The Anatomy Of A Photographic Failure

The historic Dixie restaurant. This was the only possible photo of the entrance I could make
due to automobiles parked directly in front of it. The sidewalk was narrow so even an ultra
wide angle lens would not work well. I think the front of the building needs a bit more context
as the restaurant is in the city's historic district with old buildings all around it. (click to enlarge)

I will bet good money that if you post or share your photographs, you don’t send out your failures or ones you consider well below your abilities.  The same can be applied to me.  I learned early on from a well seasoned photographer friend not to ever send out less than your best images.  He said you will be judged by your worst images and people may consider your best images as a result of luck.  That is the general rule I’ve adopted over the years.

Well, I’m going to go against that advice as I think purposefully showing our failures can be just as important as showing our successful images.  Failures can be used to teach effectively.  I’m not necessarily comfortable doing this, but as an experiment, I’m going to show you the photos I made as a photographic exercise that didn’t work out as I had hoped.

These photographs were made at the Dixie restaurant in Petersburg, Virginia, where I stopped for breakfast last Saturday morning.  I didn’t set out to make any photos, the thought just came to me. The Dixie has been a Petersburg institution since 1920 and has been at its present location since 1939. It is the kind of old-fashioned neighborhood restaurant where the accumulated years of wear on the old style fixtures are part of the experience.  When you walk in and look around, you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

My breakfast was good, although not outstanding, and the staff was very friendly and efficient. Lots of smiles and that says a lot about a place.  No complaints from me in any form.  Nearly every table was occupied, which made it clear that the Dixie is still a working restaurant rather than simply a piece of Petersburg history. Despite keeping the same name (which can be controversial in the American South in these times), I found no racial significance or controversy associated with “Dixie” in connection with the restaurant.  The Dixie is simply a very old Petersburg restaurant that has managed to stay open and mainly serve the locals. It turned out to be a pretty interesting place to eat and, at least in theory, an interesting place to try to photograph.

As I waited for my food, it occurred to me that there aren’t many restaurants this old in existence in this area and I should try to document what I see.  I enjoy documenting the old, historic, rundown, abandoned, forgotten, etc. I decided to experiment a bit and make some photos from my seat in the last booth.  I knew from the start that remaining in the booth would limit my photographic opportunities.  But I didn’t want to be intrusive to those who are uncomfortable with me making photographs as well as those who really dislike being photographed while they eat.  I did ask my server if it was okay and she nodded yes.

I had the Fujifilm X100VI and the wide angle conversion lens, effectively giving me a 28mm field of view.  Wider would have been better for some shots.  But the 28mm was all I had with me (I was in Petersburg to do a morning solo photo walk not to photograph the interior of this restaurant). It was extremely bright outside and relatively poorly lit inside so I know that making a single exposure toward the front of the restaurant would be pushing the dynamic range of the sensor about as far as practical—maybe too far.  So, I set bracketing to 5 photos, 1 stop apart.  Since I was sitting in my booth and not wanting to be a spectacle, I shot handheld, aperture priority with Auto ISO.  I used both f/5.6 and f/8.  A wider aperture would have been better to reduce the ISO but at the distances I was photographing getting most everything in focus required a deeper depth of field.  The interior photos were exposed at ISOs from 250-8000. Also, I set the camera for “Natural Live View” to simulate an optical viewfinder so as to have the best representation of actual dynamic range and best exposure rather than have it artificially modified by a film simulation.  I use the Natural Live View feature extensively in all my cameras that have this kind of feature as I get a much better idea of highlight clipping and best exposure settings.  During editing, I set the film simulation to Eterna to maximize dynamic range for the raw files as well.

My impromptu idea was to just document the ambiance and feeling of the old restaurant, not construct a complete story.  Here are some of the images I made in no particular order.  Not only are there technical flaws they just don’t look pleasing at all to me.

This was from a single file. I tried to find an exposure that would allow the extremely
bright detail outdoors to show but also allow me to raise the shadow enough to fully reveal the detail
inside the restaurant.  This accomplishes that but the dynamic range of the sensor has been
stretched to its limit which, I think, degrades the ‘look’ of the photo. I did make several bracketed
exposures but each was unusable due to motion by the man and cashier, who is not in this particular shot. Maybe it would be better if I let the shadows stay much darker? (click to enlarge)

Shooting through the scratched plexiglass was a failed experiment.  There is just too much
distraction by the marred surface.  This is a blend of three of the five bracketed exposures.
The problem became blending the images with moving people.  Some of the faces are not
reproduced in the same way as if a single exposure was made. (click to enlarge)

A very unremarkable photograph.  It needs a person to increase visual interest.  Unfortunately,
I couldn’t get any of the wait staff to stop and use the computer while trying to make the exposure.
(click to enlarge)

A detail shot.  Not very interesting.  It certainly doesn’t say anything
about the historical aspect of this restaurant. (click to enlarge)

One last attempt as I was leaving and paying my bill.  Really, a quick snapshot of the rest of the
restaurant with the light actually helping me instead of working against me.  Not very interesting,
however. A record shot at best. (click to enlarge)

Bracketing was necessary in many of the images I tried.  The contrast difference and being backlit by the bright outdoors was just too much.  It was challenging to bracket as well as people in the scene were constantly in motion.  I tried to time my exposures to coincide with momentary stillness in their movements.  But that really didn’t work so well.  I did make some repeat brackets but I could have many more sets to raise my chance of success.  

Looking back, there are a couple of things I would do differently next time (and there will be a next time).  First, my timidness (I’m not generally known for being timid!) in not wanting to be obvious, intrusive and disruptive to the others in the restaurant was a mistake.  I should have been a bit more forward and determined to get in the optimum positions for better composition as well as capture other details.  If someone objected, then I would have apologized and retreated.  But if no one objected, the photos could have been stronger.  I assumed people might be upset.  I shouldn’t have made that assumption.

Second, I should have been more prolific with my bracketed shots to ensure a higher level of success in capturing my intended images.  Additionally, instead of five exposures, 1 stop apart, I could have tried three exposures 2 stops apart.  That may have reduced capturing a group of frames while people were in motion.

Third, there were more opportunities to not bracket and I should have seized those as well rather than just leaving bracketing on.

Fourth, there are some shots I didn’t make that I should have made but couldn’t from my seat.  

Lessons learned:  All that I mentioned plus being self-critical of your work and analyzing your failures can help you not repeat them in the future.  Failure is not necessarily bad, it is a learning experience.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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