Think of twenty.

I do this often, and it’s a great vision improving exercise.

It’s not just a party game like naming the states or their capital cities. The winners at that game, in my experience, are usually professional sportsmen as they have travelled to each. No, what’s at stake here is building a mental library of pictures that drive me to excel and set a standard to be beaten.

Not equalled. I think I can do better. But you need a target. And I like to set my sights high.

Want to know my current twenty in no particular order? Here goes:

The bowler hatted gent jumping the puddle – Henri Cartier-Bresson
The couple in the convertible watching the drive-in screen – O. Winston Link
The Spanish revolutionary soldier at the moment of death, faked or not – Robert Capa
Chez Mondrian – Andre Kertesz
Churchill – Yousuf Karsh
Margaret Thatcher – Anthony Armstrong-Jones
Glyndebourne with cows – Tony Ray Jones
Eleanor with her son – Harry Callahan
Damaged – Walker Evans
Lisa Fonssagrives with elephant – Richard Avedon
Pepper – Edward Weston
Hell’s Angels – Irving Penn
Distorted Nude on the Beach – Bill Brandt
Nudist camp – Elliot Erwitt
The Krays – David Bailey
Prostitutes at Night – Brassai
Racing Car – Jacques-Henri Lartigue
Building the Golden Gate – Peter Stackpole
A Face in the Car – Robert Frank
Dog with Tweeds – Thomas Pindelski

Here’s mine:

Dog with Tweeds. Leica M3, 90mm Elmar, Trix/D76 at 800 ASA.

The other aspect of this little test is to look at changes when I redo the list in a few months from now. It always shows me the direction in which my work and interests are going and point to useful avenues of study and discovery.

To make this a useful exercise, write down your five, ten, twenty or whatever, favorite photographs. Now look at the list produced the next time around. What changed? What is attracting your focus? What did each of your choices do for you and why did they drop off your list?

Can’t name five? Ten? Twenty? Hmmm….