Marigold Again

I read a variety of photography magazines, but the only one that I read every issue of is Black + White Photography. That's not because of the quality of the writing - its pretty patchy, like most magazines and they could do with giving Tim Clinch a bit of a rest. But it does have good production values, features a variety of imagery and steers away from critiquing readers photos, which is a practice that I find very procrustean.  

Anyway, in Issue 156 (November 2013), there is an interview with Jonathan Chritchley in which he says something to the effect that you shouldn't publish an image that you're not 150 percent sure of.

As I'm only ever eighty percent sure of my images at best, that's a whole seventy percent certainty deficit that I need to make up.

The image above is one of these eighty percenters. So, what's my problem with it? 

Well, apart from the fact that I'm aware that I've posted lots of images of marigolds in the past, its a colour image, and I always feel a sense of defeat when I can't make a decent monochrome image from a shot that I've taken. Oh, and the white balance is a bit off...and the composition is nothing to write home about...and, well you get the gist.

As an amateur, I think it's quite difficult to judge the value, or otherwise, of your imagery. Selling pictures to make a living, like Mr Chritchley, is a very direct way of getting feedback on what you do. This links back to the points I made in my previous post about access to arts events and indicates some uncertainty that I'm feeling about how to progress my photography. 

Winter is coming on and my flower photography is over until next spring. Last year, this blog suffered a serious hiatus due to a general lack of anything worth posting. I'm determined not to let that happen this year, but how to produce images to my eighty percent standard during the dark months is a bit of a mystery to me at the moment.

I'll continue to post the stuff that I have backed up, which should take me down to Christmas or thereabouts, then we'll have to see where I go from there.