Original post: The Leaves Were But A Muffled Tapestry

I’m not going to analyze an individual image this week. Instead, I’d like to use this essay in its entirety, to understand the thought process behind it, on multiple levels.

A lot of what we do begins with an impulse—something we see or something we feel. Last Friday, before work 1, I was browsing through my Unread feed and saw a post about photographer Antoine Passerat and his Hammam series. I’ll be writing about his work in the next newsletter. The images struck me immediately, from a purely graphical standpoint, but I also recognized a mood very much in line with the scenery outside our windows.

And then it hit me: that need to grab the camera and walk out the door.

I don’t usually overthink this process: when I feel like shooting these days I usually grab the X-Pro3, which, also usually, has one of the 35 mm lenses mounted. But on this particular morning, because of the source of the inspiration, I had already seen a set of images in my mind. I wanted to dive into the ethereal, almost ghost-like quality of the light; I wanted the subjects to dissolve and be barely present.

So I chose the GFX 50S and GF110mm f/2. This lens is my favourite by far, even if it’s not the one I use most. Namely, because it isn’t a versatile lens: its field of view often feels restrictive (due to its minimal focussing distance). But it shows incredible character. It’s painterly glass, a brush.

I also chose to shoot RAW+SFine. I don’t usually bother with raw files for personal work (as you probably know), but these were new aesthetics I was exploring and I needed the possibilities and headroom—I wasn’t entirely sure of where, exactly, I was headed.

PROCESSING

There’s something exciting about a blank slate. Instead of going through my typical workflow and finding a Style to use as a starting point, I began from scratch. I slowly created a look, relying on memory and the lingering impressions from Passerat’s series. Why didn’t I simply refer to his images directly? To introduce errors and blur the methodology. To get a personal approximation, instead of a replication

I remember reading about David Bowie’s Pinups when I was younger: a surprising 1973 covers album. In an interview, Bowie mentioned he had re-created those songs from memory instead of diligently transcribing them before recording. That’s always stayed with me, this idea of letting yourself be inspired through a sort of osmosis. It leads to quirks and mistakes and stumbles that can only be transformative. Like random mutations in a genetic sequence.

The results aren’t at all like the Hassam series—but there is a lineage, if you’re aware of it. At right is a quick look at the settings behind the scenes.

Yes, it is strange.The idea is to push in the Exposure tool AND compress in the Curve tool.
Just for kicks here’s a RAW vs JPEG comparison:

raw file

JPEG file

I created the basic style using the RAW files and then applied this to the JPEGs to compare. After adjusting for differences, I did hesitate between the two but finally settled on the RAW versions: more nuances in the tones. The JPEGs were shot using Classic Negative which already imbues a very distinct look. In this case I wanted something slightly more “open”.

ALTERNATIVES

Our work exists through decisions: what do we shoot? Which images do we select? How do we present them to the world? But those decisions may not be the “empirically right” ones, they may not be the “popular” ones…it doesn’t matter. We must commit to and believe in the choices we make. This was an experiment—and it lives as an experiment.

But since this is a private gathering, I thought it’d be fun to look at other paths this essay could’ve taken. It’s important to note that reality lies in-between all of these interpretations: not as faded but not as rich either.

And I leave you with a few questions: does the title of the story (The leaves were but a muffled tapestry) work with every rendition? Does the text? Is your overall impression altered by each approach or do you feel the same way, regardless?