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7 shots best 1 #2

“A seven part series of my best photographs from SE Asia will make for seven easy posts,” said I. Huh. ‘Best’ may not have been the ideal word to use. At first glance it appears definitive. Until you start trying to pick out those shots from the thousands you have to choose from. Then ‘best’ quickly becomes the four letter word that it is.

How do you define ‘best’? From a photographic standpoint, meaning composition, lighting, choice of depth of field, etc.? Or do you go with subject matter? Or personal favorites? Do you limit the number from any one country? And what do you do when far too many of those that might make the final cut feature saffron? What seemed to be an easy task has become a time consuming one. And I still haven’t decided what qualifies as ‘best’. I have decided, however, a much as I want to include a photo of Noom in all his glory, that photo probably doesn’t belong on my ‘best’ list. I think.

The first shot I posted was an easy choice. The second, not so much. So I’m taking the easy way out and including one from the unfortunate incident that started out my obsession with this 7 shots thingy. It is the photo I was taking when that bastard responsible for this problem accosted me on the streets of Penang. And, maybe, it helps me to define what should qualify as ‘best’ to boot.

Travel photography, when you are not shooting for National Geographic – which if I recall from my childhood should always include photos of indigenous women’s naked breasts – should be evocative of time and place; years later when you look at a photo it should immediately remind you of that trip, where you were, and the things that made that holiday memorable. In that light, your ‘best’ shots may not be perfectly composed. The subject matter may not mean much to anyone else. No problemo. ‘Cuz it’s about you. And your holiday. And who wants to look at women’s naked breasts anyway?

The streets of Georgetown are a photographer’s wet dream to begin with. Filled with colonial architecture painted in vivid, but often faded, tropical hues and populated by a citizenry in a melting pot of native garb, everywhere you point you camera there is a gem to behold. Unique to the area are these small family shrines mounted to the crumbling support pillars that – you hope – keep the ancient walkway coverings in place above your head. A photo of any one of them immediately reminds me of Penang. And this one immediately reminds me of that aforementioned bastard. Along with several other ancient souls who I met on my early morning walks during that trip.

I didn’t take a photo of said bastard, though I can still picture him in my mind. Perhaps his photo would have even been a better vehicle for stirring that particular memory, though considering the trauma our encounter inflicted on my photographer’s soul I think it would have qualified as ‘worse’ instead of ‘best’. But then, personally, I prefer shots that stir my memories rather than direct them toward a specific event. A subtle hint works better than a bitch slap upside the head. This one does bring our encounter to mind, but then my thoughts move on to other people I met on that trip, other things I saw and experienced, and other events, whether I managed to capture those on film or not.

So maybe that’s what qualifies as ‘best’. I took a lot of great shots during that trip. Many I am quite fond of. But this one transports me back to that holiday, as a whole, better than any of the others. And I don’t need six more shots to accomplish that task. Huh. So maybe that shot of Noom will make it to my Best of the Best 7 Shots posts after all.

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