Photography is as much an art as it is a science, and when it comes to producing a finished image it is as much down to the processing tools as it is to the process of how I actually shoot the chosen shot. Once the shutter has clicked there is still half the job to be done, mainly post-processing the image to its desired finish. Over the last four years I have evolved my post processing (PP) techniques, and I’m always looking for ways to get the best out of the software I use in order to make my images sing. The tech that I have teched to my tech (to paraprhase an old Star Trek script term) has really brought my images to life, and in this article I want to layout the basic process and rationale behind the PP tech that I use in my workflow.

Personally I use Adobe’s Lightroom (LR) and Photoshop (PS) to process my images, along with Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro (CEP) filter package for PS. These three pieces of software have enabled me to get the results I want from my images in a streamlined and effective manner, and if you have the money I would recommend them as enable me to complete a set of images in a very time effective way. I am a firm believer of tech that aids my flow, rather than tech that gets in the way of me achieving my goals.

I nearly always loading the images into LR to begin with, then passing them through to PS once I have selected and done basic edits in LR. LR is a great tool for quickly sorting through the images you have taken, selecting the ones you want to process, and then doing colour, light balance, and other basic editing to the selected images. If you don’t want to edit the images beyond the basic processing (LR does include basic blemish and red eye removal as standard), then you can simply save the images in LR into what ever format you choose to use.

If you then wish to do further editing/processing in PS LR has the ability to export your file from one to the other at the click of a mouse, without having to mess around with saving files and re-opening in the other. PS is one of those tools that is overwhelming to learn, indeed my advice has always been to only learn what you need to know, and leave the rest until you need to know it. If you try to overload yourself with settings, presets, and tools beyond your needs you may end up floundering and not being time effective when processing your images. This is the reason I love CEP, as it enables me to have a set of filters at my fingertips which save me hours of work. Almost all of my images will be passed through CEP, from very minor tweaks to contrast and warmth to major saturation and contrast overhauls.

I have a certain look that I have created over the years with the aid of CEP that works with the sort of images I enjoy taking, and I have found the tech I use has morphed my personal style as much as I have developed behind the lens. I am sure as the  next round of technology develops I will invariably evolve my style in new directions, but I am pretty sure that LR, PS, and CEP will all feature in there to a greater or lesser degree.  If you have time I thoroughly recommend you try out the trial versions of all three if you haven’t already, as you may just find their tech to be beneficial and useful to your workflow as it has been to mine.

Sex and sexuality are topics I love to discuss, mainly because they both intrigue me on many levels. Personally I am omnisexual, liking who I like, not fearing my attraction to whoever the other person may be. I also define myself as a situational polyamourist, as in if my partner was happy with an open relationship with multiple others then that is cool with me, otherwise I am content with monogamy. In many respects I am live an let live when it comes to other people’s personal expression of sex and sexuality, as frankly it has nothing to do with me. In my eyes each person is free to like who they like, and find comfort in their own ideas of what it is to be attracted to another person.

It is for this reason that I detest the idea that sexuality should be used to bludgeon another person, to find a reason to condemn just because they happen to find another person attractive/unattractive. This concept is so utterly alien to me, though life has given me plenty of experiences where I could legitimately gripe at another person’s sexuality due to the way they have treated me.

As a trans woman it is inevitable that some people will have an issue with my gender when it comes to their own predefined idea of what their personal attractions are, and while some may call this sexist, cissist, or plain old misogyny, I prefer to flip those ideas on their head and look at it through my own eyes. There are plenty of people who find me attractive who I would never wish to hold hands with, let alone sleep with, so do they condemn me for not liking them? No. Therefore, why should I condemn someone for not wishing to sleep with me/kiss me/hold my hand because they have an issue with my gender? Is it right to rail against their own innate personal preferences?

Is it a case these people see me as a man become a woman? More than likely. Is that something that I should hide? Never. Is it an attitude that I should be angry and upset over? Upset maybe (it does sting when someone rejects you for this reason), but why should I be angry? They are being honest, genuine, and upfront with me, and why should I bludgeon them with anger over their personal expression of their sexuality? In the end we both miss out on a moment (or more), but there are always other people out there who I can click with and make moments with,

Call me a pragmatist, but raging about someone else’s sexuality is not something I want to waste my time or energy doing. There are plenty of people whose personal sexual expression meshes with who, and what, I am, so why be bitter about the ones who slip away? Trying to change someone’s sexuality is a fruitless task, indeed such techniques have been discredited by mainstream psychiatrists.

Ultimately when someone knocks me back there are many potential reasons, and my gender expression is just one of them. I always try to be phlegmatic about it all. Come what may there are people out there who I click with, so why worry about the ones who get away? They don’t change me, and I don’t change them. Cest la vie.

