Revisiting the Light

During the final term of my degree, as I was building 'i am Alive', my interest quickly grew to one day return to the work produced during the 'Found Photography' module and give it the attention and production values it truly deserved.  It was all due to this photo, a single square format image of a slide of my father, taken of him during his time in the military and held intently by my hand; I realised I had something quite magical of someone very special to me, and someone lost a long time ago.  At the time this was taken, my tutors acknowledged this as a defining moment of my 'i am Alive' project.  Despite the hospital #selfie being the original starting point, the image of my father neatly became the key and central focus of my final print.

'i am Alive'

The difference in terms of the quality and detail captured was always going to be an obvious jump; from an entry level D60 used on 'Found Photography' to a full frame D700 on 'i am Alive', the contrast in terms of ISO control and in particular how the camera behaved in front of a light source was vastly superior.  While the originals were either too dark in many places or simply overcome and washed out from overblown highlights, the D700 allowed the bright glow of light to be far less harsh on the eyes and more accommodating and gentle towards the contents included within the slide.  Perhaps this was also to do with the change in light sources used; the above image did seem to possess a wonderfully subtle outlined finish that resonated an almost angelic appearance around my hand.  It may have be a little strange to consider but sometimes even the littlest of things really do have a huge impact.  The photos taken during 'Found Photography were held in front of my ceiling light, while the image taken for 'i am Alive' used my bedside lamp.  It wasn't just the strength of the source that made such a striking difference, I could also hold the slide much closer to the light.

The way this image had been edited in post was something I wanted to explore further as I delved deeper into this project.  Even though I didn't have the original RAW files, I still managed to achieve a certain level of control.  Using the various saved presets from my 'i am Alive' project, I imported the 'Found Photography' images into Lightroom and began editing the photos as a potential indication of what to expect with the revised, reshot and remastered editions.  I found the Radial tool to be a very important instrument during the edit, allowing me to focus on the most notable aspect in each photo - in this case, my father - as drawing a circle around him allowed me to affect either what was outside or inside without altering its opposite.  It wasn't long before I was bringing him out of those D60 shadowy darks and into a more visible light.

Lightroom - Before & After

I absolutely adored this photo of my father and immediately knew that this would be one of the first slides to be replicated when I came to begin shooting 'They Live on in Light'.  The fact that the contents of the slide were not lying exactly in place added even more to the finished article, like some individual reel from a film.  It was something I simply didn't wish to correct; my father looked every bit the Hollywood film star, a towering presence and power frozen forever within a perfect light.

I decided to crop the images in a 1x1 ratio, just as I did with the entire series of 'i am Alive'.  As with Instagram and my final degree piece, there was something similar here with the look and feel of these slides; the square format and nod towards the long lost Kodak era seemed to beg for the presented shape to be that of equal sides.  The image also seemed far more intimate this way.  I felt that with the initial 2x3 ratio, there was far too much unnecessary information in the picture; condensing the crop bought me closer to the subject as if I was once again holding the slide.

The removal of the text was pretty much a given from the start.  It just seemed, well, tacky, for want of a better word.  The font I had chosen back then was also extremely childish - though at least it was a step up from Comic Sans - and while the chosen words were sweet and thoughtful, they did seem more the unsure me back then than the confident graduate and practising photographer I am today. Sometimes you don't need words to convey a message.  Sometimes an image will speak for you, from within, to each and everyone wishing to listen.  I felt 'They Live on in Light' would do exactly that.

The final stage of this project is now very much underway and I expect to have this fully concluded before my next outing at sea in a few weeks time.  Going back over 'Found Photography' in a more structured way has been immensely helpful in how I will present and publish my new set of images; eighteen months following graduation and it has been encouraging to see that I am still using the same planning and preparation methods to formulate an outcome.  Elements that worked and those that did not may have not been quite so noticeable had it not been for my time spent revisiting and revising the original project, as well as re-editing those initial photos; the Instagram styled presets, the 1x1 ratio, the removal of text, the change in light source, each component added further layers to a perfect foundation.  Along with the vastly superior difference in equipment, I felt that the end results for 'They Live on in Light' were not only going to be very exciting, but immensely beautiful indeed.