We occasionally encounter an image that lends itself to more than one interpretation. Such was the situation when I was photographing my favorite bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California. This pine is not marked, is not part of the established groves – the Schulman Grove and the Patriarch Grove. It’s by the unpaved road that leads to the Patriarch Grove. And it is splendid.
I like to arrive late in the afternoon so that we can capture a little golden hour light before it falls into shadow and the mountains slip into twilight. I have a relationship with this tree as I do with all of the locations I have the privilege to return to time after time. The relationship is not just the tree but includes the people I visited it with. But this tree has a deeper relationship than most.
The second time I photographed this tree I was with a group. One of the members had just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer but his passion for photography and the fact that he was still feeling strong made it possible for him to participate. About a year and a half later he succumbed to the cancer. And that affects the way in which I wish to interpret this photograph.
With that in mind I had a decision to make as I worked on it in Photoshop. What do I want the tree to say? There were two choices: it could be the proud, noble, defiant tree raging against the coming of the night, or it could be the calm, patient, accepting tree gently entering the night without protest knowing that the dawn will surely come.
The first two adjustments did not affect the interpretation of the image. I want to darken the sky and bump the saturation a bit. I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and adjusted the blue channel. Continue reading “Art is Interpretation”
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