It's ok to have crap photos...

[Dragonfli Spirit]

Hi Gang,

Tis with a heavy heart I write this, but I have learned a lesson today, and wanted to share.

I learnt a few hours ago that one of my dearest friends will pass tomorrow, the Drs have given her little chance of survival, and therefore the decision has been made to switch off her life support machine.

I've spent the last couple of days grieving, and knowing deep in my heart that it would, eventually, come to this.

So, tonight, after speaking with another dear friend, we decided to sit and mull over the fantastic fun times we have shared, and browse through our photos of each other.

This is where I learned my lesson.

As I constantly strive for perfection, I discard that which I think is not.
The last photos I have of my friend, are over 2 years old - and while I am happy to have them, I am sad that I have discarded so many along the way, always thinking there would be other opportunities.

So - my friends, grab your camera, and take those photos!
It doesn't always matter that the aperture, the shutter speed, the lighting could have been better.
It won't always matter that they are blurred, too dark or blown out in places.
What does matter is you have the memories.

With Love & Light,
Donna

[dewmuw]

Donna, so sorry to hear about your friend. I hope her passing is peaceful.

You are right about the photos. There is only one photo of my garnd parents in existence - all the others were thrown out for being a bit blurry of whatever.

[alexclc]

So sad.

And so true.

Chin up,
Alex

[peterdoomen]

Sorry to hear that.

A while ago, I made a fairly blurry photo of a man and his wife. Few weeks later he asked me the photo, because of the same reason: his wife passed away and he did not have recent photos of her. Since I never delete any photos, I could give him the shot, though I was not very happy about the quality, it helped him to have at least one photo, I think.

P.

[Becca]

My thoughts and prayers are with you, Donna.

[PeaPicker]

Sorry.

Keep them all.

[Belmondo]

Beautifully stated, Donna.

I will remember you and your friend in my prayers.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Sorry for you loss :(

Your point is well taken. "Art" and technical perfection do not = memories.

[Mathiau]

sad to hear about your friend, but they shall be happier.


as for the pics i know that feeling, it is why i have too many dam pics..lol i will delete the reallyyy bad ones, but if i can see it fine, i keep it :D

[Radtech1]

You are preaching to the choir with me.

23 years ago, my nephew was a newborn.

My sister and her husband had a photographer come over to the house and do a set on three occasions - his 3 month, his 6 month, and his 1 year birthday. Now as it happened, my sister got divorced and her ex ended up with several of the photos. Then she moved several times and you know that 20% of you stuff goes missing with each move.

End result: Years later, when Taelor was 9, she only had one 3x5 left of the entire set. As it turned out, my sisters 30th birthday was approaching, and I was agonizing over what to get her.

Then, out of the blue, the photographer shows up in my line where I work. (His name, Collin Campbell, had always stuck in my mind. When I saw the name on his membership card, I knew it was him.) We got to talking about those photos, and that she only has one left. He told me that he has always archived the negatives and it would be no trouble to re-print them.

It set me back $500 to have them all printed and bound in a very nice album, but 30th birthdays only come once. There is a phrase that you have heard a million times, but when she realized what it was, it literally took her breath away. She gasped and couldn't breathe.

Flash forward 9 more years to March 2001. The phone rings and the most unimaginable news comes through it. My nephew (my sisters son), his girlfriend, and both our mother and father are murdered in Seattle.

Though she still has not been able to open that album, she has told me time and again that just the knowledge that it exists gives her comfort.



I am sorry for your loss, and I am grateful that you have what you have.

Rad

[nation]

Sorry to hear the sad news. My thoughts are with your friend, her family and you.

[Wilt]

Sorry for the loss of someone dear. Your sentiments help to illustrate the real reason for Photography...to record images. Today's compulsion with lens performance seems to be a cult offshoot of the real purpose served.

[LAXDAD]

Well said... God bless!

[am_pitbull_terrier]

Sorry for you loss :(

Your point is well taken. "Art" and technical perfection do not = memories.

Well said CDS, I think we all get lost looking for the the "PERFECT" shot that we forget about the "good" ones...... Sorry Donna..... Your all are in my prayers

[Steve Parr]

Technical perfection is ridiculously over-rated. The ability to jog a memory is far more important...

[Balliolman]

Salutary and poignant, Donna.

[weemannie]

So very sorry, Donna. My thoughts are with you at this very sad time.

[Dragonfli Spirit]

Wow - such response! Thank you all so very much for your kind thoughts and words.

