From the Recyle Bin — Donna Hopkins

The recycle bin on my computer is not the same thing as trash. It’s mostly the place where pictures go to await a second chance. I had impulsively deleted an entire roll of film scans taken with my Yashica T4. The exposures seemed off. It looked like they might require “work,” and I am rarely willing to work hard to polish a picture that just isn’t good to begin with. The subjects were things I’ve photographed many, many times. Why not just let them go?

Because there are days when I just want to work because work gives life meaning. Sometimes people ask me what I do with “all those pictures” that I make. This question always throws me for a loop. I don’t make them to do anything with them. I make them for the process, for the layers and colors and shapes and meaning of it all.