As I walked by this wall of floats hanging off the back of a garage in Sitka, Alaska I knew there was a picture here. I knew it would take time and many shots to find the right composition in the maze of various colors and shapes dangling from the eve of the roofline. I also knew it would be in the edit later that day. Not something I would find shooting and “chimping” on the back of my cameras LED display one picture at a time.
Sometimes the process lies in finding the right picture from a collection of good compositions. In the ability to lay out your choices next to each other side by side. Evaluating and self-critiquing each as the stronger images rise to top pushing aside the ones falling just short of the mark. The benchmark rising ever slightly higher as each one falls away. It always comes down to a single few. The final moment of decision. Of course, it never feels that decisive in the moment because I go back and second guess and wonder again if this is really the best of the collection.
And there lies the real process for me. The taming of the mind. Pushing down the inclination to second guess. To not always question the final decision, but the confidence to say “this is the one”.
