Personal Project; Images From The Mind’s Eye

Theresa Airey, March, 2007

I started out my photographic career in 1980 and studied with some of the most prominent photographers of our time. I learned to previsualize my images and was rewarded with perfectly “zoned” black and white negatives. However, I was never satisfied with my black and white prints. I always wanted more and felt something was missing. I began translating the negative through various processes: solarization, toning, split-toning, bleaching, and painting with selenium toner for color. I used handcoloring with transparent oils to create my own version of reality.

I have always thought of myself as more of an image-maker than a photographer. I like photographing, but I love making the image. I used to love the magic of the darkroom, and now I love the thrill and excitement of going into the “light room” of the digital world.

“Villa Angel,” Sicily, Italy.

All Photos © 2006, Theresa Airey, All Rights Reserved

I shoot a lot of black and white infrared for its ambiguity and ethereal quality. For years I shot on infrared film, now I shoot digital infrared with my Minolta DiMAGE 7 and my “converted” Canon EOS D60. With infrared capture, the world as we know it suddenly shows up strangely bizarre and wonderfully romantic—it becomes very dramatic, or very surreal.

Most of my images are a synthesis of what I see in my mind’s eye and reality.

“Roman God,” Pompeii, Italy.

My digital files are a point of departure to creating the image that is in my mind’s eye; they translate a feeling that I have about the subject. In the conventional darkroom I always felt that it was important that I “married” the photograph with a process to better enhance its impact and print quality. Now I am using Photoshop and third-party software such as nik Software’s filters, Synthetik’s Studio Artist, and Auto FX Software’s Photo/Graphic Edges and Mystical Lighting to enhance the final print.

These images were first made as a two-page layout for a handmade book. The images are from a recent trip to Sicily and Naples. I used the images in both printed form on inkjet paper and in transfers to BFK lightweight printmaking paper. Some of the smaller elements I cut out of magazines, old books, and even candy wrappers.

“Roman City,” Pompeii, Italy.

After laying out and gluing down the two-page book spread, I then collaged various exotic papers around and on top of the images. I then used acrylic paint to integrate the images into a cohesive page.

After the book was finished I photographed a few of the two-page spreads. In Photoshop I cloned out the spine and blended the two pages together as a unit.

“Dinatopia,” France.

I took the images into Auto FX Software’s Photo/Graphic Edges 6.0 and applied a burned edge to the images to give them an old-world quality. Then I printed these images out onto Daphne Lightweight paper (not inkjet coated) to give them a pseudo-papyrus look.

1. Original straight shot.

2. The shot with nik Software’s filters applied. Filters used: Graduated Coffee and Midnight Sepia.

“Dinatopia,” France.

I first selected the sky with the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop and applied nik’s Graduated Coffee filter blended at l00 percent. Next, I globally applied nik’s “Midnight Sepia” to the image. In Photoshop I applied a 1” border around the print (Menu>Canvas Size) in dark brown and took the image into Auto FX Software’s Photo/Graphic Edges 6.0 and applied the edge #77 from Volume 1 to the dark brown border.

I had always wanted to visit the Vincent van Gogh Café in Arles. When I arrived it was high noon and packed with tourists. I was very disappointed, I took one shot and left. Later, at home on the computer, I scanned the slide and took it into Photoshop. I decided to create what I wanted to see.

“Vincent van Gogh Café,” Arles, France.

I made the starry sky by opening a deep blue background and cloning in white circles with different sized brushes, using a soft-edged brush to give the glowing star effect. After selecting the sky in the original image with Photoshop’s Magic Wand tool, I layered the starry sky that I had created onto that selected area.

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