farm girls

farm girls
Originally uploaded by ken e williams photos

     I am like most folks raised in western, Occidental cultures that often value ONLY work that is close to perfect. Unless of course the play at school features the grand kids.

     I know better. And I still feel the need to go for close to A+ or near perfect. Two stories from a book (Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils of Artmaking by Bayles and Orland) I recently read, relate.

     “When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, You mean they forgot?” (Howard Ikemoto)

     And a story about a pottery teacher who, on the first day of class divided the students into two groups. One group was instructed to make one nearly perfect piece of pottery and turn it in on the final day of class. Their grade would be determined by the quality of the single piece. The other group was told to produce as many pieces of pottery as possible. Their grade would be based on the pounds of pottery they produced. Fifty pounds an A, forty pounds a B, thirty pounds a C.

     The students who were asked to produce pounds of pottery did in fact produce many fine ceramic pieces. The other students produced, in most cases, nothing. They were paralyzed by their angst about a near perfect piece.

     I am inhibited by my notions of near perfect and slowly learning to let go. And to honor what I learned years ago - the process determines the outcome. When I seek to only share my really great images I am less productive and less happy. Making and then finding ways to share many images is far more satisfying.

     Getting over my obsession with perfect is wonderful. Some of the photos I’ve posted are mediocre. I like them and want others to see them.

     The photo accompanying this entry is one of these. It is technically weak, not well exposed and and far from really good. I like it and have fond memories of the two girls who were the models. And I like the idea of the composition. It is on my web page for that reason.

     Practice does not make prefect. It may increase confidence and reduce concern with perfect. And eventually some really fine works of art.