Doing The Work

Projects lead to other projects

Watercolors: subversion, first six of twelve

During the summer of 2023, I shared the evolution of a small personal project. The seeds of that project were sown while I was producing a different project focused on testing various self-publishing services. One of the first things I did was develop a working title, Watercolors. Over the last few weeks, it’s no secret that I used two photographs from a new personal project, Watercolors: subversions, to evaluate the Canson Arches family of papers.

Watercolors: subversions, the second set of six of twelve photos. Yes, used subversions as opposed to subversion, still deciding...

Throughout the evaluation of Arches papers, I was at the end of Watercolors: subversions. Sometimes the end, finishing the project, can be the most difficult. Those ”final” decisions can be paralyzing. Some of the early notions held onto since the beginning need to be cast over the side. One notion that needed reconsideration was using a textured paper for the prints. My investigation of the Arches line was entirely driven by recognizing this. Arches 88, the antithesis of a textured paper, was used to produce the set of final prints.

Another decision I’ve come to during the Arches evaluation is somewhat ironic. One of the photographs you’ve seen throughout the series of Arches newsletters was what I considered the ”signature” image for this project. It has to go. It just doesn’t fit with the whole of the project. The irony is that that photo was the image rejected from the original Watercolors project. It was that image that precipitated making the rest of the photographs in Watercolors: subversions.

The reject, the photograph that inspired the entire Watercolors: subversion project, the image used during the Arches evaluation. I still like this image but that’s no reason I must include it in this project or any other for that matter.

I don’t lament rejecting the photograph that inspired *Watercolors: subversions. I also didn’t do it lightly; I sought input from a few other people, not the least of which was Les. I didn’t do it without context. I also didn’t prejudice feedback by pointing out my thoughts. I presented the project as a whole. What surprised me was how obvious it was to others that it didn’t belong. People had numerous reasons it didn’t seem to fit. Not for any one reason, but for all of those reasons, it had to go.

When curating your work it’s not merely a matter of “I don’t like this picture” or “I like this picture less than the others”. It’s far more a matter of how well it fits with the project taken as a whole. The parent project Watercolors was an attempt at portraying the landscape (not my wheelhouse photographically) and feel of my local neighborhood. My intent was to show “how the water sees the landscape”.

Watercolors: subversions was a different take on that intent. An even more abstract take on the intent. In a way, it doubles down on how the water sees the place I live. The water has been an essential element of my local area for hundreds of years. Every other photograph in the collection has a very different point of view. A point of view that in various degrees subverts expectations and in a way puts the viewer in the place of the water rather than an observer of the water.

I don’t lament rejecting the image that served to inspire a different this different take or cause me to go out day after day, week after week searching for, and making, photographs. That’s all part of doing the work. The process frequently starts somewhere and then leads to unexpected different places.

Doing the work is harder than imagining doing work that you can’t do. We’d all love to live the fantasy of traveling to the perfect place, in the perfect conditions, in the perfect state of mind to make the perfect photographs, of our preferred subject. That’s a mirage. Go out (or stay in) and do the work you can do now. It will lead to other things even if you can’t fully see that when you start. When the opportunity arises in that far-away place, you’ll be far better prepared to make photographs.

What’s next for Watercolors: subversions

I said I was at the end of this project. Here’s my list of things to bring it to a conclusion … for now.

• I need a substitute for the rejected image.

• I need to decide on the order and juxtaposition of the final collection.

• I need to decide on the final presentation in terms of mounting (or not).

• Last but certainly not least, I need to show them, not just online but the prints, in person, to an audience, big or small.

More on these things later. The first item in the list needs to be done now. I’ve already determined the number of prints in this collection, twelve, and I’m short one. I’ve already made all twelve prints on 11in x 14in Arches 88. There’s a reason I’ve vacillated between 12 or 15 as the total number in the collection. I’ll discuss that another day after making that first decision and substituting a print. Stay tuned…

Evolution of a small project

For your convenience here’s a list, in order, revisiting Evolution of the small project; Watercolors archived series of newsletters.

1. Genesis and working title

2. Initial curation and project parameters

3. Editorial work

4. Rejects and narrowing focus

5. Choosing a signature image

6. Finishing the project