Paul Marcus
A Photographer in the west country
painting with light & augmented reality
Early film cameras made capturing images very hard work, with an uncertain outcome. Many of us will remember shooting a roll of film, posting it to the lab, waiting to get back the negatives and prints and finding that auntie had blinked at the wrong moment or that, inexplicably, half the pictures had a bright violet hue that wasn’t there when we clicked the shutter.
Modern digital photography has changed all that, and has put complete control of each stage of the process into the hands of the art photographer. What is more, almost all of the stages are reversible so that it is possible to modify your approach as you go along and can see how things have developed (no pun intended).
Miroslav Tichy’s famous quotation that “Photography is painting with light” emphasises the importance of the amount, direction and quality of light in contributing to a memorable photographic image. In my own work I try to recognise this fully. At the same time I know that there are other factors of crucial importance.
First and foremost the subject of the image has to be notable. As I mainly concentrate on photographing the countryside and sea, and where the two meet, it is fortunate that the West Country has an abundance of stunningly beautiful, and often very dramatic, subjects. After that the technical aspects of the shot matter and, whilst modern cameras are miracles of electronic wizardry and do a very good job if left to their own devices, to generate a particular effect it is necessary to bypass the automatic settings and take control.
However the process doesn’t stop there, but continues with an appropriate amount of digital manipulation of the image that was captured. I think of this as leading to “augmented reality“.
In looking at a scene before pressing the shutter button I have some sort of emotional response to what I am photographing that I hope people who view the finished image will also experience. I suppose I’m trying to capture mood.
Is this a brooding stormy scene of waves crashing on rocks and emphasising the isolation of a clifftop house; or perhaps a serene and calming view of meadows and trees?
Simply taking a technically acceptable photograph records this, but with modern computer software it is then possible to enhance the image to reinforce the elements of the picture that lead to the emotional response. Sometimes decried, this step seems to me an essential component of producing an end result that is not just an accurate record of the subject but something that aspires to be piece of art.
How far this is taken is a matter of personal taste both of the photographer and the viewer of the end result. My own view is that the approach should usually be quite a subtle one, but sometimes not!
In the developed world everyone has a camera now, and every notable landscape location has been photographed a million times. The combination of light and subject is unique however, and the approach taken by the person behind the lens is individual. If any of my images resonate with you as they do with me I’ll be very happy.
With kindest regards,
Paul Marcus
Photography is painting with light
-Miroslav Tichy
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Latest Work
Capturing mood
The quality and direction of the light are absolutely fundamental to a satisfactory land- or sea-scape image. “Good light” can literally transform a scene, and it is sometimes necessary to return to a location many times to capture the image you want.
“Capture” is the right word to use here, as it often feels like hunting an elusive quarry. What is the light doing? It is surely changing the mood of a scene.
Paul Marcus
