When I have some extra time I like to scan the Internet for items of photographic interest. Once I weed my way through the chaff and misinformation I occasionally learn some things and can even be entertained. Sometimes I stumble across some tidbit that reaffirms my own thinking and lets me know I’m not alone.

Here’s something I found that hits the nail on the head concerning large prints of mediocre work. I know, I’ve talked about this problem a number of times here, and have even shown this once before, but I liked this so much I couldn’t help myself and just had to show it again along with another quote that together hopefully make a point. Georges Fevre, HCB’s printer, used to say “If you can’t make them good, then make them big”. Damn that’s good and how true!! Doesn’t matter about technical quality, print quality, larger negative size or anything else. Crappy, boring large images will never be good, despite what the powers that be want you to think.

And here’s something else. I’ve quoted this before too, but it is so good I want to show it again. And why not? It’s my blog after all! Like the previous quote, it touches on something I’ve written about before … photography as a journey and what’s really important to me in my photographic life …  the love of the work … and the experience to be lived. It comes from Daniel Milnor and his great website Shifter … “What did I do with this work? Nothing. Where was it published? Nowhere. For those of you who don’t know me you need to understand how selfish I am. My primary reason for making pictures is to live the experience of making them. This is a greedy, solitary pursuit. My second reason is to record. Data. Visual data. Record it, preserve it, move on, and hopefully have it utilized for historical purposes sometime long after I’m dead. Lastly, I don’t care about being known as a photographer, or building an audience, or selling shit. I’m in heaven simply by being there, talking with people, attempting to understand their course through the obstacle course of life, and from time to time, hearing the occasional thump of the Blad’s shutter.”

I include this great quote from Milnor as I think it fits nicely with the first one about image size and junk pictures. Look, there’s a lot of folks in the photo art world that are so obsessed with exhibiting and selling their pictures even if the content is suspect at best that they’ll print them supersize. And why not?  It will be promoted as “new” like repackaged detergent, and the gullible and naïve will think it’s great and buy it.

Ok, what about you? Think about what is really important in your photographic life and be true to yourself. Make your picture, and make your statement about what is important you … what you really care about. Your work will stand on its own and won’t need to be blown up to be any good. And while you’re at it, and most important of all, just enjoy the journey that can be yours in your photographic life.

Stay well,

Michael