The above picture is from a PowerPoint show that has been circulating on-line titled the Best Pictures of 2010. The video below shows 10 of those shots, though the quality suffers, and you of course can find similar collections on-line.
When I was an assistant staff photographer, I remember my boss telling me that you can always tell a good photographer from his trash can and he would be happy if I got one or two good shots out of a roll of film. Now, as most of us are carrying a camera all of the time, in our phones, computers, etc., how do we examine are our trash cans?
With literally billions of cameras ready to click at a moment’s notice, the odds are greatly skewed toward someone getting "the" shot. That being said, digging through our digital trash cans to find that “artistic” shot or the one that best tells the story of the moment has become even more important resulting in, based upon those same probabilities and possibilities, “better” pictures.
Like most of you, I have many old family pictures. Those from the 40’s through the 90’s, where certain things and times were “Kodak moments,” certainly helped prepare us for today. But in juxtaposition to that, I have much earlier pictures, some made from glass negatives. These images of distant relatives may have been the only pictures ever made of them. You have seen such shots. Think about the importance of that one picture to the person(s) involved.
Who really cares about the majority of the pictures we constantly capture and send around the world? And, for how long will they care? What is the likelihood of your digital photographic collection surviving 150 years? Perhaps more importantly, would anyone be able to find the shots you loved? Or, is your collection a digital trash can?
For a comical glimpse of the Infinite Number of Monkeys principle, click this:
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