"Visualization Realized"

The photographic arts are truly remarkable.  In as little as one second or less we can capture the emotion of an entire scene.  But to realize the full impact of the emotion, we must invest a great deal of time and energy in the processing of the image in order for the final print to be faithful to the captured moment.  Instead of investing this time in the traditional dark room as our photographic forefathers have done, for me the time is spent within Photoshop CS and the digital darkroom. 

What is increasingly important in achieving an "emotional print" is having a record of how the emotion at the time inspired me to capture the photograph in the first place.  Prior to my most recent workshop on the San Juan River with Alain and Natalie Briot, I had utilized my Olympus Digital Voice recorder for noting only exposure information.  But on the San Juan River I included a description of what it was that captured me emotionally at the time of the photograph and how I want to see this realized in the final print.  Given that this approach (pre-visualization) is certainly nothing new, but for me, by utilizing the tools at hand I have finally realized in the final print exactly what I had envisioned at the time of capture.  I have also found a greater emotional investment on my part with the entire San Juan portfolio.  The portfolio has now taken on a much deeper meaning to me.  As a consequence, my processing of the portfolio has become very time intensive.  Actually, it looks as though I will return to the river in 2006.  So the San Juan River portfolio is becoming a major photographic presentation and will not be fully presented until sometime in the late summer or early fall of 2006. 

I present this simply as an exercise in seeing how one may attempt to bring back the emotions from a photographic session to the digital darkroom.  Sometimes the separation of time and distance make it difficult to recall the exact emotion or inspiration for a particular image.  By utilizing the digital voice recorder in the field, I am now more effective in bringing the original inspiration to reality in the final print. 

The print below is one example of how I reflected on the voice recordings from the actual moment of photographic capture in order to realize the original photographic vision. 

Update December 2006:  The final optimized print may be viewed at this webpage.  It took me a few months to optimize this print to reflect the visualization of that day. 

1.  Please mouse over the image to see the RAW scan from Fuji NPS film on the Toyo 4x5 and 210mm lens at f32 for 1 second. 
2.  Please listen to the audio file recorded at the scene which details the "emotions" of the moment (850kb)
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Glowing Cottonwoods of Chinle Wash
Toyo 4x5 with 210mm at f32 for 1 second on Fuji NPS

I highly recommend Alain Briot's Composition CD for assisting in visualization and composition.