This is a cc of e-mail sent to Alain. Would welcome further discussion. ÑCatherine
Dear Alain,
Thank you for writing the article I just read in NPN August issue. Yes! I do, too!
I have been making photographs for about 25 years, first as a hobbyist, then as an enthusiast, and in the last few years as a professional photographer. I learned about this issue (fakey or reality) on my first outing with my father so long ago. I asked him to help me learn the basics, because he had taken photographs for about 30 years longer than I had at the time. We had a strategy all figured out: frame up the same scenes and compare exposures; use our own lens(es) of choice and work on the scene until we decided to find another.
That first lesson taught me that "reality" for a far-sighted person is definitely NOT the same as for a near-sighted person! I immediately learned that we "manipulated" the scene before any film ever went to the lab. My reality, and his, were manipulated by physiology.
Then I found out that Ansel Adams "manipulated" his images in the darkroom. Shocking! Knock me over with a feather! If a fabulously famous and universally well respected nature photographer's images were FAKE, what was the world coming to?! Any form of art can manipulate reality to the point of pulling the imagination past the breaking point, where coming to an understanding of what the art represents is too much of an ordeal. So now you know what I don't favor and spend just an amount of time looking at it as will confirm my distaste for it. No doubt someone else will love it. That's art.
Well, I'm the near-sighted one. Even with corrective eyeglasses my eyesight is nowhere near 20/20. My life is a bit constrained. Photography freed me! In photography I saw my vision. I discovered that I can refine it, stretch it, extend it, magnify it and I definitely, absolutely can and do manipulate it! I LOVE doing it. I cannot NOT do it. I've tried. So now, I just do it. And now I will just say YES!
Best regards,
Catherine
Catherine Reilly Photography
"Vision Beyond My Eye"
?
creillysphotos@earthlink.net
Seattle, WA
I have to say that I'm thrilled by Alain's article appearing here at NPN. I've followed his writing for years over at Luminous Landscape, once corresponded with him, and always enjoyed his photography. He's "the real deal" on photos and printing, as well as personable. He's especially welcome here! One of my few regrets is that I haven't yet managed to join one of his workshops.
Welcome Alain!
I think his first article is the "essence of Alain," because he asks each of us to think, especially in broader terms than the mechanics of photography. He looks at it from a broader view, and not just through the viewfinder.
I'll offer a modification to his "Just say yes" answer to the question, do you manipulate colors? My considered answer is "Yes, just like film." Anyone who regards an image capture on film to be unmanipulated is misinformed. Each film has a color palette, and even the basic choice of which film to use is a manipulative choice.
In spite of the simpler answer "Just say yes" that Alain advocates, a discussion always follows which is pretty hard to keep on track. I find the whole topic a lot easier to deal with if it starts from a basic discussion of the departure of film from "reality." In that context, my listeners and clients are better prepared for any further discussions of photoshop and digital capture.
Discussion
1 repliesDear Alain,
Thank you for writing the article I just read in NPN August issue. Yes! I do, too!
I have been making photographs for about 25 years, first as a hobbyist, then as an enthusiast, and in the last few years as a professional photographer. I learned about this issue (fakey or reality) on my first outing with my father so long ago. I asked him to help me learn the basics, because he had taken photographs for about 30 years longer than I had at the time. We had a strategy all figured out: frame up the same scenes and compare exposures; use our own lens(es) of choice and work on the scene until we decided to find another.
That first lesson taught me that "reality" for a far-sighted person is definitely NOT the same as for a near-sighted person! I immediately learned that we "manipulated" the scene before any film ever went to the lab. My reality, and his, were manipulated by physiology.
Then I found out that Ansel Adams "manipulated" his images in the darkroom. Shocking! Knock me over with a feather! If a fabulously famous and universally well respected nature photographer's images were FAKE, what was the world coming to?! Any form of art can manipulate reality to the point of pulling the imagination past the breaking point, where coming to an understanding of what the art represents is too much of an ordeal. So now you know what I don't favor and spend just an amount of time looking at it as will confirm my distaste for it. No doubt someone else will love it. That's art.
Well, I'm the near-sighted one. Even with corrective eyeglasses my eyesight is nowhere near 20/20. My life is a bit constrained. Photography freed me! In photography I saw my vision. I discovered that I can refine it, stretch it, extend it, magnify it and I definitely, absolutely can and do manipulate it! I LOVE doing it. I cannot NOT do it. I've tried. So now, I just do it. And now I will just say YES!
Best regards,
Catherine
Catherine Reilly Photography
"Vision Beyond My Eye"
?
creillysphotos@earthlink.net
Seattle, WA
Welcome Alain!
I think his first article is the "essence of Alain," because he asks each of us to think, especially in broader terms than the mechanics of photography. He looks at it from a broader view, and not just through the viewfinder.
I'll offer a modification to his "Just say yes" answer to the question, do you manipulate colors? My considered answer is "Yes, just like film." Anyone who regards an image capture on film to be unmanipulated is misinformed. Each film has a color palette, and even the basic choice of which film to use is a manipulative choice.
In spite of the simpler answer "Just say yes" that Alain advocates, a discussion always follows which is pretty hard to keep on track. I find the whole topic a lot easier to deal with if it starts from a basic discussion of the departure of film from "reality." In that context, my listeners and clients are better prepared for any further discussions of photoshop and digital capture.