The reasoning behind this photo article is that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be a good one. An image must be purposeful, it has to “speak” to you. One or a few mistakes can still make a success. I refer to the photo below as an example:
Technically defective, this is one of the pictures I will remember for a very long time. To start with, it was good fun to take a few shots in the garden. I like Ruth & Joshua (mom & son), the two subjects and I know, this is personal! I edited it in black & white since this gives a long-lasting memory effect to the photo : it provides an illusion of an old shot, even although it was taken a few days ago.
The cropping is severe and sharp, resulting in a strong close-up (I chose to remove a toy – a distractive element – from Joshua’s hand) but the viewer focuses on Ruth’s eyes, the center of the composition. There was no need to tell Joshua to smile, I just asked him to kiss his mother and he grabbed her around the neck. He is an happy child and while we were shooting, he was even louder in his lively euphoria! They were both delighted and overwhelmed by joy. Some specific out-of-focus photos can work rather well and I believe this is one of these cases. It can give a fresh and lively impact to the shot.
I know all of these details because I was with them but I bet that an observer, who doesn’t know anything about them or the photo, can catch this feeling and imagine the kind of moment it was. Without taking any value away from techniques and rules, I would say that we don’t have to struggle to seek perfection. We do need “living” and lasting images, carrying a meaning or a concept.
If you have a vision and strongly believe in your work, even although it is imperfect, you can still consider it valuable and worth including it in your portfolio.
Enjoy the rest of the photos of Joshua, his mom Ruth and his little brother Samuel, in the belly!
Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer 