Two pictures, edited 6 years apart

NeuralLotusNeuralLotus Registered Users Posts: 43 Big grins
edited August 26, 2015 in Other Cool Shots
I was looking through my old photos and found one I never really felt satisfied with. So I decided to try re-editing it. I decided to stick to the same cropping as the original because I want to eventually mat and frame it as a diptych. Really mainly it's an experiment more than anything. I allowed myself to feed off of the mood of the original, kind of going for an opposite color scheme in a way (purple originally, now green). I also was mainly editing for mood, as opposed to exact representation. The old one kind of calming, the new one a bit aggravating in a way, in my opinion.

The original picture reminded me of the album art of Especia's album "Primera". I think that is part of what made me think of some other album art I've seen recently and gave the feeling of some of the music I've been listening to lately (a lot of punk pop, house, lounge, and math rock). So I went with some of the interesting feelings my favorite artists provide and tried to channel it into a visual medium.

One of the interesting things about these two photos is that the first was from the very beginning of my college career, and the new one is from exactly a week before I move across the country to start my Ph.D program. So they both come from very uncertain and formative times for me. Perhaps I'll make it a triptych after I finish grad school, even, to keep up the tradition and to see how my photographic (or editing style, at any rate) has changed.

I can't say either photo is perfect. But I find it very interesting conceptually. I especially enjoy the fact that the original was unaffected by plans of future editing, since I came up with the idea six years later. It's a project I never expected happening. So it is very dissimilar to most of what I do, which entails a lot of planning. It seems reflective of life, in that way.

Anyway, here's the first one, edited on September 7th of '09, about a week after classes started:

Ltf3F9M.png


And the second, edited July 28th of this year, a week before moving for grad school:

lES3cHi.png

Unfortunately I don't know how to display them side-by-side on Dgrin. But imagine they are side-by-side, I guess, since it is meant to be a diptych.
Hmmmmm... blarrgh...

Comments

  • TonyCooperTonyCooper Registered Users Posts: 2,276 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2015
    You are too close to this, so I'm not sure you see what I see. So, I wonder if other people viewing this
    are bothered by the tilt of the building. Straightening it is an easy fix in Photoshop.
    Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
    http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
  • CCoopCCoop Registered Users Posts: 511 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2015
    Based on your description, I am so aware that these two versions represent *progress* along your journey. The biggest difference to me is the color balance ... and I wonder, how do these pics reflect where you are, on your journey? How do they capture your history? Who are you? How are you? --Carter
  • NeuralLotusNeuralLotus Registered Users Posts: 43 Big grins
    edited August 18, 2015
    CCoop wrote: »
    Based on your description, I am so aware that these two versions represent *progress* along your journey. The biggest difference to me is the color balance ... and I wonder, how do these pics reflect where you are, on your journey? How do they capture your history? Who are you? How are you? --Carter

    I feel like I could go into a lot of depth about my decisions. But I'll try to keep it brief. The green in the newer photo has a lot to do with me letting go of the confines of comfort. It's supposed to look kind of like it is creeping out of the doorway, lighting the world in a ghastly fashion. I've turned more towards punk and alternative styles musically for example. I have also been thinking a lot about the role sadness plays in life and how it can be beautiful, and how there is even happiness in sadness. I've dealt with a lot in my life in the past few years. So sadness, and more generally imperfection, have become a part of my life in many ways. I've dealt with these emotions artistically by going against stylistic grains, and forgoing the simple idea of sublimity as the ideal of beauty (or maybe just broadening my definition of sublimity).

    I attempted to create a gloomy image, with some creepy overtones (e.g., the statues on the roof, the green). I also tried to balanced this with the sky on the left; the color of it and the subtle clouds and star. The background is supposed to look somewhat inviting; particularly in comparison to the foreground. Part of this is that the building in the foreground is an administrative building and the building in the background is where I took most of my math courses and a couple of my physics courses (double majored physics/math and am a physics grad student, to give you perspective on the next sentence). So the background represents the academic life that I love and makes me feel whole, while the foreground represents an administration which I feel somewhat failed me due to what happened in my life. And more importantly it represents the split between the academic and residential
    sides of campus; the residential side being where most of my problems in college occurred (hopefully that gives enough detail; I don't really want to go into a lot of depth on here, at this moment, about what the difficulties were).

    In terms of photographic skills, I also used much more subtle editing (in some ways) and tried to bring more subtlety to the image. For example, I brought out part of the roof on the right of the building, where in the original it is essentially entirely shadow. Another example is that I burned the base of the bush right at the building's entrance on the left and dodged a bit near the top so that it would separate more from the tree behind it. I also tried to give the peak of the roof a lot of depth by contrasting it with the bright lights on the side and with the light diagonals in the stonework.

    I also just noticed a speck of dust I somehow missed. So I think I'll probably go back and fix that. My screen has some weird spots since it's a bit old and I can't afford a new monitor right now. So that sometimes (fortunately rarely, it seems) happens. I'm usually pretty careful about editing out specks of dust.
    Hmmmmm... blarrgh...
  • CCoopCCoop Registered Users Posts: 511 Major grins
    edited August 26, 2015
    Strange how we change over the years, and how it shows up in places *expected* and *unexpected." Thanks for letting us follow you along the way! --Carter
Sign In or Register to comment.