Thank you one and all for your time and efforts.
The short answer is: I don't quite know where this is taking me
Here is the long answer. Stop reading here if you couldn't be bothered.
The thought process possibly started with a photograph I took in York, UK some years back. I'm not sure if I can find it now. If I can I'll post it.
It was Christine's observation that the image appeared less than life-like, a caricature of a street with people stuck over the top like pieces of a colage.
"How did you do that?", she enquired.
"Fuked if I know," I replied; but I have been trying to figure it out ever since.
The concept comes from a number of positions.
Firstly, not every scene presents itself as a possibility. Street scenes with sparse activity and people seemingly doing nothing but wandering lend itself best to my ideas of what I want at the end.
Asher is right in saying there are many sub-stories within the frame. That also interests me.
I find those images that best stimulate my thought and attention are those where I might spend many hours studying the content and relationships within the frame. I see individually in the placement of subject matter and a communal collectiveness in what I have framed.
Normally, I would find colour a distractor and remove it entirely. There are two effectors that prevent me from removing it entirely: memories of Steven Shores images where the saturation has been increased and the vibrancy reduced to form a soft patina of colour throughout the image that continues to add to the composition and not detract from the underlying form and tones.
This is how this shot was produced.
You look up the EXIF. I never do and couldn't be bothered.
Edited in Camera Raw for exposure, contrast, clarity and colour correction. At this stage it looks like a normal picture.
Opened in PS then opened in Topaz B&W effects. Conventional B&W conversion with some detail attention. Then the transparency of the conversation is increased until colour starts to show through. A loose decision is made as to when to stop. It usually is at about 70%.
That's it really.
For this shot I lightened the wall on the left and right a tad and added the cat.
Why all this trouble over a single shot?
1. Its good therapy. I'm currently in the fits of a chemical surge of any chemical that causes depression and anxiety in my feeble brain. This helps. Thanks to all of you for being there.
2. The thought processes that accompany such actions help me to understand why I take photographs.
3. Allowing the physical aspects of photography to reflect my thoughts is a pretty powerful accompaniment to my medication.
4. I see such places as backdrops to a scenario. Small events in a play performed for me on a stage of my choosing. The buildings are not real, each item is there under pretence, activity is brought to a standstill so I might record it. The world comes to a stop just for a moment.
5. Then there is the relationships. The paintings are as the backdrop; plain and simple, sketched almost, colours unreal, lifeless almost, not quite finished, as if there is more to come as there is with the scene performing before me.
6. Then I wake up and there is movement to the next moment. There must be movement to the next frame otherwise I'm caught right here. Something has to move. Sometimes its me, blurring the shot, other times its a blur of motion from a discrete piece of subject matter, caught out of the corner of my eye.
The cat
It took me 2 days to find that cat.
t has taken me a month to complete this image. I'm pleased with it. The outcome has been a labour of love and sacrifice at the same time. The pleasure is in the completion and what I have learnt. The beauty is in knowing that I can continue to find out stuff about myself.
Possibly, a little pain does go a long way in bringing out the 'best' in a person.
Cheers all.
Tom