The other day I drove past a small river called Hoan. It reminded me of an image I took there a few years ago in the winter – I liked the way there were gaps in the ice and the flowing water could be seen underneath. I called the photo ”Life, under the surface” and I intended it to represent the life that can be found in the extreme cold weather in the winter. Drivel.
What a high ideal for a mediocre photo. The real name of the photo should’ve been ”Water and ice”. A boring title, but (as such) it would have been an accurate representation of the image!
Maybe there was nothing wrong with my goals, but the realisation came up short. I see this every day; people giving imaginative or poetic titles to photos which fall so far off the mark that it just makes me laugh and move on to the next joke.
After that ”Life, under the surface” episode I came to my senses and decided to stick to realistic titles. I have high hopes of one day taking a photograph worthy of a fine name, but even then – a picture speaks more than a thousand words. What’s in a name, then?