Every once in a while, I take a photo and digitally play with it until it becomes something I didn’t know I needed.
It is different from painting. Painting makes me work for it. I have to adjust, ruin, fix, repaint, and negotiate with the thing until it finally decides what it wants to be. And even then it sometimes likes to continue to argue.
Digital art gives me a little instant gratification.
I run a filter. I push the contrast. I tweak the saturation until it sits right on the edge of too much. It feels a little like putting on makeup.
Same face. Different vibe.
The photo is still the photo. The place is still the place. But the color changes the mood. The contrast changes the memory. Suddenly, the image starts telling a different truth.
That is what happened with this Taos image.
I didn’t know I needed this version until I made it. The original photo held the place. This version holds the feeling.
Maybe that is what I am doing with memoir too.
Taking the same life, the same memories, the same old photographs, and adjusting the contrast until I can finally see what they were trying to show me.
