I will often leave many versions of an image up on my studio wall for days or weeks and the ones that get “tired” get taken down. Those that keep speaking, keep surprising, are the ones I select. Really strong photographs can never be owned or fully understood formally, narratively, or intellectually. They resonate outside the edges of the frame, and continue to speak over time.”
— Jocelyn Lee, in an interview with ahorn magazine, via The Great Leap Sideways.
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When images cannot leave my mind for extended periods of time I tack them up on the fridge to live with them. If they’ve made it that far then they’re good enough to live elsewhere.
Ms. Lee’s words go to the heart of Arnold Newman’s observation that “we make photographs with our minds and with our hearts, the camera is just an extension of our hands.” I choose to interpret “camera” in the context of Newman’s maxim to be a metaphor for all of the photographic tools we use.
When photos (or any kind of art) “resonate outside the edges of the frame, and continue to speak over time” it is because the work is honest and true to something within you, and within the context of your portfolio or a gallery show, will resonate just as powerfully with the people you really want to connect and do business with.
Her comment also points to the value of actually printing your work to take it out of its evanescent digital form and into the real world where you have the time to let the differences in details affect you. That is nearly impossible when working on assignments but critical for your portfolio and the development of your art.
So true. Good photographs that resonate stand the test of time
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