They won’t all be keepers, occasionally you’ll have more crap photos than gems in your camera roll. The trick is to realize what to discard and what to keep, IMO, that’s what separates average artists from great artists.

Over the years I’ve become really good about my culling process, I’ve developed a very strict “Yes or No” style for selecting my keeper photos. It’s super simple too, I ask myself with every photo regardless of the content, “would I print this?”, that’s my barometer for knowing if a photo is worth keeping. On a deeper level I’m really asking myself, would I invest money into this photo, is it worth the process of prepping the image for print. 

There was a point when I was primarily just sharing on Instagram, there’s a lot forgiveness when your work is seen for a millisecond on a mobile phone, but when you start to build a catalog of prints, a portfolio that you’re actively distributing and handing in client projects you quickly realize quality is paramount to everything.

I do my best to get the image as close to “perfect” in camera, but occasionally the enthusiasm of a moment can cause me take a photo that actually doesn’t make sense or is just shit overall.

Last week I was really enthusiastic about my walks through the city, the weather was nice, I was feeling inspired. All of that enthusiasm allowed me to make about 108 photos, of that 108 I was happy with 3 photos, I would happily print these too. There were some photos that were really close to being selected but for various reasons they didn’t make the cut, I had to be very disciplined in my editing process and “discard” them.

(That’s 108 photos for the week, I’m very strict about pushing my shutter button as well)

I’ll wrap this up, my “Yes or No” style of culling is very strict, but it allows me to only put out my best work. I’ll never know who’s seeing my work for the first time, so my first impression should be strong, my work should speak volumes for me. 

It’s better to share a few breathtaking images, than a large collection of mediocre photos.

Peace.