extreme cropping

i used to think that if you cropped and edited an image "too much," it was considered "cheating." that was when i used to be rigid and naive. (hahah) i was pretty hard core about my mental model. sometimes i would take a picture over 50xs before i got it literally EXACTLY the way i wanted it to, straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOTC). call me obsessive. (okay, please don't). but i realized something while editing a couple of the images from the Homeward collection.

it's this: sometimes, the art is in finding what is captivating amid the muddle.

let me demonstrate. there's a piece titled "Bold." it's striking and i love it. but i didn't at first. i saw the SOOTC picture and thought, "there's something here, but i'm just not sure what it is." i would go back to it and look around and try cropping it in different ways. it made me a bit frustrated, but mostly, it kept piquing my curiosity. until finally...i saw it. there it was!


and this is what came originated from.

landscape to a portrait? man...that is some major "cheating!" but...remarkable no? (no, not in reference to the piece). it's remarkable how sometimes an image or song or person can beckon you to search deeper into the muddle and it's there, that you're able to find beauty.