I learned photography with an inexpensive single-lens reflex camera more than 25 years ago. There were no “auto” settings and I felt lucky to have a built-in light meter. I shot black and white film, developed it myself, and made my own prints.
I now shoot only digital. The capabilities of my Canon SP3 camera, which easily tucks into a purse, in the past would have required a car trunk load of equipment and two assistants.
Digital editing allows me to override the technical limitations and bring out the meaning of an image in ways that simply weren’t possible in the past. Now, I can focus on what attracted me to make a particular photograph in the first place, and elaborate it through a wide range of techniques.
Most photos in the Baraka galleries have been edited to bring out a deeper sense of the original subjects. However, all of them are authentic – there are no composites, and no substantial alterations of content. The exception is the “Essence” gallery, in which photographs of shells, leaves and other natural objects were abstracted to express the messages I heard from them.