Still feeling so very deeply sad, and teary (oopps... here I go again!) but am also having lighter moments :)

Again, thank you all - your words have warmed my heart.

With Love & Light,
Donna

[JCR]

Sorry for your loss maam.
Don't be sad for your friend she is in a better place.

[Photodawg1]

Poignant stories, and I feel for all the losses. This thread confirms something I have struggled with since I first started shooting. I have a tendency to hold on to alot of pictures that many would consider deletable because they are not perfect or flawed in someway. Now I think I will continue to do that with a less guilty heart.

[Lightstream]

Donna, Radtech1, so sorry to hear of your losses.

You're right, an imperfect photo may tell a story so powerful that it erases all other questions. I have photos from nearly 10 years ago shot on my film P&S. Technically, they're probably horrible photos. They're snapshots at very, very best. Yet they've got the power to make those of us who were there when they were taken laugh like we've never laughed before. Don't be too easy on the delete key. I only delete photos when they are very much redundant (there a lots of other good ones where they came from) and/or when they are taken for testing/training with no story behind them. (duck shot, etc.)

On the flipside, if the ONE chance to take a shot comes up, I don't want to have to say "My equipment let me down" or worse "My skills let me down".

Also, please back up your photos. I recently moved and took only one digital copy of the photos. While transferring them to my new computer, I screwed up and deleted a folder before realizing they had not been moved correctly (damn computers). I have backups, sitting on the other end of the world - while they're doing fine, they're inaccessible. It just reminds me of how valuable these photos are.

I recovered most of them, including the important shots. Ran out the next day and bought a 250GB external hard disk for offline backup, plus an online backup system, and DVD-Rs (three layers of backups + 1 working copy). At first I was wondering about the cost, then I realized that my photos are worth far more than the $180 of hard disk and media I was going to buy. It's *NOTHING*, put into perspective. It's just a little bit more than a Nifty Fifty. Heck I'd give up my 50 just to know my irreplaceable data is safe. Hard disk is cheap. Memories are irreplaceable.

[grego]

A lot of times, i usually just burn a disc of my photos without really deleting anything off. On my hard drive I might clean it up more, but I still have record of basically anything I shot. That's a good compromise I think.

Sorry for the loss of your friend.

[SuzyView]

Sorry for your loss, as good friends are treasures and should be cherished.

So many loved ones in my life have come and gone, but I fail to take many pictures of myself (because I think psychologically I don't like seeing myself in pictures so I choose to be behind the camera). My husband reminded me the other day, it's okay for me to be in some of them, even if they are taken badly (by him) since my children need to see their mother as well as have a million pictures of themselves. As a side note on this post, I found a little album under my son's bed while cleaning his room yesterday. This was his baby album and it had pictures of my Dad just before he really started getting sick from kidney failure. He looked really brown and old, but we treasure these pictures. He died less than 2 years later.

[Servo'd]

right, I agree with all points made above, except I feel depressed and sometimes a little guilty taking pictures of people mostly because they might pass sometime soon

[Buggbairn]

Donna

Photos can be everything and a great reminder of fun times had, as long as you have memories of great times with your pal then it shouldn't matter if you have 1 shot or 1000 shots.

What's important is that while you had the time to spend together you spent it well.

Take care Chum :)

Have a cyber hug ;)

[Dragonfli Spirit]

*mwa* Thank you everyone :)

[DavidW]

This thread reminds me of my father, before he retired, receiving a request to capture the outgoing message on an employee's voicemail to CD after she'd died unexpectedly. They had to get the phone system maintainers in to do this, but the company paid because they understood how much her husband wanted a recording of her voice. Call me silly if you wish, but my voicemail has various saved messages (many with inconsequential content) from family and friends on it, so that I've have a way to listen to their voices.

Last week, I got touched by this (http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1726090). A friend of mine, who has had an awful year, was a good friend of Ashley's. Her brother was one of two lads who always hung out with Ash, and he was one of the first on the scene of the crash, after the medics. It looks like the picture the Yorkshire Post used wasn't technically great (it's terribly noisy), but it's a memory. My friend tells me that Ashley's family have been comforted greatly by looking over pictures.

At the moment, I'm comforted by a very special picture of a dear friend of mine who has fallen very ill last week. I'm not sure how the situation is going to turn out, and it's weighing very heavy on my heart. Right now, I can't bear to look at the picture, but knowing that I have it is a comfort, especially as I know how much she loved it.


