Growing between two of the three individual falls that make up the whole of Rifle Falls, this tree makes a nice counterpoint of stability amid the rush of flowing waters around it.
Pentax K-5, Pentax DA L 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
I made several trips to Rifle Falls State Park in Colorado during my nearly two decades of living in the state. While I have a lot of pictures that I *like* from the park, I never got a picture that I would say I *love* from there. No matter how many frames I took, there was always something that I could find wrong with the pictures. While this place seemed to be a magnet for those kinds of feelings, I find that happens a lot with my photography. And, if I’m honest, with my life, too.
I can’t remember who it was, but someone in my past once told me that perfectionism was OK to pursue, as long as it was a pursuit of the path and not the unattainable goal. It may seem like a small distinction but the former acknowledges that we’re human and failing is part of that equation. As much as I’d like to think that I’ve taken that advice to heart, I know that I still pursue the goal more than the path.
Take this photo, for example. When I look at it, I can’t help but think that I missed ideal framing on it slightly. I either needed a slightly wider focal length (and it was taken with a zoom with plenty of focal length left to work with) or I needed to back up a bit (I can’t remember if that was possible at the time). Either way, both of the waterfalls seem crowded against the sides of the frame and lead the viewer’s eye out of the frame instead of into it.
In a perfect world, I’d accept this for what it is: a miss but an opportunity to learn and refine my vision on the next photo. Alas, I seem to focus on the miss and not the opportunity. Hence my failure to follow the path of perfectionism and not the goal of perfectionism.
I wish I knew how to change this. Maybe titling this photo and posting it here is a step in the right direction. Maybe accepting the imperfection of being able to pursue the path of perfectionism instead of seeking it as a goal is paradoxically how it’s attained. That’s a bit to meta for me to process at the end of a long workday, so I’ll just roll with, “I’ll work on it,” for the time being, LOL.
One Comment
Christopher, I feel your pain. So much of my past work that I loved, I often wonder what was I thinking?
Unfortunately, the time line appears to be getting shorter. Where it once to take a year or more to reflect back on and reject past successes, the timeline seems to have shortened to months, now it is days or hours.
While I know I am getting better, my expectations for my work far outpace actual growth. I am thrilled that I have higher standards now, but similarly dismayed that I fail to meet those standards more often than not.
Some questions I ask for myself and pose to you are:
Perfect compared to what? a theoretical ideal? Another artist? A vision we as artist have but can’t obtain?
Perfect to what end? To evoke emotion in us or others? To sell a product or gain clients? To make
the beautiful more beautiful? To make the unattractive compelling? To tell a
compelling story? To entice action? To make us feel worthy? To capture
and express the beauty we see around us so compellingly others will be moved?
Perfect for whom? Ourselves? our loved ones? Our customers, Our mentors?, Other photographers,
Social media? God?
A good measure is often the extent to which accept or reject compliments/criticisms form others.
– Someone loves it, but we feel compelled to point out the flaws
– Pieces we don’t necessarily like win awards while our personal favorites do not.
– Someone (or social media) loves our work but we feel their opinions do not matter because
for some reason or other, they do not have a trained eye to be qualified to judge photography.
As my brother often told me, “there ain’t no accountin’ for taste.”
Years in production manufacturing have taught me a great lesson, perfection is unobtainable but continuous improvement leads us forever closer to the ideal. But, we must first define that ideal through answering questions like the ones I often ponder listed above.
I went through a similar thing when I was attempting to play golf. At one point, Sherry and I just threw away the score cards, and spent our time just enjoying the beautiful courses and being able to walk around them, hitting our shots with intention but without the stress of perfection. Now, we just enjoy golf courses for what they are, a beautiful place to be.
So I ask, what is YOUR goal in the perfection you seek? I am still seeking my own answer to that question.