I don't usually post more than one photograph each day. I feel that limiting myself in some way keeps me from displaying junk by forcing me to choose from those photographs that I've edited and select one, and only one, worthy of display. However today I've made an exception. After selecting, editing, and publishing "I'll build tomorrow" this morning, I realized that it wasn't an image many other people appreciated. Wanting to present good, meaningful work, I decided to publish "shack on the hill" as well.
But now to my point of concern. I really love "I'll build tomorrow". I love the mood of the photograph and the subtle, muted tones of the bricks and grass. I love the blown out sky and the leafless trees. I love the curved angle of the brick and the separation it creates between the grass and the sky.
I had been saving that particular image and the 5 others similar to it until I felt I could really spend some time and give it a good edit because I really liked the image. This morning, awake much earlier than usual, I felt I finally had the time. I selected the best of the six images. Then I edited that image 4 different ways with subtle differences in color, tone, and, therefore, mood. I was very happy with all of my edits but one really stood out amongst them all. I archived the others and sent that image to publication.
I always expect, perhaps unfairly, some feedback from each image I publish. I know that there is a level of quality in the work I produce that will elicit at least some response from someone given enough time and enough people. After hearing nothing at all, I decided to place my image in a forum that is guaranteed to provide feedback.
Within an hour I had the feedback I was looking for and I was floored. Despite the fact that this image is one of my recent favorites, the general opinion I received was that the image is nothing special and amateur at best.
Sometimes I can simply dismiss the opinions of others. This forum, in particular, generally produces terrible feedback because its members are required to provide feedback on a certain photograph in order to get feedback from someone else on their own. However, when all of those opinions are negative and that fact is coupled with the fact that I've received no unsolicited feedback, it's hard for me not to consider that there might be some truth to those opinions.
How is it that I could like an image so much that others find utterly boring?
I considered, at first, that emotional attachment may have led me to choose this image. However, I can't think of any reason why I would be attached to this particular image. It was not difficult to take. I had no life altering revelations at that particular location. Nothing profound happened before or after I took that photograph, nor that entire day.
Why would I be drawn to this image when others, clearly, are not? This, of course, isn't the first time this has happened, and it leaves me wondering if my perception isn't somehow flawed or vastly different than the majority of other people and, if so, why that would be.
