[tkamiya]

When I click my shutter, there is a reason. The reasons often are, either I think it'll make a good photograph or I like the subject enough to take the photograph. Of course, not all of them turn out like I hoped. Quite often, I'm disappointing that image didn't turn out like I hoped. Sometimes, I'm surprised something I took, because I just thought that was interesting worked very well and made good photographs.

When I commit to printing my image, there is a reason. I either like the image enough to commit it on paper, or I think there's something in it that I think I should try to print it. I do not print every frame. If I see no value in the image, either aesthetically or educationally, I won't print the image.

Sometimes, I really like the image. I spend hours on end and days on end, sometimes months on end on just that image. I think the longest was 2 months or something. In the end, I'm often pleased with the result but not always. I've given up on many images, too.

Sometimes, I may not like the image that much but I find something interesting and say, hum... I wonder if I can do THIS and get THAT out of this image... then I try that. One time, I had really thin negative. I didn't think I could print it well. Surprise! It really made nice and contrasty image.

One time, I had a roll... I saw nothing in it and it was scratched so I filed it away. Month or two passed and reviewed the same roll again. Scratch bothered me so I put it away again. Figured a way to fix the scratch and printed 4 images I really like. Amazing what little cropping can do.... I'm still working on the last one. It's 5 images that I like out of 24 frames.... and I saw nothing in it at first. So you need to give yourself some time too.

I think you need to remain curious about your images. See your frames. Think what's possible and how you could improve. Evaluate.... if it's a good image, print it. if you think you can or should be able to make a good image, do it. if you think you can learn something from it, try that.

But if you see nothing in it, go to the next frame.

That's how I approach mine.