What I Learned Printing My First Contact Sheet
Why Every Artist Needs Time Away from the Work
Went to shoot pictures with the homie over the past weekend. it felt good, I knew I captured something special. I had a few shots in my head already labeled the ones before I even got into the darkroom.
But here’s what happened, I printed my first contact sheet, and those frames I was so sure about, the ones that felt right in the moment, didn’t hold up like I thought they would. They weren’t bad, just not as strong as I remembered. There were others, quieter ones, that caught my attention instead. It surprised me.
That’s when I remember what David Hurn said in On Being a Photographer,
“I try to put a good gap of time between shooting and editing. If I look too soon at contact sheets, I remember how cold I was, or how much I liked the person, or how difficult it was to get access, and those things might prejudice my choices. I want to see only what is there, I want to be able to say, This is what I actually got, not what I hoped to get, or thought I got.”
And this isn’t just about photography. Painters, poets, collage artists, anyone who creates something from nothing, we all know that feeling. You finish a piece and you’re still buzzing from the process. But buzz doesn’t equal brilliance. You need time. Space. QUIET. A little emotional distance to ask the harder questions, is this actually good man? Does it communicate something real? Is it really mine?
Printing my own contact sheets has started to train that part of me. The part that can be both maker and critic. It’s not easy. I still want the one I felt to be the best to actually be the best. But I’m learning that the work tells the truth if I give it a chance to.
This also makes me think about what it means to be an artist. Were naturally selective. We obsess over light, color, placement, texture, composition, tone. And we should! But being selective isn’t the same as being emotionally attached. If we want to grow, we need to choose with clarity, not nostalgia.
“The hardest thing of all is to become who you actually are.”
-Andre 3000
And maybe part of becoming who you are, as an artist, as a person, is learning how to see your work for what it actually is. We owe it to ourselves to do the same with our lives, to judge the love we give and the grace we offer with the same clear vision.
Because that’s the real gift, not just making something, but learning how to see it.
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-Brian Mark Bailey