room 603
I’ve been adding old content to Adobe Lighroom which I’ve been using dedicatedly since it was in Beta mode. I’m a fan of this package versus Aperature or similar workflow products for no other reason than it follows Adobe’s long history of solid software and workflow tools. With that, I’m amazed at how little actual Photoshop work I do. I used to take my top selects from a shoot and load them right into Photoshop and run the gamut of curves, crop, spot, etc. I even had plugins for monotone control, noise reduction / enhancment, blah, blah, blah… I was using Photoshop last night and I took me a half an hour to figure out how to move a layer selection! I just don’t use it and have gone to the less-is-more and being very careful about what is in the lens as I hit the shutter release. Oh, that and I have NO time to be dinking with ‘fixing’ shots. If they are no good – delete!
So – adding old shots into the database I pulled the two shots that were used to create ‘room 603′ a while back. The quick story here is one of catharsis. Instead of dreaming about falling, being chased, my teeth falling out, being unknowingly naked or being totally unprepared for an exam, I tend to dream about dark industrial buildings and the wandering apparitions they contain. I had one of these dreams and wanted to recreate it. The shots below were done in an old hospital on a Saturday morning with the key to the building and permission from the city. We brought the sheets, gown, and even the IV bag for props. The model is standing on a Pelican gear box, a single hotlight with doors is assisting the sun through the window, and the rest was already there in the slightly decaying (and cold) critical care ward. The sequence is below, minus the baseline shot with no light in the window (making the transparency possible which was actually my wife’s suggestion) 1/30 at 3.5, ISO 200 shot with my old D100 on a tripod (another thing I never use anymore.) After I worked the layers, I immediately printed this at 30″ and fulfilled the full-circle catharsis, making this one of my personal favorites, though not my mom’s…
shot #1
shot #2
final composite
Just some comments from the “model” for this piece:
This is the only photo shoot I’ve done and I am so pleased with the experience and the end result. I find the image subtle, strange and thought-provoking. I know the “real” setting from the shoot, yet I still find a haunting mystery in the finished photograph. Side notes? Yes, it was a bit chilly. Also, Adam mentions that this is not his mother’s favorite…. my mother has mixed feelings about this image, as well!