2012 Artist Statement
I consider myself an artist first and photographer second. My goal is to create visually attractive and believable images that steps beyond simply documentation. While I use photographic equipment today to achieve these goals, 10 years ago and I was using ink and acrylic. I feel we as artists need two key elements to express our stories. The vision and desire to create followed by a solid technique. While one may be more important then the other, they are both required.
I photograph at all times of the day but my primary focus is looking for unique light and shadows that often only happen in the early mornings or late evenings. This alone offers very warm, pastel and saturated colors from the low angled sun.
A camera is a pre-defined set of instructions. It captures raw unprocessed light data but then requires a series of steps to produce a final image. Similar to the chemicals used with film, digital has many variables. I choose to keep all of these pre-programmed settings in camera turned off and process each file myself to taste. Post processing a file after the initial capture of data is critical and a print straight from the manufactured file is unacceptable. We should not assume the pre-baked instructions for color, saturation, sharpness and contrast within the camera are accurate. It has no feelings, emotions or any idea what you saw.
Today's technology comes with several limitations. Unlike a painting, the camera can only record so many levels of brightness into a single frame. While the camera may only see 5 stops of luminosity, our eyes see double. Therefor some times the use of filters or recording several frames to be combined later is necessary to capture the full dynamic range of a scene. Similar limitations apply to large depths of fields or wide panoramas. These hurtles can be solved by merging several images together.
What is reality? In my opinion, reality is what is believable to the viewer. We are already interpreting our three dimensional subject from a two dimensional surface and we all see colors differently. All images are illustrating a moment in time that is designed to intrigue and consume the viewers attention. While I'm not in the business of producing super saturated and artificial images, I am an artist that will push colors and details in tune with how a scene felt or was remembered.
My approach to processing a digital file is simple. I start by fixing camera and lens flaws including distortion, vignettes, and noise or grain removal. From there the color balance is set, the black and white points are adjusted and the overall contrast of the image is pushed. If necessary, final enhancements are made through traditional dodging and burning similar to black and white film processing. The goal being to control and direct focus and attention.
My opinion on cloning and manipulation is simple. I do not add but I will remove. For objects in nature that are better left untouched, while a painter may choose to simply not include them in the work, I as a photographer am willing to remove them after the initial capture by using cloning and painting techniques.
To summarize believability vs reality. While I have no intentions of deceiving or telling lies to the viewer, my work comes with an artists touch that strives for something that looks realistic but very much a painting built on the foundations of a photograph.
I am a digital painter of light.
Stephen Desroches
Prince Edward Island | 2012