In his book, Letting Go of the Camera, photographer Brooks Jensen talks of the benefits of taking the time to make 100 prints as part of a single project. Through taking this approach himself Jensen realised a number of learnings which he felt dramatically improved his skills as a photographer. His learnings included:
- The value of bracketing shots: it is frustrating to find an image has a flaw during the printing process; therefore when taking a picture, if it’s worth keeping take a number of shots
- Managing the plethora of decisions: How big should the shot be, what type of paper, what type of mat paper…if different decisions are made for different pictures then they all look different and don’t have a common presentation style. It is simpler to settle on one size, one paper, one mat … one set of decisions.
- Print for a purpose: without this it’s hard to make size, paper, etc. decisions. For example, stand alone print, portfolio, etc. 100 similarly matted images. Don’t start printing until you know what you want to do with it.
- Learning to see: The more you print, the more one develops the ability to see what will be on the paper.
- The value of experience: repetition is a virtue. Doing things over and over again allows one to see common threads / issues in the printing process and the print results.
- Working through the compulsories. It becomes clear where one’s interests lie; which types / genre of pictures are more interesting
- Format: It becomes apparent that getting to the mat isn’t necessarily the end. It is possible to have several alternatives with different outcomes and thus different “mat” end points.
- Practices does not make perfect; it is the practice of perfection that makes purpose. Practicing doing the best on each print and the carry those forward to the next one.
My own observations include the recognition that some images look better on the display than in print and vice versa.
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