put together a little tutorial on this. I’ll try to get it posted soon.
Thanks Ben, I’d really appreciate if you did! 
I can’t pick a fav … I love’em ALL! I wish I knew how to do just HALF the things you do. I am self-taught and much of the time get stuck because of terminology. I don’t know what things MEAN and don’t have anyone close to explain things. It’s become too difficult for me, since the strokes, to keep info I read – I swear, there’s an memory-eating troll in my head. GRIN! Now THERE’S some mental imagery for True Fiction, eh? LOL If you ever want to come to Alaska, stay in an old, funky lodge (look up albums on google+ under terryliciareed@gmail.com) then please, come on up – will exchange lodging here at the Homestead for lessons! Love your work, what a joy to see such talent.
Ben, you are a gifted photographer and and instructor. I have enjoyed several of your classes on Lynda.com.
FYI – someone has put aTROJAN on your web under the link: VIEW THE GALLERY OF 12 RECENTLY FOUND IMAGES.
I really think #11 is my favorite. I love the crispness of the overcast nuetral tones, if that makes sense.
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