OK, I think I am hooked. I have been playing with my photos lately (and I have posted a few here) and you know what? It is fun. It is interesting to make something only tangentially related to the original images(s).
Photography has never really been about recording reality. The camera angle, lens, exposure, and even the choice of colour vs. black and white can all affect how we perceive the image. Much has been written on this, but you only need to look at advertising photography to see the extent to which this can be done (and remember, advertisers still have to deal with misrepresentation laws…). One of my favourite “photographers”* has made an art form of combining images.
One of the big advantages of a digital workflow, as opposed to the traditional wet darkroom of Mr. Uelsmann, is the ability to make many identical copies of the final print. These copies may be from a traditional printer, but possibly more exciting is the ability to show many, many people simultaneously through the wonder of the internet. Of course there are issues with this as well, such as not every viewers monitor is of the same calibre, and so on. And since we live in a capitalistic society, it would be nice to make some cash from these viewings, but I do believe that the ability to share information with others of like mind is one of the traits that make us human…
This post got a bit deep, but here is one of my older images made into a reflection…
Another unfortunate thing about the internet is the size of images. This image has an incredible amount of detail in the print which just doesn’t come across on the web.
Here is a 100% crop of one small area…
*Jerry Uelsmann has been combining and manipulating images long before we had the luxury of digital processes. (Back in art school I tried a number of darkroom collages, and eventually gave up in frustration.) Some people may say he is not a photographer, but more of a collage artist, but then you can look at someone as “straightforward” (yes I know I like to use quotes…) as Ansel Adams. Mr. Adams is just as famous for his darkroom prowess.
