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On rotten potatoes and photography! ??? 

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This is one of my weird posts in a forum...

A question was asked:  How is one to know if their work can be sold?

My answer? Try cooking potatoes and you will now.

I was using a metaphor that only one can understand I guess (me - as usual).

First why potatoes instead of tomatoes? Simple because a tomato gives the game away the moment you touch it.

Ok, what about the potato then?

Well, potatoes as we all know come in a variety of shapes colors, textures and tastes. A bit like a photograph. (There are other analogies that apply - Especially in the cooking part ~ Post processing)

So where is the rotten part coming from and why?

First a rotten potato is not a decaying potato - more on that later -. A rotten potato rots from the inside. You know it is bad only once you cut it. A rotten potato is simply inedible and usually poisonous. Relationship to photography? A rotten capture is one that is technically  ok, cold and has nothing to offer but whoever took it thinks it is good, unable to face reality. These deserve no more than a glance before being dismissed as a poor snap-shot at best. This is what many folks will describe as 'good' in order not to offend the guy asking 'opinions'. GES as I often say. Nothing salvageable.

How about the decaying potato? A potato that is decaying smells rather strongly yet most of the flesh - if the decay has been caught in time - is edible. Wash the decaying flesh away under cold running water until cleaned and the texture becomes firm and not slimy. Cook it immediately and you can use it in a small variety of ways. Relationship to photography? A capture that is technically perfect is often cold, has no spirit but has potential. It needs to be cleaned, adjusted, reworked. This is not a perfect image, far from it.  If the potential is realized it will be sold. This is one short step above GES.

The good potato? Either way you look at it, this the perfect tuber that can be prepared in any number of ways and served in your plate w/o qualm. Comparison with photography? Depending on how you cook it and present it folks will be attracted to it or repulsed by the look (who wants brownish purple puree?). Yet that brown/purple potato will be accepted in a salad. Meaning the person who eats the potato or purchase the photograph reacts to what is being presented based on visual clues, not taste. It can become a conversation "How did you make that?".

I am well aware that I am weird, no need to mention it.

French fries anyone?

Note: I made several corrections from the original post.

Last page update: 02/12/2016

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