Before I start I want to state that the opinions stated below are my personal view, and this is an open invitation to discuss the points I raise herein.

I wholly appreciate why artists and photographers use watermarks and remonstrate about copyright ad nauseum, but at the same time I think that all this worry about copyright and watermarking images smacks of two things: hubris and ego. Hubris because you assume people will want to rip off your work, and ego in the assumption that your work is original and unique compared to the opus of photography that already exists. This is not meant as a personal attack on anyone in particular, and I can already hear the arguments for the converse point of view being shouted loud and clear.

Therefore let me start with watermarks. I personally find that a watermark degrades and distracts from my work as often my art carries right through from border to border with little to no negative space that a watermark would be discrete enough to fill without drawing the viewers attention away from the message I want to convey. I find them to be the artistic equivalent of blunt force trauma on the viewer, saying that you are too afraid of your work being stolen to trust the viewer to enjoy your work unmolested. They also strike me as the ultimate in artistic gratification, as they assault the viewer with an advert of the photographer, therefore taking away from the pleasure of enjoying an image in isolation of itself. When I first started doing photography, and creativity in general, I made a conscious choice to not put a watermark or any other identifying mark on my work, which I carried through to the present day.

I take the same view about copyright. I have given away nearly 7000 images as free stock on Deviant Art in the last six years, all with the stipulation of share and share alike. I do allow commercial use of my work, and if someone wants to pay me for use of my work commercially then I will not say no to a payment, but if someone doesn’t then I am not going to enforce my copyright. Why? Three reasons: I want to stimulate creativity, it is not worth my time or energy chasing every single infraction of work, and most importantly I enjoy the artistic results that people create using my work. On the flip side of this I have a website chock full of my and the team’s work shared with the whole world to appreciate and enjoy. If someone wants to use my work then I have very little power to stop them, so I choose not to worry.

The other practical side of my photography is that I have a fairly unique style that you can generally tell if an image is mine or not. I do have measures in place which will make it hard for people to abuse my good faith, all of them subtle and discrete enough not to distract from the pleasure of viewing my work, plus I am also very careful about where I display my non-stock work (website and Face Book mainly).

On the other hand I am incredibly fortunate not to have to worry professionally about my work. I have a job which pays me well enough to do the things I enjoy in life, and as such photography is first and foremost my passion. If it was my livelihood I would take more care about my professional work, but at the same time I doubt my overall outlook will change. The professional photographers reading this will argue that I should care more about my work, and they have a point, but at the same time I do that much photography that I simply wish to share my work in as open a manner as possible. I love creating that wow moment, and I personally eschew the idea that watermarks and copyright theft should override the viewing pleasure of those I choose to share it with. When I do so it becomes more about me, my ego, that the art itself.

In the end I can either choose to get precious about my work, or I can continue to have an open palm philosophy about my work. I know which one I would prefer, and for that reason my work will remain watermark free for the foreseeable future. Thoughts and comments appreciated.

Some times I read trans coming out stories, the pain people felt, the angst, and the general struggle they have gone through, and I wish I could read more of the positive side of what it is to be trans, gender queer, and gender variant. I appreciate that people need to articulate their feelings, and catharsis is always good for the soul, but… but sometimes it is also good to see the uplifting side of life.

My personal story was splashed across woman magazine 12 years ago this month at a time when I was in my second year at university and more than a little nieve about how the world worked. I transitioned when I was 17, though I knew for certain that I would become a woman rather than a man from about the age of 9 or 10. For me puberty was never about gender angst, though I was bullied for being on the margins of the mainstream, rather it was a knowing with certainty that I would blossom into a woman once I was able to find the right time to do it.

I went to an all boys school which made things complicated, interesting, and mad cap, but at the same time it gave me an education that I appreciate and cherish. I played sports in a not spectacular fashion, I loved history and maths, I built lego like a boss, yet none of these things made me any less certain of my pre-destined ideal for myself. At no point did I see my gender path as being weird or unusual, I never felt that what I was doing was wrong or shameful, which in part came from my father’s admonishment to not be ashamed of being one’s self (though he did/does take a dim view of my gender path).

This lack of shame about my gender has filtered into other areas of my life as I have got older, and this is why I believe that we need to have positive role models for gender variant people to see, those people who can show the world that being different in one’s gender is not a mortal sin, rather it is something to be accepted and valued. I appreciate that these words are pithy when those people progressing along paths of gender fluidity are suffering torment, bullying and worse, but at the same time it is worthwhile showing that lives lived in openness of one’s own gender expression can be beautiful and fulfilling.

