These are examples of the images I'm currently creating with my Nokia 1020 Smartphone and Snapseed software. Crazy, over the top over saturated, high contrast HDR images that have almost everything 'wrong' with them in terms of conventional taste. And yet I can't get enough of them and am constantly searching for new ways to break the barriers of what constitutes a 'correct' way to process a file.
The libraries I'm uploading them too seem to like them, but there is no indication yet of whether they hold any appeal for picture buyers. Artistic and creative? well not for me, since the techniques involved are well known and well used. Attention grabbing? Well I think that's undeniable.
So why am I doing this? Firstly because I can and Secondly because at this moment in time, this is what I want to do. The shackles are off. The 'smartphone revolution' I bang on about interminably gives licence to all sorts of over-indulgence and off the wall image manipulation. This interview that I linked to in previous posts, had a tremendous impact on me. This section from the interview has resonated with me ever since.
'More than that, it produced images in a visual style that people weren’t used to seeing. That is important to me. There is so much information out there these days, and its very hard to capture the attention of a – for the most part – apathetic public. By showing important images of a war or social issue to people using a unique aesthetic, I believe I can capture their attention and shine a light on some of these stories.'
I'm not shooting anything important, so I figured that I'd try something different to see if this hyper processed, over dramatic and heavily filtered style of image processing had any mileage in terms of sales. I know I like it, but does anybody else?
Some one wrote this in a comment on Google+ '.......you've delved into rule breakage at break neck speed' and I guess that's true. But this isn't anything particularly new for me. My first published photographic work was a serious of filtered slides created from 'sandwiching' others together, double exposures in camera, copying with grad. filters and various other techniques popular in the late 1980's. In my film days I push-processed Velvia slide film one and often two stops to increase the saturation and contrast. And as regular readers will know, I'm still fond of pushing the limits of what a digital file will tolerate. Basically, I don't do run of the mill.
And to aid what I'm doing in my quest for impact I'm using Snapseed all the time. Particularly those two wonderful little boxes in the screenshot above that say HDR SCAPE and DRAMA. Now I'm not using just those and in fact the images I've posted here often involve 5 or more filter effects applied and Photoshop work as well. I guess the fact that I started photographing seriously and obsessively in the 1980's has had a lasting effect.
Now I've always been an advocate of go with your instincts and it's proved successful over the past years in terms of making me a living.This type of image may be successful, it may not. However, I've always got the originals to go back to, if it's the latter.
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