Alain -

When you refer to your image "Playa Reflections #1", you say that you thought you'd gone too far in terms of creativity. What does that mean? Is it really possible to go "too far" when it comes to creativity. (I'd guess so, although a good example of the concept doesn't immediately come to mind.)

Your final decision on whether or not an image is too creative seems to stem from its market acceptance, rather than your own feelings, because you state that both of the playa reflections images have become best sellers. Is that the only way to determine the limits of creativity for an image (or anything else, for that matter)?

Curious,
Dave

At the time I created Playa Reflection 1 I used an approach I hadn't used before and I went further than I had gone before, or went in a direction I had not gone before. I had no idea how far I went and thought, at the time, that I had gone too far. In retrospect you are correct and it is not truly possible to go too far in regards to creativity. However, one can go beyond what one considers acceptable for himself, and that is the situation I thought I may have been in at the time.

In retrospect it wasn't but I didn't find that out until later, essentially until when I created Playa Reflections 2 which in a way goes further in terms of image enhancement than Playa Reflections 1. I now realize that creating Playa Reflections 1 enlarged the scope of my vision and of my style. For this reason I worked towards creating a second image from the same location a year later. This is how Playa Reflections 2 came out. In my work I create a lot of images from the same locations, to which I return time and over again. For me being able to create several successful images from teh same locations, and in particular from the same place within a location such as from the Playa within Death Valley Ntl Park, is key to telling me whether I am able to create images from this location based on my vision rather than on circumstances beyond my control.

Playa Reflections 1 and 2 have both become very successful in terms of sales, however I couldn't foresee that when I created them. I created Playa Reflections a year before Playa Reflections 2. I created PL 2 because I was interested in seeing if I could do a second successful image from the same location. In the context of my work, 2 images from the same location is a low number. I have many more than 2 successful images from several other locations.

I don't determine creativity on the basis of how well an image sells. However, I do listen to the response I receive from my audience. Not all responses come in the form of purchases of course.

I understood "gone too far" as meaning "trying too hard", i.e., thinking so much about how to be new and different that the final result looks contrived. I agree with Alain that it didn't come out that way, but I see a fair amount of modern art (including some photography) that ends up that way. I like art to be something that asks questions or tells a story, but I'm mighty tired of the only question being "Is this art?".

-Lars