Authenticity of My Photography
Winter Landscape - Canterbury High Country - 2023
Authenticity of My Photography
Today, in a world where AI generation and excessive image manipulation via post-processing is more prevalent, it is becoming increasingly difficult to know what is true in photography. For this reason, I feel the need to define the boundaries I adhere to within the making of my work.
My photographs are made in the landscape. And, while I wish to put my artistic interpretation onto this landscape, I feel the integrity of the natural world should be maintained. I consider my photographs to be my artistic impression of the natural world. As an artist, I set out to create a unique view; to bring a photograph into existence that shows the viewer something they could not with their own eyes. But for me this has to be achieved within certain boundaries, first and foremost within the camera, playing with the art of visual perspective by a finely honed use of the lens.
To remain true to my ethos, all my photographs are single captures. I do not composite or blend multiple images (apart from the stitching of panoramic photographs). I do not remove or add any significant elements from the original scene, the only exception being any small transient elements—a leaf, small rock, or distant person—or capture defects such as dust spots or lens flare, all of which could have been removed within the landscape before making the image. I also do not distort any elements or parts of the frame to change their size within post-processing.
I do use post-processing to refine my expressive message. Just like the photographer working in a traditional darkroom, I will dodge and burn areas of the photograph to change the way the eye moves over it. A lot can be achieved with a small amount of processing if tools are used in a refined way, guided by expressive intent.
In landscape photography today we see so many over-processed images, some that have been combined from multiple files, with skies added from another place and time, or even images that are completely AI generated that do not start with the making of a photograph. This has led to a lot of landscape photography craving to create the perfect moment, one that quite often doesn't even exist and in a world where he/she who shouts the loudest on social media gets heard the most.
My work offers an authentic way of sharing my expressive view without departing from the reality of the natural world.
Richard Young - 2023
On Location
Making The Above Photograph
“I wandered out onto a little ridge that I'd explored once before, and found this small tree over the ridgeline. I love the way it's isolated within the landscape and it offers a sense of scale whilst being framed between the two larger beech trees. This is a big landscape out here and yet it also feels quite small within it, and I think a little bit of that it's represented within this photograph.” - Winter 2023
Join me here next winter - This photograph was made on my Portfolio & Processing Retreat, where I will provide you with honed tools to refine your message (and voice) along with advanced post-processing techniques to showcase your work. Immerse yourself over 7 days in the stunning High Country landscapes of Mt White Station with me next August, See: https://photographyworkshops.co.nz/tour/winter-photography-workshop/
