Proof is an upcoming exhibit in Chicago that looks at the final shot alongside the contact sheet covering a range of subjects. (They also have an online version.) Contact sheets are old hat to any art director who’s done photoshoots, but for others, it’s always interesting to see the shots that didn’t make the final cut. To the untrained eye, many of them appear almost the same, but there’s always a subtle detail or shift to the body that makes/breaks the shot. Sometimes you find the perfect expression, but the body is wrong, or vice-versa. And even to the trained eye, some art directors second-guess the photographer’s number 1 choice. Usually though they’re both in agreement. Usually.
(Via C-Monster.)
1 comment:
Many moons ago before I went marketing side, I worked at a newspaper with many hats from business reporter to copy editor to Quark layout guru. Damn, I'm old. Anyway, one of my epiphanies in the newspaper trade was watching professional photographers shoot 300 pictures and then select only one or two for final publication, out of perhaps 10 good shots. I realized then that there is a random beauty to art, the rare combination of an observer trying to frame a moment and a subject moving just right and the light hitting it all to help just so. Success is random.
It's a good lesson in the arrogant world of business, where we often think we can control the outcome. The odds of success are slender at best, given the competitive variables stacked against us. You have to experiment, to try again and again, and expose yourself to randomness to really succeed. You'll fail a lot in the process, but don't let that stop you.
Minor rant on beauty and randomness. Hey. Maybe one of these thoughts makes sense?
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