by Ken West
Landscape Photographs of America's Heartland
I first learned about the photographic process from my grandfather. As a child I watched as he skillfully created beautiful photographs. Grandpa would spend hours retouching the 4x5 and 5x7 negatives that he took using his customized Graflex cameras (that era’s single lens reflex camera) and then additional hours working on paper negatives, of which he was a master. Perhaps because of his skill as a painter, he didn’t need today’s digital tools to make the images that he visualized.
Today, instead of processing film and paper in a wet darkroom as Grandpa did, I process and edit raw digital camera files in a digital darkroom. Like Grandpa I can spend hours adjusting a single image that I have photographed before making final display prints.
I am thankful that I had the opportunity to learn about the photographic process, on the deep level a child can absorb, by watching Grandpa’s incredibly meticulous and exacting work flow. Even though today’s technology is very different, what I do now is fundamentally what Grandpa did more than 40 years ago.
Today, instead of processing film and paper in a wet darkroom as Grandpa did, I process and edit raw digital camera files in a digital darkroom. Like Grandpa I can spend hours adjusting a single image that I have photographed before making final display prints.
I am thankful that I had the opportunity to learn about the photographic process, on the deep level a child can absorb, by watching Grandpa’s incredibly meticulous and exacting work flow. Even though today’s technology is very different, what I do now is fundamentally what Grandpa did more than 40 years ago.
The Photographic Process