good morning

I could just jump into it (the writing), but as the inaugural post  I think that I should begin with a few things. Firstly, I don't believe that many (if any) people will be given access to this blog (🤮). This exists mainly as a semi-anonymous Public Journal for me to explore different topics and hobbies in a medium that isn't just the pen and paper journal that sits at the bottom of my backpack. As I try to spend less and less time Online (er, on social media), I figured that a private blog would scratch the same itch that sharing 3-5 stories on Instagram scratches. The likelihood that my friends and family read these words (hey) is high because I have an almost clinical inability to keep my mouth shut about these shorts of things, but I'll try my hardest to keep this secret my own.  

With that out of the way, I'll start with the reason I'm making this First Post: revisiting and re-editing old photographs that I've taken. I have a tendency to view the work I've done as "static" and "complete," but I'm beginning to question this instinct because I don't see the value in it. If I've progressed in how I edit my shots, why not revisit older ones and see what else can be done! Why not! It's cool and fun to be in conversation with my previous creative output; no need to be sacred about it. 

In early 2023 (Q1, so to speak), I photographed Charlotte Adigéry + Bolis Pupul at Brooklyn's Elsewhere for QRO Magazine and rushed home to edit what turned out to be a few hundred shots. I widdled the usable shots down to maybe 10 or 15, and I genuinely loved how they turned out. The lighting inside of Elsewhere's Main Hall was incredibly well-done, so I tried to edit my shots to reflect how bright and washed out the group often appeared onstage. And at the time, I couldn't have been more proud of them! They felt raw, exciting and professional (whatever that meant to me at the time). Looking back, they feel uniquely dated and here's why: they feel cookie-cutter. I instagram-ified each photo to match the look and feel of every other photo in the batch, ignoring that each photo might have needed a different approach. 

While I don't have any one specific editing style past Bright Colors and Dramatic Lighting, and I think my original photos from this batch simply tried to reflect an aesthetic that I had in my mind. With that said, I've revisited a select few. I'll post the 2024 edit followed by the 2023 edit and some notes on my process and what I changed. 

Charlotte Adigéry - 2024 (re-edit)

Charlotte Adigéry - 2023 (original)

I love the bloom effect (<3), I really truly do. I tried to incorporate it into most of my photos for awhile, and it became an almost permanent fixture in my work once I really figured out how to manipulate it. With this original photo of Charlotte, I tried to manipulate and exaggerate the bloom using the spotlight behind her. What I think this was missing, however, was detail and color. Her floral dress was so vibrant in person, but it feels muted here. I adjusted the contrast and highlighted the color for more vibrancy (particularly the yellow in the flowers) and upped the blacks a bit more so that the background felt like there was a bit more depth. 

Charlotte Adigéry - 2024 (re-edit) 

Charlotte Adigéry 2023 (original)

The yellow in her dress were begging to be shown, and I feel like it has some more room to breathe now. The overall tone is less red, and the contrast between the midtones + the highlights feels more pronounced (i.e. the lighting feels more dynamic to me now). There is a nice greenish hue (tint) to the shadows (background) that feels like it serves the picture better. Again, you can clearly see that the light in the original picture was almost the subject instead of Charlotte. tsk tsk. 

Bolis Pupul 2024 (re-edit) 

Bolis Pupul 2023 (original) 

I don't even know what I was trying to do with this one originally. It's a mess! His newspaper suit is too blown out with the highlights cranked to 11 and a weird pinkish hue that sits like a thin membrane over everything. The light in the top right is much too overblown and I've lost most of the details in his face and clothes. In the 2024 edit, I've let the blown out colors take more of a back seat in order to highlight his suit and let the details in his face actually materialize. It feels more alive. More vibrant. 

There are a few more comparisons that I could make, but I feel like I've made my point. It's so interesting to see what was important to me in editing my work even just last year (LIGHT! BLOOM! OBSCURING PEOPLE'S FACES!) and how evident those creative choices become when enough time passes. Sometimes they age like milk.