15 Year update #2

I’ve sort of gotten bogged down looking thru my negatives and slides lately- I’m catagorizing them into “scan piles” or which ones I think are the best use of valuable scanner time!

What I didn’t expect was finding soooo many that took me back to where it all really began- Before I was a photographer, I worked retail and was about to change professions and work in the rafting / whitewater industry- I’m an explorer at heart…ANYWAY- I found slides back from when I was still submitting to PADDLER MAGAZINE and I covered a lot of east coast whitewater events ( especially Gauley Season in WV)

Two things became apparent:
1) They must have REALLY needed some photos from the East Coast ( they are located in Colorado) to have hired me!
2) I really had a lot of potential OR  ’cause I didn’t see a lot of consistancy! ( must have drove the photo editor quite mad…..)

There are some shining moments of course; and those are in the  “to be scanned” pile. But there were a lot more that, looking back, should have been put in “file 13″ or the “never to be seen again” folder.
It really makes you humble to see your earlier mistakes; and even happier to see your successes- even looking back, I can start to see where my strengths were growing into a “style”,what lenses I was comfortable with, closeness to the people, subject, cropping, etc…
Take a look at what you shot even if it’s from only a year ago- don’t wait as long as I did- you’ll gain some valuable insight into where you are a a photogrpher today!

~ by photographicdesign on June 13, 2008.