girl in blue skirt © Lilly Schwartz 2011

I read a blog post yesterday (see below for a link) that gave the tip to delete all the pictures which you’re not going to use. The reasoning behind it was that in the digital age we have lots and lots of storage which means that we keep everything and end up never wanting to look at our pictures again. In the end, who wants to look at all the blurry failures that didn’t make the final cut? Right, nobody! And 10 years down the line with thousands and thousands of pictures that you snap without thinking since “you can always delete them” you will never want to look at all this stuff again. Well, that’s not what we take pictures for, right?

The post also reminded me of a very good friend who is always months if not even years behind in editing his pictures. This includes just deleting all the blurry ones. That’s what the digital age has given us: A possibility to become the person with the stacks of paper ceiling-high in their flat who have problems even taking out the rubbish. We’re messy! There is something about collecting things that makes us obsessive and we collect more films than we could ever watch in a lifetime “just in case” and we keep all the blurry pictures of people whose names we don’t even remember “just in case”. Well, yesterday after reading that post I was thoughtful while taking pictures and quick with my delete button afterwards. And I keep wondering whether that’s not the key to taking good pictures. See, think, shoot and even delete. Maybe deleting is necessary so that we develop an eye for what’s good and what’s bad.

Yesterday’s picture was taken at the church across from my driving school, the  Johanniskirche in Berlin. While I was taking my pictures there I was mostly alone, but then a girl walked through towards the back. I had about 5 shots of her walking through the frame, but I only kept this one which in my opinion captures her determination in walking nicely. In the future I will also try to delete with determination.

• Delete Ruthlessly