Few words about my process of editing by hand
Nowadays we live in an age where conversation around AI and its impact on the creative community and art is something that’s not considered science fiction anymore. Algorithms are here and they are already performing a lot of functions that up until now were deeply human. In the photography world AI helps people mainly save time. There is plenty of software out there that not only edits photos for the photographer but even culls through all of the photos from a session and picks which photos to edit and which ones to not. On top of that, the first camera with a deep learning AI processor was just released by Sony. The decision-making process of humans will be diminished even more in a lot of cases.
I have attended music schools since kindergarten. Even though I do not perform any more, there are some things that shaped me as a person and human being. Craftsmanship, mastery, and apprenticeship are some of the things that are so engrained in me that I translate them into everything I am doing. For me photography doesn’t exist without art and a lot of analogies I bring up when I talk about it come from other forms of the arts.
All of that extends to my editing process. Everything to me is “hands on” and it’s a skill that needs to be practiced and sharpened daily. Even though I am a child of early 90s and I love technology, when it comes to art I rebel against it. I am excited about the possibilities that technology and AI bring, but all of the things I create need to come from me. This is the only way for me. That is why I edit everything by hand. Our reveals usually happen 1-2 weeks after the session because I look at each image from the session individually. I edit each of them separately. I do not click on a preset and then apply it to all of the images. Every person is different, every day is different, each session is unique. How could I treat them all the same?
If you have seen my work I am sure you have noticed I specialize in black and white photography specifically. This is very important to know because like I already said, I do not edit photos and then just click a “BW” button and “call it a day”. My process for editing black and white photos is from the ground up, designed for photographs that end up being monochromatic. On top of it I use a few completely different cameras and one of them is a monochrome camera – it does not capture color at all, therefore images taken with it cannot even be turned back into color at all.
My philosophy in photography and in what I do is to be more human, organic, real, emotional. That is why when you see your photographs I do not ever want you to be thinking of “photoshop”. I see humans individually, as beautiful pieces of art, and this is what I want to share with you. That’s why I do not transform bodies, make the skin look plastic, or change your features in any way. Before your session I will ask you if you would like to see yourself without some more permanent things like scars or stretch marks, or if it is ok to leave them in the photos. Things that are temporary like acne or bruises I naturally remove so don’t worry if that’s something on your mind.
All of the images you see on the website and social media are completely representative of how the final photos look. They are real work from real sessions – not fabricated images from “portfolio building” sessions or staged meetups. These are our normal clients, people who never posed in front of the camera before and they were gracious enough to allow us to share their images with everyone.
To summarize, here are some things you can expect from my editing techniques in a nutshell:
1. Each photo is edited by hand without usage of presets or AI
2. Black and white photographs (around 80% of all photos) are edited from the ground-up as B&W images. They are not color photos just desaturated.
3. When you see your photo I want you to see yourself, not some fake version of yourself.
4. I do not transform or liquify the body and its features.
5. The only skin editing I do is called dodge and burn – it basically smooths out transitions between shadows and highlights but doesn’t change texture of your skin.
6. It takes about a week to narrow down photos and edit them in preparation for your reveal.
