Opening New Doors: A Reflection of My 2025 Photographic Journey
This year, immersed in self-reflection and changing my outlook on life, my creative side paralleled that growth. I felt the heavy chains of perfectionism loosen, found safety in myself to explore new ideas, and learned the long-delayed gratification of consistency and routine; I realized that the potential of my artwork depends on the depth I give it.
Through continuous practice, I have become familiar with and at peace with the photographing and editing techniques I have grown accustomed to. Restless in comfort, I decided to step away from what I was used to and let my intuition guide me through a new door in my photographic journey.
And there I went… and I hope to continue slowly walking down this path of exploration, taking in the sights and opening new doors before me.
Below, I am sharing a few photographs I experimented with, along with the reasons behind my editing decisions.
While looking at the photograph on the left, my first step is to crop and straighten the image so the sides of the house are perpendicular to the ground. After that, I remove any objects that distract from the subject matter. One of these distractions was the orange cones in front of the house and the tree sticking out of the mountain on the left. I then focus on the photograph's brightness and contrast, as well as the colors I want to highlight and those I want to dim. Usually, my photo editing routine ends there; however, I decided to take it a step further. I wanted to contrast the background and the house to emphasize the home's presence, giving the photograph a darker, shadowy feel. I was also interested in changing the sky's color to give the appearance of evening. Overall, my editing approach was driven by my desire to create an image that evokes a comforting yet distrustful feeling of the home and its surroundings.
This photograph in particular was one I experimented with the most in terms of photographic composition. I had an urge to change the sky to black and overemphasize the shiny texture of the waves. With the darkness evoking an otherworldly essence, I decided to bring the photograph back to our world by adding birds to the sky. As I laid another one of my photographs on top of this one, the Remove Tool on VSCO allowed me to get rid of the edges of the photo, blending them together into one. My goal for this photograph was to intensify the surreal and otherworldly feel.
As I looked through my viewfinder, I already had the urge to crop the photo. I liked the 3D feel of the building and decided to overemphasize its dimensions through contrast and shadow. To further accentuate the building's edges, I darkened the sky so the building's depths would stand out more. I still do not have a preference for whether the building should be oriented on its side or in its original angle.
In this photograph, I was inclined to highlight the light shining onto the tree. To enhance this effect, I made the background darker and changed the sky to navy blue. I wanted the tree's branches to remain slightly visible to further create an illusion of depth in the photograph. This was one of my favorite edits I have done, as it helped me realize that even a simple picture of a tree offers opportunities for change and creativity.