{"id":11413,"date":"2013-07-11T08:18:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T12:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?p=11413"},"modified":"2013-07-11T08:18:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T12:18:03","slug":"seek-feedback-the-story-behind-the-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/11413\/seek-feedback-the-story-behind-the-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Seek Feedback – The Story Behind The Image"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SelvaObscuraVI_2002_425\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Selva Obscura, Jefferson, Maine, 2002<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

I had no intention of making this image; I had left my \u2018real\u2019 medium format film camera home and brought a then new digital DSLR, a technology in its infancy at the time, to photograph a new puppy I was bringing home with my family. The drive through the foggy February forests of Maine was beautiful and late in the day as we neared a series of orchards the light turned golden. I stopped with no thought other than to enjoy the moment, making a series of exposures, before continuing on.
\nWhile I liked the images I produced that evening, I had no intention of displaying them, until everyone in my studio strongly urged me to do so. Response to these images has continued to be very positive. This one has become one of my top sellers.
\nThis work didn\u2019t fit neatly into the ideas I\u2019ve been developing in my work for decades. It doesn\u2019t present a view of nature seemingly untouched by man. It\u2019s not a wasteland, either devoid of or filled with water. It\u2019s conventionally clear where the life is, in living organisms, drawing attention away from the idea that there might be a spirit in other kinds of things. It didn\u2019t fit for this and other reasons. Yet it was somehow connected. These images lay down a challenge.
\nAs I was describing this process to my workshop participants one day remarking, \u201cI don\u2019t do trees.\u201d one woman remarked, \u201cI don\u2019t think you can say that any more.\u201d Touche. \u00a0The next morning on my way to class as I considered this further, acknowledging that I had always loved orchards, tending them as a boy and now living in another one, and that I deeply appreciated gardens and agricultural areas and sacred sites where man worked in concert with nature, the phrase came to mind, \u201cPerhaps Eden can be restored, if we give it half a chance.\u201d It\u2019s a thought that runs deep inside all of my work. It\u2019s my hope that what I share will kindle a greater sense of wonder for the natural world and inspire people to participant in it creatively and conscientiously.
\nThat was one of a handful of days where the mission behind my life\u2019s work became clearer and this image played a central part in that process. It\u2019s become an important outlier in my body of work, which I\u2019ve learned a great deal from.
\nIn response, I didn\u2019t decide to go in a new direction. I held to my original course, bringing the work I had already begun to completion \u2013\u00a0now with a renewed sense of purpose.
\nWhat you do with feedback is up to you. I recommend that you seek a lot of feedback from a variety of sources. Know the source of the feedback you receive. Don\u2019t forget to give yourself feedback, the most important source of all. Weigh it all carefully, but make the final choice your own. In the end, it\u2019s your choice. It\u2019s your life\u2019s work. It\u2019s your life. Make it count.
\nQuestions<\/i>
\nWhat is good enough? How do you know?<\/i><\/i>
\nWhat isn\u2019t good enough? How do you know?<\/i>
\nWhat is too much?<\/i>
\nWhat is perfectly imperfect?<\/i><\/p>\n

Find out more about this image here.<\/a><\/p>\n

View more related images here.<\/a>
\nRead more The Stories Behind The Images here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Selva Obscura, Jefferson, Maine, 2002 I had no intention of making this image; I had left my \u2018real\u2019 medium format film camera home and brought a then new digital DSLR, a technology in its infancy at the time, to photograph a new puppy I was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[61],"tags":[6,721,1071,1008,3196,3197],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeek Feedback - The Story Behind The Image - John Paul Caponigro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/11413\/seek-feedback-the-story-behind-the-image\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seek Feedback - 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