In the end I know that many people will feel I am putting a rose tinted spin on it all, and maybe I am to a degree, but at the same time I am acutely aware that while my life has had its moments, cursing my gender has never crossed my mind. To hate myself for the way I am seems so counter-intuitive to me, to abhor what my basic intrinsic self expression is like saying that I hate breathing. Yes life is a challenge, but at the same time it is a challenge to all people regardless of whether they are trans or not. I sit firmly in the camp that believes that having an uplifting attitude towards life, holding out an open palm, and being the person you wish others to see you as is the basis for a content and happy life. Others may judge, but I for one find tranquility in the fact that I am centred and at peace with my gender, and I hope I can inspire others to find peace in theirs.

It is one of the hallmarks of my photography and creative outflow in general that I will not label someone other than with their name. This sounds rather obvious, but it is actually complex thing when you scratch beneath the surface. I have had the pleasure of working with people from many different background, be they hetro-normative, gender variant, have non-mainstream sexualities, or other fall outside the mainstream’s idea of normality. The one thing I wish above all when I present them to my audience is to be as neutral as I possibly can be with how I encode them in my words. By this I mean I do not wish to poke the viewer in a certain direction, and allow the subject of my work to have their own voice.

This may sound like common sense, and to me it is part of my flow, but more often than not you will see art and photography defined not by the subject presented, but by the words ascribed to the finished art by the artist. If I photograph a trans woman, I don’t want the whole world to know that I have photographed a trans woman, as the connotations that come with the label trans immediately layer on top of the art this air of otherness that would not have otherwise existed. The same goes for the label lesbian, black, male, female, young, old. All these labels have encoding which warps the viewers perception of the subject, and for me this defeats the purpose of producing my work.

Of course you could argue that by ascribing a person’s name to an image I am immediately laying connotative meaning to a piece, but I believe that without this information you risk loosing perspective on who the person is, and they merely become another spectre in the room.It is too easy to delineate meaning and purpose from art, to add supposition where none was originally intended, and it is for this reason that I use a person’s name to help ground my work.

Ultimately what maketh a person is not  a name or a description, rather it is their whole persona, their oeuvre, the very zest that well springs from within, and by simply allowing the captured image to speak for itself I believe that I am transcending the need to talk for my subjects and allowing their own voice to come through to the audience. It is for the audience to decode the encoded labels each subject has encoded within themselves, and it is therefore my job to ensure that the encoding is as faithful as I can render it on camera.

Tis the season to make lists of the notable, expound upon the great and the good, and generally pat those on the back whom you deem worthy of praise. Personally I have gone from enjoying such lists, to seeing them as a pastiche, even a parody, of their intended aim. How are you supposed to rank people from across a particular field, especially one as broad as the LGBT community or sport stars. Of course you have the quantitative measures of success like medals and awards, but when you compile lists about the measure of a person vis-a-vie another, how are you supposed to rank one above another?

This for me is what puts me off compiling lists like this. This essential question of one person’s worth over another. Yes, of course there are people who I invariably hold in high esteem, and will salute with all the vim and vigour I can. I can wax lyrical about certain people in my life, and do on occasion, but at the same time I always shy away from holding them in regard over any of the other people in my sphere. In many ways I see this as a far more respectful way of recognising people than putting together a list of the top 10 anything.

With all of this in mind, I present a group of wonderful people who have made 2012 a year to remember for me, their merit on this list is as subjective as my personal opinions and feelings.

Lucy Wood

Out of all the models I have met this year, Lucy has been the muse that has defined my work in 2012. In many respects she has been with me through the evolution of my work from where I was at the beginning of the year to the where I currently am with my style, and she has always provided an honest assessment of where she sees my technique. We have worked together on many great ideas, and all the while we have had a candid exchange which has helped me develop and grow as an artist.

Emma Donnelly

Aside from being an all round creative bright spark, Emma has been a real inspiration for me in 2012 by being a friend, occasional muse, and general boundless artisan who rekindled my zest for London. She also introduced me to a lot of amazing people, put in many a good word for me, and listened patiently to a lot of my madcapness. Through her I have also seen the big smoke through fresh eyes, seen art in a new light, and gained a far greater appreciation for the margins than I ever had before.

Darcie Rae Hewitt-Dudding

If one person could encapsulate so entirely how amazing this year has been, I think Darcie would be that person. Her quiet contemplative demeanour allowed me the space to talk through many of the creative issues I have face in 2012, and through the many lunches and dinners we have shared I have found through her a centred approached to it all. She is an amazing person, who’s listening approach to life belies the amazing mind she has, and it has been a real pleasure to bring out of her photography which is among the best I have ever done.

