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One of the first things I did this morning was to open Lightroom and browse through some of the community photos. I don’t mean Adobe Lightroom CC (the desktop version) but Adobe Lightroom that you can use on a mobile device, tablet, or desktop.

I have begun to re-realize that the sign of a true artist is not being able to see artistically in things that are already artistic but being able to see art in the ordinary world around us. Seeing how others may view our small section of life and the world around us and how we envision life and the world around others.

In addition to discovering more of the work of others, I have also found that I don’t always need to have my “big” camera to create art. I can create interesting and creative art with my smartphone. I have re-learned to see the world around me.

I don’t intend to give up or replace my dedicated camera gear but this newly found venue of a greater community of artists willing to not only show their work but to allow others to process and show how they envision the scene has given me a fresh look at creating art.

I understand that not everyone uses Adobe Creative Cloud products giving them the opportunity to work with the same community as I can. If you do use these products I encourage you to try it out. If you don’t use these products, find a similar community. For me, this community has rekindled a new adventurous creativity.

How seriously do you take your photographic art? How much effort goes into the initial image? Does the same amount of effort go into the final artwork?

I have always said that the camera cannot reproduce the image I have in my mind’s eye. I can often get close but it is very rare that the final work is complete at that time of the shutter release. As much as I love technology until it gets to the point where the camera can “read my mind” (and I am not sure I want that) I will always further develop my photographs using software or darkroom techniques to further bring them to match my vision.

The amount of time to develop the featured image was more than the actual time it took to set up and capture the initial photograph. I added nothing and removed nothing but to match my vision there was a lot of work done. Correcting perspective due to lens distortion, conversion to black and white, dodging and burning, along with adjustments to contrast. Modern software made the process a bit easier but even with the built-in artificial intelligence in making selections I needed to manually assist in fine-tuning the selections.

While I take my photographic artwork seriously it doesn’t mean I don’t have fun and enjoy it. The creation of the final piece of art is personally rewarding to me. I love seeing my vision come to life.

Does your artwork send a message? Or is it merely attempting to be a two-dimensional copy? What, if anything, do you want your photographs to say to the viewer? I will try to send a message with my photographic art. I may not always succeed in relating the intended message. Just like written or spoken words the actual message can often be missed or misunderstood. One way I have learned to help convey the intended message of my artwork is by titling each piece.

I haven’t always done so and I often still fail to give my work a title or caption, but I realize the importance of doing so. One of my goals, aside from getting more photography done, is to title and/or caption my works. I have also learned that it is important to give an artist statement, about your general work and about each photographic project. Doing so, I have come to understand helps to deliver the message I, as an artist, intend to relay to the viewers of my work.

There are times I see something and just think, photograph it, it looks too cool but what if you make it unrecognizable? Aside from a bit of color grading, this is exactly what I photographed. When I looked at the object it was all about light, shadows, and patterns. I know it is just basic abstract work but we often don’t think in abstract terms. I often go back to how children look at things such as looking through the tube from a used paper towel roll or making a circle with your hand and looking through it.

Macro photographs often lead to some abstract looks with shapes, patterns, and textures.

We often don’t examine the world around us closely.

These are things I need to explore again and get close to subjects, I mean really close to them.

One of my favorite processes to use is to convert to black and white. I often believe that color gets in the way of the subject. I was taking a bit of a walk one day and I noticed the rain drops on a pine tree. The scene got my attention because of the shiny water drops with the sun shining through them against the sharp edges of the pine needles.

For me, it doesn’t have the same effect as the scene when converted to black and white. My eyes get too distracted by the green grassy area to the left.

This happens to this photo as well. I find the color to be a distraction.

The black and white version has much more drama and is much more thought-provoking to me. Use color, or lack of, artistically. Think like an artist. Act like an artist. Doing so raises our photography to art rather than just snapshots.