hanging out

Since the artification of my orchid image, I’ve been playing with different textures and photos. I’ve found that when an image is made paying special attention to detail, lighting, framing and the like that it isn’t a very good candidate for artification. However, when an image looks only so-so but has a few redeemable qualities to it, its perfect to play with.

I’ve found that I’m in love with this process. I still greatly value a technically perfect image out of camera but I’m realizing more and more that I’d be the kind of person who would be in the photo lab experimenting with messed up quantities of chemicals and any other way I could find to add texture. Originally I felt I was degrading a good image the more post processing I did; now I’m seeing my photography as art rather than just photography. It feels like something has clicked. I felt I’d lost the idea of making art. Now I only wish I had the finances to be able to do this with analogue processes.

But oh, how hilarious it was to realize that a lot of the names of the techniques came from exactly what was done in the lab. When put into a real life scenario, these techniques came to life. They became tangible enough that I could almost imagine myself making these images with my hands! And the styles that mean so much to me, warmth and texture, can be used abundantly.