Old School Lighting: The Story Behind the Photo

By Lana Macko

Old School Lighting by Lana Macko

I will never forget the moment I spotted these tomatoes in a market in San Miguel, Mexico, and the way the perfect late afternoon light was hitting them.

So when I started to prepare the image for camera club submission, I darkened the shadows, bringing even more emphasis to the tomatoes and parts of the scale to intensify the old-school feel I had felt when viewing this magnificent light in that market.

The photograph did not get a very high score in our contest. Not only did the judge not “get” it (despite the broad hint I had dropped with my title), he shared how HE would have post processed this shot differently, thus creating HIS vision. Of course, that was a very HDR-type look, which I am normally not opposed to, but it was not the artistic vision I had for this shot.

So I felt compelled to write this, especially for our newest members. Don’t be intimidated by a judge’s comments or vision. They won’t always share YOUR vision. Just HAVE a vision, and learn to carry it out to the best of your ability.

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A Photography Valentine

Why do we love photography?

Photo by Katya Zyu from Unsplash.com

These quotes from famous photographers and artists are not necessarily answers to that question, but they could be.

When I photograph, what I’m really doing is seeking answers to things. – Wynn Bullock

The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do. – Andy Warhol

What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time. – John Berger

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. – George Eastman

What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce. – Karl Lagerfeld

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words. – Elliott Erwitt

Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies. – Diane Arbus

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. – Dorothea Lange

The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much. – Annie Leibovitz

When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read the line of a poem twice. – Robert Frank

Essentially what photography is is life lit up. – Sam Abell

Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second. – Marc Riboud

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. – Aaron Siskind

My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport. – Steve McCurry