A bit of an update on my project, if anyone is curious that is: The project has been to pick my 100 favorite shots in 35mm B&W from the past 20 or so years, from the time I entered photography school in 1982.
I ended up with about 260 (?) "possibles" after going through thousands of prints. First just picking the obvious inclusions--the things I couldn't imagine leaving out--I ended up with about 50 pictures. The remaining 200 or so I've been showing to friends and family to get their reactions and responses. From this I've picked another 40 pictures. However I'm not sure any more that this project is really possible. From some shooting projects I've done I haven't even picked one picture, and actually from some cameras I've shot with I haven't picked a single picture either. As the project has gone on I've become concerned about the number of prints I can't find--as my memory is jogged I've thought of dozens of finished prints that haven't turned up yet. I'm sure they're in boxes in the basement I haven't yet searched, but I'm more than a bit chagrined at my casual filing and storage methods. With all the work and time I have put into printing over the years, I should be more careful about the results. I've also been remembering great negatives that I have never really printed yet. One of my deceased grandmother comes to mind. With only 10 places left I'm starting to winnow things out of the selection so far to make more room. One problem with this is that many of my favorite pictures are very "quiet" pictures, offhand and plain, not obvious "hits." As I edit down, I think too many of these are being left out. I guess the frustration about this comes from the fact that there is not much difference in quality between the "first" 100 and the "second" 100. I'm not saying they're interchangeable, just that there are so many favorite pictures left out of the first 100 that maybe the leftovers are not so much weaker. This has certainly been interesting, though. I've got to finish my new darkroom. --Mike - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
