Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
Bruce, I don't disagree with you about the ad. But since Brett's name came up and there was interest in what he had done, I thought it not too inappropriate to mention the books we are doing. As for the other, it was in answer to Jorge's "attack" (though that is too strong a word) about us not doing books of unknown photographers. Sorry it annoyed you, truly.
Jorge: Miller and Elliston are there. Lopez de Haro is not. Not yet.
So, back to the topic. My advice: It is very important to deal with your negatives--all of them. Make proofs. Live with them. Then either print or discard. If not sure, print them and then make the decision. At a certain point in one's career one learns the most from one's own previous work. If it has not been dealt with you never have the opportunity to learn from it and to keep moving forward. I believe one of the reasons Adams, past a certain point, stopping growing as a photographer is bacuse he never dealt with all of his negatives. Edward Weston printed or discarded all of his--every one he made. He kept growing as a photographer. At one point he discarded negatives, "no matter how well seen, but those I could not get a good print from."
Life's too short. Keep moving, growing. Out with the bad ones.
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
I don't throw anything away.
It's easy to *not* print a bad negative -- but it's impossible to go back and print a negative you destroyed.
As for adding more and more hard disks, I've started archiving old scans onto CD, and who cares if they're not archival? I have the original negatives, if I ever need the high res scans and can't read the CD-R media...
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
I keep the negs. I see them collectively as a sketchbook, and have found that I can learn something from them even I'm pretty sure I'll never print them. Prints that I don't like get the wood stove treatment. On another note, too bad Picker didn't take his own advice ;)
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
All things considered, I would rather have people wonder why I burned my negatives than wonder why I didn't...
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
I'd say save the negatives, you never know. But separate them from your good work. As for failed prints, I took them all out to the patio with scissors and paste and made a montage which now is mounted on the refrigerator. Strange images which fail on their own (exposure tests, shots where I forgot to put a filter on, etc.) can look pretty interesting when combined. This was just a fun project but it looks neat and hey, even Picasso made a few collages with scissors and paste. So I have more color on the walls than I did before.
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
All things considered, I would rather have people wonder why I burned my negatives than wonder why I didn't...
LOL......great post! I agree.... :-)
Editing by woodstove - what do you throw out?
Didn't the Weston sons print Ed's work in Ed's later years? Whose work is this?