Creating images
Manuel HernandezChances are that you are a creator of photographic images, just as I am. I began in the sixties when I started to manipulate my prints in my first darkroom. As they say, it is "not take a picture but make a picture," and so I tried to create something that I had previsualized when I pressed the shutter. I did not always get the results that I wanted, but I had fun trying. I especially enjoyed modifying my 16x20 color prints to look like paintings, by imitating "Rembrandt light."
In my youth in Spain, I would visit the Prado Museum; and whenever I return, I like to visit the Prado. Living in the Washington, DC, area, I have access to the National Art Gallery; and if in New York, I also enjoy the Metropolitan Museum. These wonderful places offer magnificent images that continue to have an influence on my taste and preference.
Back in the sixties and seventies in a camera club, I learned from listening to the judges who came to evaluate club work. The style of some judges was to eliminate some prints from those entered; and if one of my prints were eliminated, I thought definitely that my print was not any good (there was no question in my mind that the judges were omniscient and infallible). But it did not take long to discover that the next judge may have completely different criteria in judging. Finally this helped me become aware of the importance of my own preferences and of creating my own style. We influence each other--sometimes we try to imitate each other--but selectively we imitate those images that appeal to us. Also, we create original images; and if we are successful, we imitate ourselves.
Later, I became a judge, and judging an international exhibition is where I learned much more than I expected, as in a couple of days I would see hundreds of the best pictures from all over the world.
In my early club years, I was lucky to befriend folks such as the late Charles Keaton, FPSA; the late Ollie Fife, FPSA; Silom Horwitz, FPSA, and others who guided and advised me. To illustrate an example of how each one of us develops different styles, years ago Ollie Fife and I went to a shoot at a local place called Turkey Farm, where a farm resembling one that existed two centuries ago had been created. We separated and met later, but Ollie had not shot one frame. He was a giant in photojournalism; however, in his mind there were no photojournalistic images in that place. While with a sense of the pictorial, I got the workers on the farm to pose. I shot quite a few frames with some becoming acceptable as 16x20 color prints.
In the area where I live, there are all kinds of photographic competitions and each one of a completely different nature. Back in the seventies, the Photographic Society of America (PSA) had Pictorial Print Division (PPD) color print competitions. Each year there were four international competitions. Only the winners of these competitions would qualify for the grand final competition held at the annual PSA meeting, culminating with one final winner. At one time, I was the final winner three years in a row; I enjoyed my moment of glory, but by then I had already developed my style and my criteria for judging others as well as judging my own images. I had to make a decision whether to continue competing and become a slave to my hobby or to put the hobby (creating images) at my service and enjoy it. Being my own judge, I decided to create images to satisfy myself whenever I felt like it.
I was pleased with my 16x20 color prints until it dawned on me that all these images that were beautiful to me would some day disappear, as they are made with dyes and not with pigments like the carbons and carbros of the 1930s which are supposed to be virtually permanent, so I changed to carbons and carbros. Three separation negatives are used with the size of the negative going up to 14x17. One year while in Germany, I bought some materials and started experimenting, and after a while, I finally began to get results. It is a tedious, meticulous process, and it would take me the entire weekend to get a print. If I made a mistake, the entire weekend was wasted. Besides, I wanted better color renditions.
By retouching my color prints, I became an expert as to how to mix colors. One thing led to another, and I decided to try oil painting. The results were very rewarding. I love some of my 40x50 oil paintings which were inspired or copied from my color prints (Figures 1, 2, and 3).
After a period of absence from my darkroom, I started to miss the photographic images, so I went back to them. The beauty of photographic techniques is that each one offers a different rendition of images with a different appeal.
Almost anything looks good in color as color is very forgiving. I became more aware of the beauty of black and white as it is another level of abstraction. The technique has to be almost impeccable with careful attention paid to gradations of middle tones. The composition is also more demanding; but if you get it right, the results are more permanent and enjoyable. I also dabbled with alternative processes such as platinum palladium, salt, albumen, and bromoil, using 14x17 contact negatives. Lately I am developing black and white film with pyrogallol (PMK) like it was done many years ago, and I am very pleased with the results (photos this page).
In the last analysis, what counts at the end is the final image whether you have put a lot of effort into it or whether it was just easy to come up with.
In photography there is always something new or old to master. It is a field with many incentives for growth. Photography for me has always been interesting with so many ways of learning how to create an image. It is never boring. My wish for fellow photographers is good luck in creating your next image which is always going to be the best. Have fun.
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