Tip: Kill your darlings

Tuesday 28 December 2021, 20:20 by Elvira Smit | 4,834 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Kill your darlings. Perhaps one of the most commonly used phrases in photography clubs and workshops. But how exactly do you kill your darlings? I describe three ways, illustrated with my own darlings, which are now dead.

What are darlings?

First, let me explain the definition I use for darlings. They are images you are immediately pleased with. You get a small shot of dopamine and, shortly after taking the image, you share it on Instagram, show it to your friends or print it. Perhaps all three.

Why must your darlings die?

But if your image is such a success, why does it have to go?

It is a little more nuanced than that. Your first judgement of the photo, based on that dopamine shot, is flawed. There needs to be another step after that first shot before you decide whether an image gets to stay. This has everything to do with the following quote:

The difference between a professional and an amateur: the professional shoots far more images, but shows people far fewer.

That professional has been killing on a large scale. Along the way, countless images have fallen away, disappeared or been deleted. The darlings too. Perhaps especially the darlings.

So an intermediate step is needed. But what does it look like? I have tried countless methods. Below are my three favourites.

1. Surround yourself with your (physical) photos

Print your photos and put them up. I have a large magnetic board hanging in my living room, where I hang my darlings. Most of them do not make it to the end of the month. They start to bore me. Or I suddenly notice an imperfection that I did not see at first glance.

2. Create a living portfolio

I always found the word portfolio terrifying. It sounded so grand. Until I read somewhere that you can simply print your 15 best images and put them in a nice cardboard box.

Every time you want to add a new image, one has to go. The trick is to create unity in those 15 images: what do they say together about the way you see the world? This does not have to be the case with the first selection. Something like that can grow over time.

3. Think in series

Almost all my darlings have been killed off in series. Because they did not contribute enough to the story of the series. Or because another image fitted the whole just a little better. And the darling would then be redundant.

My street photography darlings

I kill my darlings on a daily basis. But sometimes bigger measures are needed.

An example: from 2014 to 2018, I worked exclusively on street photography. But gradually, the dynamism, the people and the decisive moment disappeared from my photos.

Without realising it, I shifted towards urban landscape. It was only when I looked back after some time that I realised I was no longer a street photographer.

And so those photos are no longer part of my photographic identity. I carried out a large-scale killing. The images in this article used to be images I was proud of. Not anymore, they do not fit the work I make now at all.

I do not mind or regret that, by the way. Because during those years I did train my eye. Without all those miles walked, images taken and files edited, I would not have the way of working I have now.

In short, you need to keep working and make new work. That is the only way to discover which work will last and what can go in the bin.

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