DON’T DELETE YET

One of many unwritten rules of photography I was told is to showcase only your best work. People should never see the imperfections; don’t let anyone see the blurry, dark and poor lit images. In other words, the world is only allowed to see the clean, sharp and perfectly re-touched photographs. As a result, most ‘bad’ images do not see the light of day as they’re deleted just seconds after being created ‘lest someone see them’. The other reason for deleting those photos we consider ‘not nice’ is to create space for more ‘pleasant’ photo opportunities. Accidents do happen and in an attempt to get rid of the ‘bad’ pictures one may end up deleting the most precious ones instead. Imagine deleting the only ‘kiss the bride’ photo you’ve just taken during a wedding… I know, not nice! I have never been an advocate of eliminating photos, especially not before previewing them on a larger monitor (computer screen). The small camera mounted LCD screens which most of us rely on, are unfortunately not the best yardstick with which to judge the quality of taken pictures, especially when reviewing light and focus. Personally I don’t delete images indiscriminately, not even when I engage in what my friend Michael Manyibe has christened “chaos photography” which according to him is shooting out of instincts rather than relying on vision which results to “chaotic images”. I am a strong believer in giving ‘bad’ pictures a chance to surprise me during ‘the preview session’ and most often than not, am not disappointed. 

                                                               
                                               Camera - NIKON D3100

                                               Focal Length - 18mm 
                                               Shutter Speed - 1/15 sec 
                                               Aperture - f/3.5
                                               ISO/Film - 100
                                Category - Chaos 
                                Uploaded - December 19th 2013  
                                               Taken - November 14th 2013

                                               Location - USIU-Road Nairobi, Kenya 
                                               Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi

Camera - NIKON D3100

Focal Length - 22mm 
Shutter Speed - 1/8 sec 
Aperture - f/3.8 
ISO/Film - 3200 
Category - Architecture 
Uploaded - December 19th 2013  
Taken - November 14th 2013

Location - USIU Nairobi, Kenya 
Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi

             Camera - SONY-SLT A57 

             Focal Length - 35mm 
             Shutter Speed - 1/25 sec 
             Aperture - f/10
             ISO/Film - 100
         Category - Nature
         Uploaded - December 19th 2013              Taken - November 23rd 2013

             Location - USIU Nairobi, Kenya 
             Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi

Camera - NIKON D3100 

Focal Length - 29mm 
Shutter Speed - 1/15 sec 
Aperture - f/4.5 
ISO/Film - 1000 
Category - Chaos 
Uploaded - December 19th 2013  
Taken - November 15th 2013

Location - Thika Road-Ngara Nairobi, Kenya 
Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi