I hope you like these photos, there’s a story behind them.
Last weekend I’d planned to enter a photo competition with three images I’d printed off using Photobox.
The 10 x 8 photos arrived in plenty of time, printed on matt paper, and looked great.
I bought two copies of each photo because I expected that I wouldn’t see them again once I submitted them.
All was looking good.
I arrived at the camera shop that was running the competition and just as I was filling out the form I discovered that the size requirement was 12 x 8!
“Oh dear” was not what I said next.
The funny thing is most of my photos are at a 3:2 ratio so my preferred large size for printing is 12 x 8.
In creating my prints I had to do a little cropping and compromise a bit, in order to create good 10 x 8 images – but that’s what you do. You don’t make the rules.
Perhaps the most annoying thing was that it was my own fault not somebody else’s. I had brought the entry form home two weeks before and on reading it convinced myself that wrong sized prints were required.
But it was no biggie. After a little breathing and a little thinking, I decided what to do. I could have gone back to Photobox and get reprints posted to me, but they might not have arrived on time. I could have gone into a local printers, there are plenty of good ones, and got replacements in time for the closing date. I had time to do that but my enthusiasm was waning.
In the end I followed neither of these options – I just let it go. I decided that I’d invested enough time and money in the process and I should be glad to have two copies of photos that I like a lot. They’ll end up being displayed proudly on a home wall and also they may become a nice gift.
I’m not sure if Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest hockey (NHL) player ever, wouldn’t agree with my actions considering he said
You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.
I decided not to take the shot.
But sometimes you have to access your goal based on the changing circumstances and decide if it still makes sense.
I’m happy with the decision I made as not only did it stop me running around like a headless chicken trying to pursue something inconsequential, it also caused me to stop, reassess, and come up with a cunning plan for my photos.
The cunning plan will be revealed in my next post.
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