Stay loose

“Many painters work so attentively and carefully with the grounding and the completion of a painting—in order that it last an eternity—and they lose their fire,. Then it turns out that the picture has become so boring and bad that it disappears into the junk room.”

-Edward Munch

For a moment I was going to call this post ‘Don’t over work your images’.   But positive psychology got the better of me.  Did you know we don’t see the ‘donts’.   So if I had called it that we would read and remember ‘work your iages’.   We drop the negative qualifier.   It’s always better to reframe your little affirmations to be short and positive.

So stay loose is where I ended up.  Not sure that it totally encompasses what Munch is taking about.  Many talk about the dangers of perfection because it ruins many great ideas.   

In painting there is always this discussion about when to stop.  The more experienced you are the more likely you are to stop quicker.   

I read this week that I mustn’t be any good as a photographer because I only use Lightroom and that without heavy post processing I am not getting the most out of my work.   

The crap you read.   

I probably write some too.  There is no need to believe any of us writers.  Best is to experiment yourself and reach your own conclusions.   

So go play with this as an idea and see if it resonates with you.   Try processing less.  Working quicker.  Leave more to intuition than over worked logic.   

No wonder my weekly exercises are going so well.  They are about exploring and experimenting to figure out ideas.  

 https://www.lensschool.com/photography-exercises

South West Rocks.  From the Abstract Workshop which only has a handful of spots left on it.  https://www.lensschool.com/workshops-tours/abstract-photography-workshop-2019

Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2019