Photo books provide a curated, immersive experience that allows viewers to engage with photographs at a slower and more deliberate pace. So what happens when one challenges your perspective on your own photography?

Made by Adrian Villa, this video explores his honest reactions to one of Lee Friedlander’s books. Typically a fan, Villa found this particular collection much harder to connect with. More than simply unappealing, it felt like an affront to his own style of landscape photography. However, rather than simply dismissing the book, Villa uses his reaction as an opportunity to explore deeper questions about artistic intent, personal taste, and the value of engaging with work that doesn’t immediately resonate. Villa digs deeper into the feelings Friedlander’s work elicited, moving past seeing them as a failure to appreciate the artistic vision. He views it instead as an opportunity to refine his own understanding of what makes a “good” photograph.

Since Villa typically favors clean and simple compositions, the complexity present in this collection of Friedlander’s landscape images felt chaotic to him. Looking at this as a challenge to embrace rather than photographs to disregard, he shares his attempts as he tries out this different approach to photography.

Villa wraps up by sharing lessons he has taken away from this experience. One of them is to be playful and experiment with your photography. He discusses how experiments are good and help us with our art, even when they fail. As I wrote recently, bringing a playful mindset to bear when you’re out in the field can help you discover new elements of photography that you like – or don’t like. Check out the video for Villa’s full discussion, all of his takeaways, and how he feels work that challenges us might impact our own art.