I thought that having a group edit was very helpful. I loved looking at Sam’s pictures, and I loved having a second set of eyes on mine. Talking through our different methodologies for picking photos and coming up with a final selection together was much easier than doing it by myself.
I feel as though when editing on my own, my eyes glaze over and I go into autopilot. That results in some less than stellar design choices on my end. There are times where I try to get a second opinion from whoever is available. Sometimes it’s helpful, but I don’t get that opportunity often. I think pairing up for edits is a great way to get another trained eye on your photos, someone who can say something more meaningful than “that one looks good.”
I would definitely do this again, and I would love to start regularly employing this strategy for every shoot that I do. I love going over each photo and figuring out why it works or why it doesn’t. I think that the entire process was helpful and made the editing process feel more fun and productive than I usually feel.
Having a collaborative partner also helps me avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. I also like how we were able to learn from each other, and I was reaffirmed that some shots I loved ended up working out in the package. I would like to imagine that I was also able to help Sam out a good deal in her selection process as well.