Saturday, July 28, 2018

Failed pictures and the lessons to be learned from them


Fun fact, when I applied to go to college I initially went for a BFA in photography. While I don't do that now, an important lesson I learned from it is that there will always be failures, and usually more failed shots than good ones. But they always go together, there's no avoiding the failures. You just have to accept them and push through them.

If you give up after one failure and let the fear of futures stop you from trying, you'll never get to make a good painting, take a priceless photo, or anything you feel is worthwhile.

These are the two attempts I've made so far at a charcoal portrait of my favorite singer and one of my heroes, and the reference photo I used. I consider both failures at reflecting who they were meant to, but not entirely failures as pictures.

I considered getting rid of them, but the point of recognizing them and holding onto them is to accept that there will always be failures, and they're not always catastrophes.