And COLEaboration, part 2

As promised, more images from the weekend with talented dancer and friend Margi Cole, who I’m just so grateful to have spent time with. And more thoughts on the process of creating. Or, really, editing.

As a copy editor (my job), I know how to edit other people’s work. There’s a process. If the deadline is tight, I have one chance to sharpen the writer’s work, clean up mistakes, tighten up concepts, make the work clear, concise, error-free. If I’m lucky and I have a little more time, I’ll do a first edit and then step away before I come at it fresh for a second edit. I usually find a another round of things I can make clearer, a mistake or two I missed, something that can be tightened up. As a writer, I self-edit–sometimes forever. I have a hard time knowing when it’s just right, when to stop.

In the process of blogging, I’m trying to be a little softer on myself. Of course when I go back and read a post I find things I want to edit, but I’m really trying to leave things as they are. This is a moment, right? And moments are rarely perfect.

Like writing, I find a similar struggle when editing photos. So many different directions I could take. And when I put my work “out there,” I often get advice and suggestions about how to edit. Sometimes I feel insecure about this advice and my choices. Other times it’s a learning process and I’m grateful for the advice. In any case, how you choose to present your work, I am finding, is awfully individual and dependent on all sorts of things… your mood when creating or editing, your frame of mind, your securities or insecurities, what kind or how much booze you’re drinking (and I’m only half kidding on this).

Anyway. I bet I’ll re-edit many of the photos from this weekend. But I am still on a high of inspiration and creation, even if imperfect, and I’m owning it (and this blog post, possible typos and grammatical errors and all).