50% Capture, 50% Processing

Nov 11, 2007

Brian Auer shows us 28 ways to interpret a photo.

Or rather, I should say that Brain Auer’s readers show us 28 ways to interpret a photo. The collection of images here are the result of a recent project he held, where he posted a raw photo he took, and invited his readers to edit the photo, and process it in whatever way they wanted.

And as you can see, even though it’s the same main photo, the results are so different. The emotions evoked by each picture are so different. Brian himself says it brilliantly, “The photographs on this page clearly show the boundless possibilities of artistic interpretation, and it all spawned from a single image.”

It all goes to prove his belief that “photography is 50% capture and 50% processing.” An awesome project, and great results. I just want to build upon it a bit.

I personally think that his belief applies to most aspects of life. In almost everything you do, the first version, the initial take, isn’t going to be complete. That’s only half of the job. Just as important is how you build on that, how you ‘process’ your initial effort. It’s similar to the point Steli Efti made in his post about Tomato Sauce.

So, in whatever you’re doing now, I just want to encourage you guys. Even if the first attempt doesn’t work out, keep working at it. How you build on it is just as important, and can affect the results greatly.

How do you ‘process’ your efforts effectively in the things that you do?

Link via Haha.nu – 28 Ways to Interpret a Photo