which is better...for you,

I think if it's a real "wow" image I'll see that pretty soon but I have been occasionally surprised by images from years ago that have grown better over time.
 
Time is the best friend of a photograph, since it can change the subjective meaning of objective contents.

A family snap might be just that when it was taken today but might prove very valuable in a decade time when there's relatives in it that have passed away since then.

OTOH, I'm all for the wow factor images, too.

But I have to distinguish a third category: the truly good ones deliver that wow moment every time you see them and those are rare as hens teeth... They are what I'm after though and I think, in the end we all are...
 
I can generally guarantee that any image I take that gives me that wow sensation won't cut it when I look at it a year or so down the track. Initial impressions are often triggered by emotions associated with the location or subject and they tend to cloud your judgement IMO.
 
I really enjoy making each image. At least all the film I have exposed is developed. I don't know if I have ever made a wow image and probably never will!
 
Keith said:
I can generally guarantee that any image I take that gives me that wow sensation won't cut it when I look at it a year or so down the track. Initial impressions are often triggered by emotions associated with the location or subject and they tend to cloud your judgement IMO.
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For me... I agree with this 100%. I consider the attached a WOW image because it reminds me of how much I'm enjoying my visit to Japan (still here, leaving tomorrow morning). A year from now? Maybe...

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I'm with Keith, any image that Wow's me when I first review it, seldom holds up a year or two down the line. I much prefer an image that grows on me over time.

One of the great street photographers (sorry, blanking on which one) used to lets his exposed film rolls sit for a year or two before processing them. That way the emotion of the moment when he pressed the shutter would have passed, and he could evaluate the images more dispassionately. I think that's a good idea, but one I'm lousy at following.
 


Maybe not WOW factor to all of you but a photograph I made yesterday upon arriving to our vacation location where my family and I will be for the week.
 
Initial impression is clouded by associated, still fresh emotions, I am with Keith too!

But since back-alley says this is talking about one's own images, shouldn't viewing the same photo a year or two later remind us of and hopefully trigger the same emotions again, so to say, bring back the same 'cloud' and the more it does so the better?
Should we really disqualify that strong element of a photo, why not appreciate it? Just for what again oneself, that is only subjectively, later defines as 'more objectively' good? Have we, by then, taken into account how others view the photo and deem that more valid?
Do we look differently at a photo over time simply because the emotions we associate with the time and place, the 'coloring of our cloud', which nevertheless is there, has changed?

Keith (kxl ) this photo of Mt. Fuji is fabulous, I am sure you will like it a year from now too. Maybe by then you are even more aware of how very lucky you had been to have such a clear view. Well, most likely you know, many had been at the same place you took this photo from various times but never had a single view of Mt. Fuji, this includes me.

Duane, just by you mentioning that this had been taken just after arriving at your vacation spot makes me partake in the feeling you must have, thank you for that.
 
kuuan;2472139 shouldn't viewing the same photo a year or two later remind us of and hopefully trigger the same emotions again said:
Thanks. I've been told that I was extremely fortunate to actually see Mt. Fuji on my first visit. In a way, you are right in that a year from now, this same image should evoke the same emotions from my trip to Japan minus all the associated difficulties (I have a disability that constrains my mobility), which would have faded away from memory; however, my hope is that a year from now, I would be in a position create a new WOW image from another trip to another distant destination. :)
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The first photograph I can remember registering with me is Ansel Adams' "Moorise, Hernandez". I can't begin to explain why but it stopped me dead in my tracks and it's still amongst the few photographs I'd actually have as a print on my wall. There are others, of course, including (for me) Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl" - as I was an avid reader of National Geographic. This one had the advantage of a story to it when, many years after taking it, Steve McCurry went in search of the girl to see if she was still alive and how her life had been. It's great when a real "wow" picture enters your life. They usually inspire me to want to learn how to take such photos and/or visit the places where they were taken.

However, many photos (and series of photos) tend to be "slow burners", for me at least. There's got to be a certain something about the photo that makes me want to give it a second viewing or maybe a story / theme I can't quite get my head around first time around. Works by the likes of Martin Parr, Diane Arbus and others have taken me time to start to understand. I still don't like a lot of them - even though I now appreciate what they mean. However, I suppose what I'm saying that I don't really have a preference as to whether the photo grabs me from the off, or whether it grows on me.
 
The wow factor is when I have poured out the final rinse & I pull the freshly developed negative off the reel holding that 35 or 120 strip up to the light. That for me is a constant wow factor of true creation that doesn't get old for me.
 
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