Illusions. Delusions. Sometimes it’s hard to separate these concepts...or tell them apart. As a photographer, I walk around with a strange and wondrous filter attached to my camera-shaped brain. Most of the editing I do is an attempt to realize what my mind saw when I captured the moment.
I won’t lie: there’s something imersurably satisfying about taking a perfect SOOC (straight out of camera) shot. But not only is that rare, it’s somewhat misleading. Most of the amazing images you see have been edited.
Even the legendary Ansel Adams said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” And he worked in landscapes with the goal of showing the natural world in all of it’s realistic glory. So when you add elements of art and fantasy to the mix - which I often do - there’s got to be some serious, skilled alchemy going on to create images that speak to the artist...and go on to move her audience as well.
I use storytelling to work out the ridiculous and ludicrous parts of life. My main tools these days are words and images. This is not only therapeutic, it actually improves my ability to wade through my own mental clutter and even helps me to resolve and solve the many mysterious and problems I navigate every day. Does it always work? Hell no! But it always makes me feel better and transcends whatever mess I’m stewwing in at any given moment.
I named the image featured here “le labyrinths de delusions”. An easy English translation: it virtually does it for you. (If you can’t figure it out, ask me. And I promise only to chuckle behind your back. 😉)
And here’s the backstory...
On a brutally warm and sunny afternoon sometime last year, I was desperately cash poor and a couple of days late with the rent. Out of sheer desperation, I scooped up some family heirlooms and gemstones and headed to Beverly Hills, CA to sell off a few things in the hopes of stabilizing my finances for awhile. I was meeting a friend who was dismally late, manic, and relatively desperate herself. (Random Life Tip: It’s not always good to hang out with people who mirror your own batshit crazy...unless of course you’re completely ready to get your act together.)
To make a long and traumatically unsuccessful story slightly shorter, I’ll cut to the chase: I was unable to sell anything that day. But as we were schlepping our wares down Wilshire Boulavard - comically conspicuous in heels and formal fashion - we passed a high end bank with these terribly dramatic sculptures out front, baking in the sun and just as out of place as I felt on this stretch of SoCal hype which holds the nickname Miracle Mile.
What I saw with my mind’s eye is what you see above. But what my camera picked up was something quite different.
When I got home, I transformed the two above pictures, turning them into a piece of art which communicated my desperation...the absurdity of my situation...how alienated I felt and how far from normalcy...and how dark it is to literally stroll along the quintessential path of The American Dream without enough cash to my name to spring my car from the parking garage.
Needless to say, I worked it out. At least that immediate crisis. And the work I created to help me do so has since exhibited in four countries around the globe.
If you Want to partake in some basic photo editing tutorials, please upvote this post and comment. I am seriously toying with the idea of starting a ‘Steemit School’ for mobile photo editing.
