Barns of Arkansas Part II

Naran Patel, author of Barns of Arkansas, called me this morning angry over my review of his book. What can I say? First, I was quite insulted by his accusation my review was based on his ethnicity or because he was not a native Arkansan which is unequivocally not the case. I don't see how anyone could read the review and come away with that feeling, but apparently he did. The review had everything to do with his work simply "needing further refinement". As I stated in the review I think it is great that he visited different, and often remote, parts of the state during his stay here. It's also great that he took some snapshots of his travels.

Clearly, when one publishes a work it is open to comparison with all previously published works. As such, I described Mr. Patel's book as the worst picture book ever, and I still stand by that. However, that doesn't mean Mr. Patel is not capable of doing much better work. I'm sure he is. On the phone, as I struggled to get a few words in, I tried to encourage him to continue taking pictures and convey how that over time he will notice his eye for composition dramatically improving. The same holds for anyone who puts in the effort. I'm sure that one day he will look back on his barn landscapes with power lines intruding through the top of the frame, white skies, and especially the one where a foreground clump of grass is in focus instead of the barn itself, and realize how far his skills have advanced. He's not there yet though.

Instead, he continually insisted the pictures were the way he wanted them to be. I don't think so. I think Mr. Patel looks at each picture and sees what his memory recalls versus what he actually captured within the frame. He can't be blamed for that as this is the starting point for all photographers. The next step is to supplement that desire with technical ability followed by composition skill where it doesn't come naturally, the well-worn path for any photographer. The ultimate destination for consistent, truly excellent work is what the late Galen Rowell called previsualization, the act of foreseeing the result before ever leaving one's lazy chair and being able to go out in the field or into the studio and create the image EXACTLY as one had imagined.

One thing I would like to clarify from the book review is my comment on the book being self-published. I didn't intend for the self-published nature of the book to be taken in a negative way; however, it's clear that the book would have never been published by a publishing house. I stand quite firm in that belief. However, I have self-published a non-photography eBook myself and have nothing against self-publishing which has significant advantages. I have sold copies to readers all over the United States and in countries all over the world. On each sale I have made more profit than would have ever been possible with a traditional publisher.

I don't really know what Mr. Patel expected from our discussion, but I doubt that he went away feeling satisfied. After listening to him for several minutes I told him about three times that I was running late and honestly had to go (the complete truth) until finally I was forced to hang up on him. So I'm sure he will know tell anyone who asked that I was just a jerk and hung up on him when he called. Ah well...

Yesterday, for totally different reasons I wrote an equally scathing review of Donald Trump's last book. I wonder if The Donald will be calling me soon?