What makes a great image?

Normally, processing images is quite a tedious, mechanical process. Most people don’t even realise the extent of the work that goes on after a picture is taken in our bold new digital world. Hours of painstaking cropping, spotting, exposure and colour adjustment takes place to achieve that perfect image. But what makes a great image? Rarely is it the photographer, although there are those exalted beings that can perceive, create & capture wonderful, evocative images that are less reproductions of what exists & are more entities in themselves, projecting a power & presence that the components themselves simply do not possess in the material world.

I can aspire to become one of those gods of light, those creative geniuses, but I also accept that my skills are more earthly. What makes a great image? Planning, practice, a healthy dose of luck, but most importantly a great subject. As a portrait photographer I am in the hands of my clients, so great images are in the hands of the people I photograph, not me.

As I was carrying out my normal image processing tasks this morning, I was forcefully reminded of this. Never before have I found myself simply staring at an image on the screen, tears pouring down my face. I was transfixed by the power of the two people before me. They are strangers who have come into my life very briefly, but have affected me enormously. She is dying of cancer, he is struggling with his own health but doing everything he can to fulfill what remains of her life.

The are a fantastic couple, & by that I mean they are filled with a gentle humanity that comes with facing down death, placing a true perspective on what is important & being at peace with everything. I would be flattering myself if I thought the images I took of them managed to portray any of this feeling, but it is there & it is palpable. What makes a great image? Love. True love.