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cliveh · Jul 2, 2014

I have heard it said about salesmen that they are only as good as their last sale. Is this true for photographers about their last picture?

ROL · Jul 2, 2014

I'm only as good as my last post. Will this be it? Stay tuned...

snapguy · Jul 2, 2014

huh

No.

dehk · Jul 2, 2014

If so I am in deep doodle.

gone · Jul 2, 2014

You're as good as your best shot, and as bad as your worst, so edit, edit, edit.

This is also a trap painters fall into, which is why you sometimes see them paint the same painting over and over for the rest of their lives.

MattKing · Jul 2, 2014

cliveh said:
I have heard it said about salesmen that they are only as good as their last sale. Is this true for photographers about their last picture?

For commercial work and marketing purposes, maybe.

But for other photography, probably not.

removed account4 · Jul 2, 2014

well, the first 10,000 of them are terrible
so as long as it is after 10,001 you might be OK

Jeff Kubach · Jul 2, 2014

I hope not!

Jeff

AgX · Jul 2, 2014

"The Last Picture" would be a good movie title...

Yes, that applies for any commercial photographer. With an artist photographer the whole oeuvre is likely to be evaluated.

RalphLambrecht · Jul 2, 2014

cliveh said:
I have heard it said about salesmen that they are only as good as their last sale. Is this true for photographers about their last picture?

my best picture is always the next picture

hdeyong · Jul 3, 2014

I like to think you're as good as your best picture.

omaha · Jul 3, 2014

Interesting. On the topic of "lasts", something occurred to me today. I'm 50 years old. I tend to keep cars for a long time. My current one has 140k miles on it, and barring some unexpected major breakdown, I'll have it for 140k more. Anyway, it occurred to me that whenever I get it, my next car may very well be my last car.

Hmmm...

I'm not quite at an age where I'm thinking that me next photograph will be my last, but that's a provocative concept anyway. Would you want your last photo to be something special? Or would it just be whatever one happened to be the last? If you knew your time was limited, would you make a conscious effort to try to make your last photo something worthy of the moniker? This seems like the seed for a play: A portrait photographer, elderly and terminally ill, seeks out some particular subject (maybe a prominent person in the community, or an old flame who spurned him years ago), who has always refused to sit for him. Eventually, he overcomes whatever objections the subject had and finishes his "mission". Redemption? Disappointment? Satisfaction? Failure? Success?

I know I'm using "last picture" in a different sense than the thread title intends. Just jogged a thought...

cliveh · Jul 3, 2014

omaha said:
Interesting. On the topic of "lasts", something occurred to me today. I'm 50 years old. I tend to keep cars for a long time. My current one has 140k miles on it, and barring some unexpected major breakdown, I'll have it for 140k more. Anyway, it occurred to me that whenever I get it, my next car may very well be my last car.

Hmmm...

I'm not quite at an age where I'm thinking that me next photograph will be my last, but that's a provocative concept anyway. Would you want your last photo to be something special? Or would it just be whatever one happened to be the last? If you knew your time was limited, would you make a conscious effort to try to make your last photo something worthy of the moniker? This seems like the seed for a play: A portrait photographer, elderly and terminally ill, seeks out some particular subject (maybe a prominent person in the community, or an old flame who spurned him years ago), who has always refused to sit for him. Eventually, he overcomes whatever objections the subject had and finishes his "mission". Redemption? Disappointment? Satisfaction? Failure? Success?

I know I'm using "last picture" in a different sense than the thread title intends. Just jogged a thought...

And an excellent thought it is. Perhaps you should turn it into a short story that may then turn into a book.

hdeyong · Jul 3, 2014

I just hope he doesn't take that last picture with his iPhone!

benjiboy · Jul 3, 2014

At least I can console myself that I'll be taking my last picture on a real film camera not a smartphone.

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