A progression of decreasing possibilities
Reading Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland I couldn’t help but be struck by the following and how it might (or might not) relate to photography:
[T]he first few brushstrokes to the blank canvas satisfy the requirements of many possible paintings, while the last few fit only that painting – they could go nowhere else. The development of an imagined piece into an actual piece is a progression of decreasing possibilities, as each step in execution reduces future options by converting one – and only one – possibility into a reality. Finally, at some point or another, the piece could not be other than it is, and it is done. (pg16)
A progression of decreasing possibilities. I find that a fascinating observation. Once the artist has imagined a possibility and begun the work they are, it seems, going down a road of increasing constraint. To break out of it or to struggle against it too violently would produce, well, what? Something unreasonable one might suppose.
How this relates to photography is harder to imagine. The actual physical process of pressing the shutter produces the negative and there is scope for progression to a final piece after that using, for instance, computer software or darkroom techniques. But the bulk of the progression must be contained, I think in many cases, in preparation. Subject choice, lighting (choosing or building), composition, sometimes the choice and placement of props, depth of field, aperture, focal length, etc. Many things which, once chosen, narrow the choices further, although the photographer could also go back again to any point and adjust something hence changing the direction of future progression.
There is a certain freedom in much photography I suppose. The constraints of the kind of progression the authors mention above are often more fluid than they are for painters. Having said that, photography can also be fleeting. There is often no choice but to go through the whole progression at lightning speed before the opportunity has passed. Sometimes there is no going back. A painter often does not have to face that issue. The issue of the instant. A massive and almost immmediate constraint on the work. Early impressionists trying to catch that fleeting light might disagree.