After picking up my 11X14 print from the camera store/lab we use in Arlington. My wife asked if I would frame it and where I wanted to hang it. I replied “I don’t plan on framing or hanging it.” Puzzled, she looked at me and asked, “Then why did you print it?” That is a good question. One that I gave numerous reasons for. One that I asked myself. Having grown up in the film camera age and developed every role we ever shot, countless and often terrible images ended up in photo albums or crowded boxes in bedroom closets. I look back and wonder. Was any of it worth the money spent or space occupied?
These days, I take thousands of pictures but rarely print any. But when I do, I’m rewarded as I see the differences or the details between the image I see on the computer and the print I can touch and avoid getting my fingerprints on. Today was one of those days when I immediately saw the vast difference in the quality of a quality printed image. It both inspires me and gives me hope that someday I’ll get my shit together and sell my work at a more consistent rate.
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