Some weeks ago I mentioned that I would be exhibiting an image in my photography group’s show this coming September. Several people showed interest in seeing the shot and I promised to share it in due course.
But let’s take a step back. We’ve been planning this exhibition for some time. It will be part of an annual local event, the Borough of Ealing Art Trail, or BEAT. Many local artists exhibit as individuals, throwing open their homes for the two weekends of the trail to show, and hopefully sell, their art. Others exhibit as part of a group, as we are doing.
Having decided to participate this year, as we’ve done several times in the past, we needed a venue. A local church was approached and the vicar was keen to have us. The church is very colourful inside; I shared a photo of it in my March Changing Seasons post after we visited to plan our theme. Consequently we decided that all our photos would be black and white. We also settled on a square format to create unity between what were likely to be quite disparate images, as we each have our own style.
The choice of black and white led to conversations about a theme, and after much discussion we settled on:
BETWEEN LIGHT & SHADOW
Expanding on this, a brief was set:
Truth lives in ambiguity. What we see depends on where the light falls.
We were encouraged to consider what was left unsaid in our images, the gaps left for the viewer to complete. And we were able to submit four images for consideration, one of which would be chosen for printing and display while the others would feature on our website.
I chose to submit some images that were a straightforward approach to the idea of light and shadow, as well as one that took a more humorous angle and another that explored the idea that a simple image could ‘hide’ a wealth of meaning.
All four images had come quite some way from the originals I had taken. Even before squaring and in most cases converting to black and white, I had edited them all to some extent. So for this week’s Lens Artists challenge, in which Ritva asks us to show how we use editing tools to ‘capture the same subject through a variety of unique approaches’, I thought I could take the opportunity to respond to requests to share my chosen image, and the others I submitted while also showing how I arrived at a final version what both pleased me and met our brief.
For each image below I’m posting three versions. The first is as the shot looked when first taken, with no edits. The second is the version I settled on when I edited it at the time. And the third is the edit I did for submission, following the brief for square, black and white images. I’m also including the accompanying text I drafted for each, linking to the brief. This was only needed for the one selected for the exhibition, but I’m hoping some of you might like to guess which that was and I didn’t want to give the game away!
To sunbathe or not to sunbathe; that is the question
Taken from the Malecón in La Paz, Baja California, Mexico (straight out of the camera).
At the time I made relatively few changes to this shot. I cropped the top to remove what I felt were distractions such as the boats and land beyond. I also cropped it slightly on the right side to improve the positioning of the man. And finally I brightened the image and boosted the contrast a little.
To create a square image for the exhibition I cropped just from the left side as I wanted to maintain the position of the man’s head according to the ‘rule of thirds’. And I converted it to black and white using Nik Silver Efex Pro. My accompanying text read:
A hot day on the beach in La Paz, Mexico had me wondering if this man knew that he was only partly shaded from the sun. I confess I smiled to think of the half-and-half tan that might result as he lay between light and shadow.
Sunrise Apsara at Angkor Wat
A devata at Angkor Wat, Cambodia, caught by the sun soon after sunrise (straight out of the camera).
I was pretty happy with this shot as it stood but I did straighten it and made it just a little brighter.
For the exhibition submission I cropped both top and bottom to create the square. I converted it to black and white using Nik Silver Efex Pro, boosting the contrast as I did so. My accompanying text read:
Tourists flock to Angkor Wat to take photos of the iconic towers silhouetted against the sunrise. Once they have their photos, most leave to seek breakfast. But if you venture into the ruins at this time you will find them relatively peaceful after the hubbub outside, and the slanting rays of the sun just catching the relief carvings of the devatas and apsaras, that adorn the walls.
Genocide
At Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Originally I did very little to this image, simply brightening it a little to bring out the texture of the wall and increasing the contrast so that the barbed wire stood out more clearly.
For the exhibition submission I simply cropped it on both sides, but mainly the right. I wanted to achieve what I felt was the most striking pattern in the wire. And again used Nik Silver Efex Pro for the conversion. My accompanying text read:
A simple length of barbed wire speaks to the horrors once perpetrated at the infamous Khmer Rouge Security Prison 21, now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. The museum sheds light on the darkest period of Cambodian history, surfacing terrors that were once concealed from the world.
I started my visit here thinking that it might be inappropriate to take photos. But then I found myself thinking the opposite – that it was important not only to take but to share them. As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel declared, ‘We have learned from history that tragic truth is better than no truth’.
Woman in Black
In the Plaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile. Looking back at my files I realised I took ten shots of this woman, she intrigued me so much. This was the one I selected for further editing.
Unlike the other shots I submitted for the exhibition, I had already converted this one to black and white at the time. In doing so I made the background figures much less obvious, and (I felt) brought out the character in the woman’s face. I also cropped out some of the distracting line on the lefthand side (I think it’s the pole of the sunshade she sat under) and the figures at the top.
For the exhibition submission I cropped it more tightly on three sides, removing that distracting pole entirely as well as the figures in the background. I also increased the contrast and sharpened the image using Topaz AI. My accompanying text read:
When I take candid street photos I like to speculate about the lives of my subjects. This lady in a café in the Plaza de Armas in Santiago, Chile intrigued me. The dark hat and sunglasses suggested mystery to me but gave no clues. Was she meeting a lover perhaps? Or drinking alone after a life well-lived? Or was she simply taking a break from shopping or some other more prosaic task?
So, now you’ve seen all four, which versions of each do you prefer? And which one would you guess was chosen for the exhibition? Bear in mind that the curation team (three people, one of which was me) looked not only at the creative and technical qualities of the images but also how well they met the brief and how they would sit alongside the other choices.
One Comment
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
Sarah, I like the first and last the best, I would choose the lady. Did you choose the first one?