Jim Goldstein makes a good point about taking a second look at your work:
Always Check Your Seconds – Out of the Gloom II: Golden Gate Bridge and Fog
If there is one thing I’ve learned as a photographer it is always check your seconds. Upon first review of a days shoot I’ll almost always pick out the great shots. There’s a caveat to this though… these great shots are usually in line with a preconceived notion of what I wanted to get from the shoot. Coming back to these same photos later allows me to review my work with a fresh perspective. The end result is usually the discover of a real gem of a photo. Case in point… Jim [JMG-Galleries]
(Follow the link in the excerpt to read the whole thing and see the photo.)
In this regard, I’ve developed an annual ritual of going through all of my photos from the previous year during the holidays. (Trust me, that is a lot of photographs to look at!) I often discover something that I passed over the first time, often for the reason that Jim mentions – it was not in line with my original expectations of the subject. However, when I look at the photo with a bit more objective distance months later I often discover something very interesting and new in these photographs. On a few occasions a photo that originally seemed almost not worth keeping has turned out to be a real gem.
Hi Jim. Thanks for the comment.
Yes, it is a daunting task! There are many, many thousands of images to go through. I don’t necessarily carefully inspect each one, but I do scan of every folder containing the year’s photos and often spot some that are interesting enough to warrant spending some extra time on them.
At the same time, I do another “annual review” of all of the shots that I think are pretty decent – including all of those posted at my blog. I create a task for myself of trying to determine which ones I feel are my “best of” the current year in a variety of categories. This typically leads to a post or series of posts pointing back to these images and perhaps describing them a bit.
Fortunately for me, my job provides me with a few weeks off during the holiday period. On top of that, my wife’s job usually makes her more busy at this time of the year.
Dan I like the idea of a time of year to review all of ones work… that sounds like a daunting task though if you have a good year of photo outings. How long does it normally take you to do this?