Do you ever regret photographs you didn’t take?

[Slixtiesix]

"Nevern known a day without a quiet regret" (Vanessa Carlton: The Marching Line)

[dpurdy]

No. There have been too many times I have seen something that looked so great it seemed like a gift from the photo god only to find I couldn't get it to work in the camera. Seeing something and passing it by without trying to work it with my camera only leaves me feeling there is lots to do out there. Actually when I go to a specific area and really like it and spend some hours there I like to leave feeling like there is more to do later. A reason to go back. There is one regrettable thing in that nothing ever stays the same.
Dennis

[railwayman3]

Did you ever meet George Stephenson?

Yes....our junior school headmaster had that name.

[Shawn Dougherty]

Actually though, some of our best work is still on the negs or computer, that we haven't spent enough time with to make a great print of. Or somehow passed it by completely when we were editing.

Those ones are the real tragedies because we actually have the shot, we just don't know it.

Isn't that the truth.

[rich815]

Sometimes I regret posting here when I should be out shooting. :-p

[batwister]

Actually though, some of our best work is still on the negs or computer, that we haven't spent enough time with to make a great print of. Or somehow passed it by completely when we were editing.

This could be true, another question of judgement. Maybe I've been making and printing the wrong photographs all this time? But if the ones I have printed aren't that great, it seems unlikely the discarded ones will be masterpieces. I see making photographs as growth, in conjunction with constantly heightened awareness and openness. My older images were made with a narrow frame of mind - as well as technical and aesthetic naivety. I'm still going with the idea that, if I keep at it, I'll hit my peak in my mid to late 40s - so I have a good twenty years! Apologies to anyone already there... everyone. With Ansel Adams for instance, an unprinted negative he made in 1945 is more likely a better picture than one from 1925. It might be a different story for photojournalists/street photographers, who can easily overlook the millions of negs they make every day.

[blansky]

This could be true, another question of judgement. Maybe I've been making and printing the wrong photographs all this time? But if the ones I have printed aren't that great, it seems unlikely the discarded ones will be masterpieces. I see making photographs as growth, in conjunction with constantly heightened awareness and openness. My older images were made with a narrow frame of mind - as well as technical and aesthetic naivety. I'm still going with the idea that, if I keep at it, I'll hit my peak in my mid to late 40s - so I have a good twenty years! Apologies to anyone already there... everyone. With Ansel Adams for instance, an unprinted negative he made in 1945 is more likely a better picture than one from 1925. It might be a different story for photojournalists/street photographers, who can easily overlook the millions of negs they make every day.

I've looked over old contact sheets and proofs taken years ago that I wondered why I didn't print certain images on it.

When we are editing, sometimes we are in a certain mode or mindset and completely overlook something that we took that has a lot of potential.

It's like looking at an old yearbook and wondering why I didn't hit on that chick when I had the chance.

[Shawn Dougherty]

I agree with Blansky. It's amazing how our ideas about an image can change when stripped of initial expectations and imbued with the filter of time...

[batwister]

It's like looking at an old yearbook and wondering why I didn't hit on that chick when I had the chance.

Or shave...