Looking at these photos in December, I’m less disappointed with them than I was in April. As the intensity of the moment fades from my memory, from the tiny scorpion hanging out in the sand at the door of my tent, to the bite of a chill wind and even a few snowflakes, to the exhaustion of hours of cross-country travel, clamoring over slickrock ridges and across deep sand plains, to the dizzying ledges and walls that looked too steep to walk on, the images become better surrogates of the experience.
Colorado Plateau Cuts
As I’ve been pulling galleries of images together for the website, I’ve had two goals in mind, showing the widest range of subjects and locations, while at the same time only showing my most compelling images. It’s been a fun and challenging exercise. At times I’ve opted for variety over intensity, knowing the best of what’s been cut will eventually find a home here.
Most of the galleries on my website contain sixteen images, because during the development of the website I realized sixteen was the maximum number of images I could pay attention to. Twelve is probably a better number, really – less is more. I’m sure my galleries would be stronger if I cut the four weakest images, but I have so many images to share and sometimes it’s hard for me to predict which images will have the most impact with the largest number of people.
I’ve been continuing to tinker with my galleries, in order to make them as powerful as possible. The two images included with this post were cut from my Colorado Plateau Gallery when I realized that two of my favorites hadn’t been included. What do you think? Did I cut the right images? Which images would you have cut?
