[Keith Alan]

I have seven frames matted for 8x10" prints--6 are my usual horizontal 12.5" x 10.5" while the 7th is 15.5"x17" and is offset-matted for a vertical, and all of them are for 8x10" prints.
For the May 2nd show I'm doing my "Highways" theme, and need your help cutting 9 pictures down to 7.

So I guess the best way to do this would be for everyone to tell me which two they would cut from the show, and why?
These are low-res unsharpened samples of the versions I will be showing--the prints I have made so far look really nice.



















They are in chronological order.
Thanks in advance for your helpful advice.

[Zig]

Heck, Keith: a privilege but a tough one as they're honestly outstanding(: I wish I could hijack and ask you how you pp'd all these)
Phew..well:
Perhaps the starburst is better as an occasional feature? Thus I'd get rid of any of numbers 2, 8 and 9: in fact, get rid of 8 and 9: verticals and focus/depth of field; number 8 too "busy" and too starbursty, lacking the might of the earlier ones. Yep: eliminate 8 and 9.

[Toad]

7 and 9 in my opinion, Keith.

3 is basically similar to 7, but I feel that 3 is better.

Likewise 4 is thematically similar to 9, and I think 4 is better. 9 feels kind of crooked.

Just my $.02

[matthew]

#3 and #7 are very similar, but #3 is the better of the two. 7 also doesn't fit the series: the colour is more peach and the close-up isn't in keeping with the sweeping lines of the others.

From there I'm torn between cutting #2 and #9. 9 doesn't have the same feel as the others, the perspective is different and the photo feels like it has less of a base to give it balance. #2 is very similar to #3, and I'm wondering if both are needed. These are the two that show the highway under construction (at least with the least construction done) which makes them distinctive among the series and makes the roadbed with the forms on it the subject. Of the two, #3 shows it better and is the more satisfying photo. But there's also the possibility that if #2 is gone, then #3 becomes the oddball by showing an unfinished road.

I'd cut 7 and 9.
#4 and 5 are my favourites.

[Kombisaurus]

I agree with cutting 7 and 9, pretty much for the same reasons as mentioned.

Good luck with the exhibition!

[Rabid Penguin]

Yeah, I'm going to agree with 7 and 9 too....


... although here's a thought from outside the box: does a triptych count as a single image?:/

[Keith Alan]

Here's my thinking:
I'm very partial to #2, and in fact it's the only one that's already printed so it's staying.

8 & 9 are of course the most recent and I don't have a lot of time invested in them--both were shot with a "Hurry up and let's go home" attitude waiting in the car, so I didn't relax and get things done right.
#7 might benefit from some added work in post for color, but I can always shoot it again someday, until that ramp opens.

I get what everyone is saying about similarities between some of them, but are they really that close?

How about if we decide to cut 8 & 9.
Then we say that 2 & 3 must stay.
Cut #7.

So we need one more.
Here are two I forgot about, and of course I can totally re-photoshop them for printing:





Does the stark sharpness or fog add an interesting dimension to the group?

[Irma]

I like this new option.

I personally was not too fond of #8 and #9, because of the slanted composition and big lights.

If you could get the same yellow color in #7. I would leave it. If it is not possible, then to change it for #1 in your last post is a good option.

I don't think adding a new element as fog and just one picture would benefit the series.

Good luck in your exhibition Keith...

[Keith Alan]

I want to thank everyone for the awesome insights and opinions.
The prints had to be hung a week early so there was less time to consider my options than I wanted but that's how this business works so...

I cut 7 & 9 thanks to your feedback.
Don't feel very confident on #8 but I can always shoot and print something else to replace it if the rest of this week is more forgiving of my time.

My gallery placement ended up being first inside the door, so there's the added pressure to both 'Wow' people while keeping an eye on my other prints to make sure nobody steals anything.

It's going to be fun: That's what I keep telling myself.

[NT73]

Ha! You must have asked this when I was still in the Maldives. I wonder why it did not show when I came back home. Ah well you have got your answer from everyone else and 7 & 9 would have been my choices also. Colour in 7 and actually 8 and 9 look a little soft and not straight. But 8 is more interesting.
As for the new ones... I think you were trying to confuse us. Pick 7 out of 9..or 10 ..or 11...

[Keith Alan]

The show went well and while I attracted a lot of great comments and interest with the theme of highways at night, 2 of the three prints I sold were of my earlier infrared/bw work.
Not surprised since they are among the strongest prints I have ever made, but it felt good to discover that the general public is still willing to pay good money to enjoy B&W prints.

[Wedding Shooter]

Great news Keith.

[NT73]

Well done.

[Zig]

Yes, well done that man; a fortunate truism that good mono work has a classy timelessness!

[Keith Alan]

These were my sales. A young couple couldn't decide between the first two; the wife wanted the IR and the husband preferred the sunset so they bought them both.






(An inferior edit--the print is better)

[Keith Alan]

A friend came up to me during the show to tell me that one of the artists displaying in the main gallery had copied my work!

I rushed over there and found a whole wall of these:


Don't see how they could have been inspired by mine (unless they visit my website or ShutterTalk) since theirs were in the gallery before mine.
Just a coincidence--but it reinforces my belief that the highway series was a good idea.

[matthew]

Congratulations on the sales.

Two series on highways? It is a funny world... but these things happen.

[Zig]

A dual carriageway, you might say...