The Basics
On my own account:
I do minimal post-processing. This may just be my old-school brain thinking about how to use light instead of how to wrangle pixels, but that’s how it is. I may apply White Colour Balance- or Brightness adjustment within a collection of images for the sake of completeness. With Concert Photography in particular, some of the musicians (usually the drummer) are of often shrouded in darkness and I may have to do an adjustment in order to include them in a collection.
I barely crop images. If I’m not happy with what I see through the view-finder, I don’t take a photograph. If I shoot and it doesn’t work - I try again. That said - getting your bearings accurate photographing landscapes can sometimes be a little tricky, and when you’re looking through the a viewfinder and the ambient light is to bright or weather too unkind to accurately make an assessment from my LCD screen - some adjustment may need to be made. Usually, I solve the problem by deleting it…
I prefer to use a ‘singular’/given light source. Unless I am specifically creating an image in a studio, I prefer to take photographs of what I see and not to create an image by adding a dimension that is not authentically reflective of the given context (sun / given / stage lighting). Using artificial / additional light has a very specific function which I believe only maintains it’s integrity within the context of that function.
Having said all that - I do constantly challenge what I believe is the ‘correct’ approach by trying to use techniques I am uncomfortable with.
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On my clients’ account:
I will endeavor to do everything I can to meet your photographic needs.
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The Ramble
My history with photography is relatively simple.
When I started (many years ago and not counting my Kodak Instamatic I had as a child) I took both colour and black and white photographs. While studying Fine Art, I learned how to develop black and white negatives and how to print them. I liked the process.
Both the aesthetic and the documentary elements of photography interest me.
The aesthetic aspect allows for the transcendence of the subject matter into a universal image in which the visual qualities (composition, colour, texture etc) are the important aspects of the photograph. It allows me to take photographs of possibly mundane objects in a way that is visually interesting.
The documentary aspect entails capturing interesting or unique moments that may be very specific in their reference, but - often as a collection - have the ability to create stories.
There is a potential of a conflict of interests between these two criteria, and the ideal is probably to get a perfect balance between the two, or - to keep them completely separate… The conflicting possibilities make the process of taking photographs more interesting for me.
I enjoy the process of being able to tell stories with photographs. I have mainly used my Tim Honey - Photographer / Artist page on Facebook for this. That space has allowed me to share more of the process, and to be more inclusive. Yes, I’ll take a photograph of the drummer too…
The development of digital photography seems to have made the concept of ‘being a photographer’ a relatively simple and easy one - if you know a little bit about photographic computer programs or where too find the right options on your cellphone. Phone cameras (and most digital format cameras) have - like mp3s have done with music - made the creation and destruction of images as simple as clicking a button - within moments of having taken the shot.
Creating impressive images has become a process that often occurs after the shot has been taken, as opposed to when the shot is taken.
I accept that at some point I may have different ideas, and will keep you updated here.
Always learning.
Tim