Your eyes are not deceiving you.  The image above is not of Vegas even though a Vegas image is on the title page for this post.  This past week I spent a majority of my time finishing the editing on my recent trips to Chicago and Vegas.  I couldn't decide which city should represent this post, so I chose both.  One of the great things about the editing process that is you get to relive your experience through the memories that are sparked by the images you revisit.  I cannot wait to go back to both cities.  You can see more of the final cuts in each of the galleries, Chicago and Nevada/Arizona.  

     Over the last few months I've noticed that my editing process has been evolving.  The challenge I have with editing, is that there are times when I want to stay true to the image captured by the camera and other times not so much.  Exhibit A- the image above.  It is a perfectly fine image in it's original state but I felt it needed just a little something more.  So I chose to soften it up and give it a more painterly feel.  I did the same for an image in my Nevada/Arizona gallery.   As well as with most of my Pacific Coast Highway images.   Maybe secretly I want to be a real painter.  The answer, more likely, is that I love to try new things and experiment.   

     With this spirit in mind, I am slowly breaking free of the mind set that everything has be perfect and pleasing to everyone all the time.  Now when I'm working with a client, most definitely the images have to be perfect and satisfactory to them.  But for my own personal expression, who's to say what perfect is.  I think that the most important thing for a person who creates, is to be completely satisfied with what they've created.  It's when they are creatively spent and pleased with what they see in front of them, that it is then perfect.  Now many may not agree with the final product, but you can't please everyone all the time.    

     Another challenge I've found myself faced with, is the narrowing down the images to share.  I used to want to include all the images I created on a single day or for a single project.  But in reality not every images is going to be worthy of showing.  When you shoot volumes of images there is bound to be a few duds.  As well as not many people want to see your 100 different angles/viewpoints of say the Buckingham fountain (well maybe my mom).    I never got that before.  I loved all my images because I created them.  But it was recently I was listening to a photography webcast from The Grid, and they could not stress enough that a portfolio needs to be tightly edited.  You need to have control and critically look at your work.  Making sure you're only showing your best stuff, since your portfolio is only as good as your weakest image.  So I am trying really hard to keep that in mind when I'm choosing images.   I'm nowhere near perfect at it, but I am trying.  Just hang in there with me.  My goal is to always bring my very best images and creations to the viewer.  

    And just if your curious the software I've been using lately to edit my images is from Topaz Labs.  

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined."  H.D. Thoreau

"A photograph is as personal as a name, a fingerprint, a kiss.  It concerns me intimately and passionately."  Sid Grossman