Disheveled Musings: The "Keep" Rate

As you can tell by my photos I really loved my time in Hong Kong and Vietnam, not only were the people so extremely warm, generous and friendly but also I found it to be a perfect place to take photos.

Yep, in all over 3000 photos in my fifteen days away, quite incredible really but what was most exciting was the light. There’s something about the light before dawn that is so perfect for photography, and given the local fishermen kept me in line with an early wake up call it just seemed to work out perfectly. J

Its hard to nail down exactly what about the light was so amazing, was it the contrast of colors or vibrancy at that early hour, or perhaps what the light did to shapes and surfaces that changed the fabric of the object. The softness of light provided a clarity and feeling of rebirth that I don't think I've felt before.

My trusty Canon 5D Mark III - it literally goes everywhere with me

So what do you do with 3000 photos? For starters I had to curate them, as you know not all photos are created equal and so culling the ones that weren't up to scratch was an important and time consuming activity. Interestingly, as I ploughed my way through the photos and tagged them they brought back memories and micro-stories from each photo. Where was I when I took this? What was happening around me at the time? Was there something that prompted me to take this photo in the first place? It became my daily ritual of reviewing, tagging and deleting the ones that didn't make the cut.

Surprisingly my 30% “keep rate” is pretty high considering many photographers have only a 10 – 15% rate. Perhaps, its just that the stories are so rich and engaging that even though the photo isn't that great I kept it because it had a story associated with it…

Call me sentimental - guilty as charged I suppose.

Of course this all has consequences, as you’d expect with large Raw image files which are all 20 megabytes or larger I had to go procure a new 1 Terabyte hard drive which is a 1000 gigabytes with the capacity to store somewhere around 5000 photos with ease.

The other self-realization is that people have been enjoying my blog format especially with the weekly photo appended to the story. In addition, I've also had lots of great feedback about the photo content. Thank you!

I find the tricky part is the photo-composition, literally I could photo everything I see, but why one particular thing over another is the question we need to ask. For me it’s often the contrast of colors or shapes, other times it’s the subject matter that’s fascinating or the composition and makeup of the shot. Yet other times it’s the way the light hits a certain thing that makes me stop in my tracks and want to take a photograph, sometimes the juxtaposition and extremes within the image that I see.

I loved the way the ships in Hong Kong harbour were all moored at anchor, then add the light
across the harbour and I was hooked on the image

Since I embarked on my summer trip to Hong Kong and Vietnam I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera with me pretty much everywhere I go. This is great in that I’ve been taking photos almost every day. Certainly while I was away it became part of my daily routine, and although not quite as diligent its been almost every other day since I got back.

My friends on Facebook have been literally bombarded with albums both from my trip but also from days since. Case in point, last night we had a storm late in the day so after it had finished and cleared I decided to take a walk down my back lane way and conduct an impromptu photo shoot. There were a handful of photos that were amazing, but keeping to my 30% rate I created an album on FB with about 29 photos.

There is a little gift store around the corner from me here on the Danforth that I've always wanted to drop in and take a look at, but usually been in too much of a rush to actually make it over the threshold. Well, fortunately for me last week I had a few extra minutes and popped by, after browsing I commented on the great inventory of items, especially the framed photography. Unbeknownst to me I was speaking to the owner, I told her that I was also a photographer and she mentioned that the current work was ending at the end of the month and that if I had a portfolio of work that I could show her perhaps I could sell some of my work in the store on consignment.

So this coming week I'm meeting with the owner and her husband to review my work from Hong Kong and Vietnam. Its exciting to at least have the opportunity to show my work to the owners, as you never know what may come of it, but I'll keep you posted.

It’s a first step to putting myself out there as a photographer - exciting times ahead! I can just feel it... J

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Some recent images from recent, and often impromptu photo shoots - enjoy!