Too Good to Let Go
Most have all heard the phrase "art is a process". In the age of digital photography that process has changed significantly. The preview screen allows the photographer to shoot and receive immediate feedback as to the success of the composition, lighting, focus, depth of field and make adjustments on the fly. But there are still some of us, a dying breed, or dinosaurs if you so choose to write us off as such, which still appreciate the qualities and the now unique "process" of shooting on film.
Since there are now generations of photographers who have never shot film, with more coming online every day, I will likely write blogs in the future that cover this topic in greater depth, but that is not the story I am going to tell today.
When shooting film the photographer must be familiar with all components in the "tool-chain". The characteristics of each film is different. How the light meter reacts to different lighting conditions varies. If using Ansel Adams "Zone System" the photographer must fully analyze the light conditions in the scene being composed which leads to pre-defining how the film will be developed once the shutter button has been pressed. Then for insurance the film photographer will bracket exposures to hopefully seal the deal, all without the benefit of a preview, delete, and re-shoot. But even after all knowledge, experience and preparations have been made there is still an element of chance leading to either joy, relief or perhaps even disappointment and despair which will only revealed when the negative (or transparency with slide film) is viewed after the film has been developed. Sometimes my best laid plans result in a composition I dearly love but the resulting exposure is just a big "meh".
For instance the above image is a scan from a Kodachrome slide that is severely over-exposed, but I really fell in love with the composition. The sharp focus on the hands held in a unique and interesting way and framed by a unique viewer perspective with the feet perfectly blurred (in my humble opinion), but the damn color is all washed out! Muted colors in itself can be interesting but it was not what I was looking for at the time and instead of just throwing it on the scrap heap of crappy negatives I felt the composition was just too good to let it go.
In "Hands In Boat v2.0" I made a 4x5 Polaroid from the original slide and lifted the emulsion (perhaps another blog on that process in the future...) onto a sheet of watercolor paper. I like how the composition becomes the sole focus and the very intrinsic loose and fluid nature of the emulsion transfer process pushes the importance of the color to the background and now adds a dream-like aesthetic to the composition. And still, I thought the image was too good to let go at this point and wanted to try one more experiment.
In my final use of the image, "Hands In Boat v3.0", I made three separate Red, Green and Blue digital negatives using Photoshop and my inject printer, which I then used for the Gum Bichromate alternative photographic printing process. Briefly, the gum print process uses watercolor pigments suspended in a homemade light-sensitive emulsion which is then painted onto watercolor paper, left to dry, exposed to light using one of the three color specific negatives, then developed in a tray of cool ordinary tap water. (Another blog?)
I had found the image I was looking for! The color was what I deliberately chose it to be and which I had complete control over. The composition was big and boldly pronounced and the printing process no doubt greatly appealed to my oil-painting nature. I also was reminded by going through this process that the image, the composition, is what we as photographers are really in the hunt for. The process by which we go through to achieve this may be different for each mind's eye, but one image can be many different "things" and the process we choose greatly impacts how the image is finally presented to the view and is just as important as releasing the shutter.