Two Thoughts

Firstly - I heard an interesting quote in some other context, from Antoine de Saint Exupéry:

“Perfection is not when there isn’t anything else to add, but when there’s not anything else to take away.”

And another thing that got me thinking - during the opening of my exhibition one visitor asked what is my favorite picture in the series? I said I don't have one specific favorite, but there are probably 5-6 pictures that define the whole series.

I haven't made that 5-6 picture edit yet, but I'll try at some point. Maybe that will be perfection (not absolute of course, but as good as this series can get).

Editing a Photo Series: The Concept

There seems to be almost no information whatsoever on the internet about editing a photo series (I'm glad if you prove me wrong and post anything in the comments). And by editing I don't mean editing the pictures in Photoshop (postprocessing that is), but compiling a set of photographs into an essay or project that stands on it's own. Don't confuse this with portfolio, which in my terms is rather just a "best of", showing different examples works and working methods. For example: on my commercial photography site there is a portfolio called Mining Operations and a carefully edited and ordered photo series titled "Dark Matter". When the former consists of random best pictures from Estonian mines, then the latter gives an overview of miners' working day.

So in this article, which is first in a series that currently consists of two pieces, I'm discussing what differentiates a photo series from a random set of photos.

• What are you trying to convey to the viewer? What do you want to say with your photographs? It's a much asked question in photography and also much hated question. I personally think that it might sometimes be hard to answer that for a single photo, but I cannot imagine it being the case for series. A series has to have some defining idea behind it, otherwise it's just a set of random photos. Presenting a collection of random photos (a composition of photos for example) might work for you, but that's not what I'm trying to do. I want to be understood, I want my viewers to get the idea I was trying to convey, I want this idea living on in their heads.
• Is the idea for the series focused enough? It cannot be everything for everybody, it should focus on something. If there's not enough focus, it wanders into randomness again. The pictures seem unrelated, it's very hard to recognize the pattern or chain of thought behind it. In many cases it's exactly this "oh, I see the pattern" feeling that could make good great. Related to the last point, I don't want style to be this ether binding everything together, forming this pattern. It has to be the idea. Imagine writing a book - it cannot be just beautiful sentences following each other, there has to be something connecting them.
• Isn't it too narrow? If the concept is too narrow, it's hard to make enough pictures or the pictures become repetitive. Overusing the same ideas and constructs will make it boring, new pictures add less and less to the whole.
• Does it open up the concept enough? Do you have all the pictures you need to complete the idea? If there's not enough pictures, the idea may seem like unfinished, necessary aspects not covered, different viewpoints not presented.
• What do the pictures have in common? Being bound by the concept is good and that we have already covered. But in order for the series to work together, there should also be some stylistic considerations: is it color or B&W, tonality, aspect ratio, format, techniques used, postprocessing - all of these contribute to style and more often than not, style contributes to the substance.

As usual, this is far from being the ultimate truth. Very good work can seem quite random, many series are repetitive, yet it might be the point. For example, Martin Kollar's "Field Trip" consists of seemingly random pictures, yet it's goes so close to being absurd, that it's actually enjoyable. Maybe absurd counts as concept too :)

I recently made a separate post describing making of my current best series "Blood Unquiet". Here I'm mostly generalizing the thoughts from that period of work.

This post, just as anything else I write here, is meant to describe my experience. My working method is not The Method. Neither is it an exhaustive list of options to create good photo series, it's just something that has worked for me a few times. It's not teaching or preaching, I don't think I'm nowhere close to the level where I could do that. And I'm not even trying to get there, my interest is raising the game of my own photography, not earning money with workshops.

The Story of "Blood Unquiet"

The very first idea for this series started to form during some sleepless nights in January 2014. I had just gotten the feedback from previous Artproof competition which essentially said: "too little personal contribution, too documentary" (that was Peressaare Project, in case you're interested). So I actually did something very obvious - make the series as personal as I could - make it about myself.

The next thought - my life is not too interesting right now, let's make it about the time when I was still able too feel some really strong feelings except for anger over the traffic jam :) That's around my childhood I guess (why I feel this way is a topic for another post). And I have kids about the same age I'm talking about - a perfect match.

Let's combine it with my detailed knowledge about Ida-Virumaa - the place where I grew up, and use the photo ideas that I have gathered during my later trips there (for Ida-Virumaa Photo Project).

I made the first drawings right there in January already. Would be interesting to look at them and maybe even post some, but my kids deleted them from my iPad. At least one of the ideas - the picture with big trees and bonfire in the night - is pretty close to how it realized.

The very first picture was shot only somewhere around the end of March, shown on top of this post. I was full of energy and another picture came during April. It, too, didn't make it to the final version though. There were several pictures I made during "intelligence gathering" trips, with no chance to make it there with my kids (kilometers of walking, prohibited territory, etc).

Then, the summer, a vacation for the whole July. I shot and shot and shot. It's interesting how I shot new material all the time, but once the final edit was done, I have like 3 pictures all shot during one day and then nothing that made it to the final set for a whole month.

At some point I discovered this wonderful blog post about writing about your photography. For me, the main takeaway point was that "assume you, as the photographer, want to be understood". My mantra for the next months. Not just for writing, I actually shot like this, too. I want to be understood. I want to be understood.

I was plagued by my inability to reach some places with my kids, so much so that I took the pictures with myself. It started to change the concept. I felt it wasn't right, but I held on to some pictures so strongly, I just couldn't edit them out.

At the end of August I showed my work to a friend of mine, an accomplished photographer himself. He didn't say much, but I saw he didn't understand. Back to the mantra. I ruthlessly edited out good half of the set and started over. Among other things he mentioned Sally Mann. You probably won't believe me, but somehow I had heard the name before, but never seen her work. I ordered "Immediate Family" straight away. Not sure it was a good or bad thing - I can't claim no influence now. But in all honesty, even 4x5 black and white was chosen long before I became familiar with Sally Mann's work. Anybody familiar with my photographic journey knows my long-time preference for B&W.

I felt focused from there on and ditched some of ideas I clung on to. I was able completely rework some ideas and also realize them - a good example is the picture with painted tree (it's published here for example). The place of the "night bonfire" picture was also changed and it could be that it came out even better than the original.

After that, some serious editing. If I'd say one hundred hours - that's around 1 hour a day for 3 months - I'd probably underestimate the editing efforts. Weird feelings again - at first you feel like you're making a huge compromise when taking something out, then you get used to it, then, as time goes on, you feel like you've made your series a lot more coherent. Quite an experience.

Fast forward to December - Blood Unquiet won Artproof Young Photographic Artist's Grant. While some people say that it's OK to submit just the idea and some sketches to the competition, I would have never won it with just drawings and even if I had, I couldn't make it into a real project with just a couple of months. If there's any takeaways in this story for future applicants - that's it.