(This blog post first appeared on February 11, 2012)

A colleague, who is well known and widely respected in his field for a lifetime of accomplishments, once told me that he experienced a strong emotional response when he was in the presence of Michelangelo’s David in Florence, Italy. It was, he said, the closest he had ever been to human created perfection. Alas, perfection is perhaps something that is more approachable than achievable by mortals.

The pursuit of technical perfection in photography is indeed a worthy endeavor. Some photographers demand near technical perfection in a photograph before they will consider sharing it with others. Most would agree, however, that near technical perfection in a photograph is but one characteristic among many that will ultimately determine whether or not a particular viewer will find the photograph to be somehow compelling. It has been important for me to have a conceptual understanding of what I consider to be technical perfection in a photograph. My conceptual understanding of technical perfection may differ from that of other photographers. Nevertheless, my conceptual understanding gave me a target. Striving to approach this target was important to my development as a photographer. I’ve come to understand that approaching technical perfection in photography is not an end, rather, it is but a jumping off place. I’ll have more to say about this in future blog postings.

Under what conditions do you find that approaching technical perfection in photographs is or is  not important?