National Geographic photographers take THOUSANDS of photos... I took just one

[mrtytanic]

What an ambitious project and wonderful/helpful art form. Great job!

[snickerswof]

I don't like that you said National Geographic photograper's photos aren't art when they put more effort, patience and emotion in their photos.

[oversharingturtle]

The project is cool but that doesn’t necessarily give it more artistic merit. Because the fundamental principles of the book are: photos of strangers, and there’s no tangible effect of the failed, underexposed photos, they don’t actually create stakes to the audience. Also if you’ve ever looked at magnum contact sheets or similar, you’ll see just how many frames good photographers take to only ever use 1. And it has a better result than if they didn’t have that choice. For all intents and purposes you could’ve shot 1 frame for some people and 3 for others and it would not make a difference other than possibly improve some published frames

[Randomly]

By saying your project is “more art” you’re implying that photographing 40.000 images for a result of 10 makes it less of an art. It very much is art. It takes extreme amount of patience, skill, artistic eye, love for your work to do this. You may prefer a more romantic approach to photography, one image per stranger you meet - great! I love it too. But it’s like comparing Picasso’s work to Michelangelo’s. Michelangelo took years to complete an average painting, while Picasso took days. Both are valid, different approaches with different goals in mind.

Also, wildlife photography in general can not be compared to street photography. Although it’s great, what you’re doing is not extraordinary, it’s not new, it’s literally what most street photographers do. It’s how it’s done. The National Geography photographers aren’t doing anything extraordinary either - wildlife photography in general takes a loooot of patience, it’s always thousands of pictures until you get a good one as your target is constantly moving, it doesn’t want to be photographed, animals don’t pose for pictures. NG photographers just have a bigger budget than your average wildlife photographer.

Anyway. Both are the same amount of “art”, just different approaches and goals.

[BooHoogland]

meh, just let the art speak for itself. leveraging the process is a schtick and cheapens your pitch.