One of the joys of digital is that storage is cheap. I certainly know how tempting it is to hit the delete button if you're not happy with what you've got, but I've learnt restraint. I only toss shots that are completely hopeless, or if I took say, six shots of something, I may toss the worst two.

I was at a ruby wedding celebration at the weekend, and I'll keep all the shots I took. There were so many of us in such a tight space, that it was impossible to get pictures of everyone, but I managed to get pictures of the couple and those closest to them which are likely to be far superior to those captured using digital compacts (not least because I could bounce my 580EX off the ceiling, also I had a wider lens than compact users). I'll put the pictures online for people to download, view and print.


There are times when you wish you could go back and correct a technical flaw, that you had some piece of equipment with you that was at home, or that you could change the lighting which wasn't what you hoped for.

I have some good holiday pictures of last year that desperately needed some fill flash, but that was before I had my 580EX and the lens I was using shaded the built-in flash so I wouldn't use it. They're still my memories, especially as I've been so ill this year that I've not really had any time away where I've been well enough to do anything. I know we photographers tend to look at the flaws, but if it's the best of what you've got from a particular moment, keep it - you may be very grateful.

I have a couple of friends who photoblog - they point and shoot at just about anything. They'd be the first to admit that there's no real artistry in most of their pictures - they really are snapshots. Nevertheless, I think they have something to teach me - I don't take as many pictures as I probably should.


Donna - go very gently through the days to come. May your memories comfort you, and I hope you will find things that are special at this time.



David

[Dragonfli Spirit]

David,

Thank you :) If anything, I now know that I'm not daft. I've been ringing her mobile just so I can hear her voice message.

Whilst I thought I had little material pocessions to remind me of her, the last few days I have found a treasure trove - a small angel that hangs from my bed, a gift she bought me when I lost my little girl - an angel blowing a kiss, a statue for my garden - a piece of angelite (crystal), which vibrates during meditation and a dream-catcher she made for my youngest daughter - to keep the bogeymen away :)

I guess with all said, I haven't really lost a friend, Louise has just earned her wings.

Love & Light,
Donna

[Dimitri_V]

Sorry for you loss :(

Your point is well taken. "Art" and technical perfection do not = memories.
I will definitely second that Donna,sorry about your loss.:(

[catsith]

donna, my thoughts are with you. Thankyou for your courage to share (and rad), because whilst i am crying over my keyboard, i realise that i really need to photograpgh my family and friends more. My aunt asked the other day for me to email a picture of my eldest son, and it is with horror i realise that i do not have a photo of him in the last 2 years. (he hates the camera). Hold your crystal in your hand, it will bring you peace.

[ajbalazic]

"Art" and technical perfection do not = memories.

Very well said.

My prayers are with you.

[Big WIll]

Sorry.
Keep them all.

I have learnt never to delete a single photo of family members even if it clogs my Harddrives its worth it for happy and sad occasions.

Hold your head up high.

[Belmondo]

As to the issue of saving them all, I guess my attitued it, "Why not?" Mass storage is really cheap these days, and there's always the option of archiving them on CDs or DVDs. I bought a 750 Gig external drive recently that ended up costing a little over $200 after coupons and rebates. That's a lot of storage.

[rssfhs]

My God! All of this sad news! So sorry for you people!

But I guess that's why I am taking all of these photos of Mount Fuji. Deep down inside me, I know it's going to blow its top one of these days and I want to record its beauty while it lasts...

[Dragonfli Spirit]

Dimitri - Thank you :)

Tina - Sorry about your tears :) Take those photos! I have a son exactly the same, the trick is 'Surprise!". Just shoot as he looks up, or turns your way. I've found I have far better 'natural' shots of him, and he's even smiling in a few ;).

Alan - Thank you.

Big Will - I'm holding high :) Now not deleting a single frame (except the really, REALLY bad ones!). Thank you.



Today we are off to scatter Lou's ashes, at the place she loved most - work! LOL
Louise was a gong master at a quiet cone.
Another big emotional ceremony, set in the Australian bushland. I'd love to take my camera, as for weeks now, I've not even picked it up :( but I'm not sure how appropiate it would be.
I will however be taking the drum I made a couple of years ago. Lou loved Native American drumming, so I will beat away, just for her.

Thank you all again for your kind words, and even sharing tears with me. It's amazing how many thoughtful, caring people we have here.

With Love & Light,
Donna xx