Stephania Knightly

In the embers of summer I met Steffie in Birmingham, and for a few short weeks we let a creative spark burn bright, resulting in five sets of images which I am amazed at. She is one of life’s real live wires, a woman who makes the world pay attention to her, and who makes the camera ache to take her picture. Her quintessence made our brief time together a glorious moment, not to mention made a few tongues wag. I found in her a raw quality which was both visceral and enthralling, and the art we produced will stand proudly in my portfolio.

Finally…

I want to say a big thank you to all the other amazing people who have made 2012 such a delight and a pleasure. You all know who you are, and no doubt you will each be thanked personally as and when I see you next. This list could easily have been 50 or 100 people long, and I will take the time before the end of the year to compile a proper thank you.

Sometimes I am asked what it is like to be a trans woman, what it is like to have been ‘born into the wrong body’. My best analogy is just imagine you are wearing a set of clothes that is all wrong for you and you can never take them off. You are never comfortable in them, never at ease, never at one with the raiments you are wearing. This for me is what like being a boy was like, and upon becoming a woman I was able to change that ill fitting and uncomfortable set for one which fits me perfectly.

I write that with 12 years hindsight on the whole process, years spent trying to find who I was/am as a person, as ill defined as that ever can be. I have say in Buddhist temples in Bangkok, Sikh temples in the UK, and many a church around the globe, and it is only the peace of mind of knowing that I am me, Rachel, that has enabled me to move forward with life. Being me, this woman the world sees, enables me the freedom to breath, to face the world in a positive and illuminative manner. There are moments of doubt, when the skin I am in feels tight and tense, yet not for a moment do I wish to go back to the way things  would have been had I not transitioned.

There are so many wonderful things about life, and the ability to be my own person without the fear that my very breath will be snatched away for me is one which I do not take for granted. I have the privilege of living in a time and place that allows me the freedom to be myself without recrimination, and that for me a the most amazing thing imaginable. I am also fortunate that I am not forced to go to from one extreme of the gender spectrum to the other, and that I am allowed to exist without the many myriads of the shades of grey that exist between many and female. This is a freedom that was hard fought by the many giants whose shoulders I now stand on, and one of the many freedoms I do not take for granted no matter how comfortable things become for me.

In the end this ability to breath freely within my own skin has the responsibility of allowing others to do the same, and because of this I am an ardent believer in giving people their own space to be themselves. I may not always agree or approve of a person’s choices or beliefs, but ultimately as long as they accept the consequences of those choices and beliefs and do no harm to others, then I will humbly respect their desire to be their own unique person. I make a conscious choice each time I interact with someone to allow that person the freedom to be themselves, and it is my hope that they will always do the same for others.

In one of those moments of pure beauty I got to spend an hour or so in the company of York Minster’s choir during their rendition of Even song. I have never been to an Even song performance before, even when I was religious, so for me as a secular unbeliever I found the ethereal beauty of the music and vocal arrangements to be be enchanting and enrapturing. I had my eyes closed for over have the service, and just like Sikh hymns or Buddhist chants it took me to a place of peace and serenity.

Not being able to photograph the performance I had to settle for the spectacular interior of the Minster to try and convey the ethereal nature of the song. I would definitely recommend anyone to experience it if you ever get the chance to, as it took me to a place of calm and reflection, which in turn allowed me to see the glory of the building anew.

by
Rachel Saunders

Warning: contains mild spoilers

Oft you come to a film with a weight of expectations from reviews, trailers, and friends, and often they never quite live up to those expectations. This is not one of those films. Skyfall lives up to the hype, the expectations, and history that comes with the Bond franchise, and spins a tale with is a worthy part of the Bond canon. I would go as far as to say that director Sam Mendes has made one of the majestic Bond films that will stand the test of time in most people’s top three or four Bond film lists.

From the opening in Istandbul to the coda in central London the film takes you on a trail of destruction, mayhem, women, money, casinos and opulence much like many of its forbearers. What elevates it above the usual Bond fare is the heart that pulses through it, provided by the Jesus like resurrection of Daniel Craig’s brittle and fragile Bond and Judy Dench’s tour de force performance of M.  Sam Mendes has taken the characters and made them into something which transcends the usual Bond staples, and in turn both actors reward his faith in them by bringing an edge and pathos to their respective characters than has rarely been seen in a Bond film, with probably License to Kill being the last one which developed Bond’s character as much as Skyfall.

Ultimately, though, what makes the film work as a collective whole is that does not complicate the plot, though manages to transcend this simplicity to become more than the sum of its parts. The two Bond girls, Eve and Severine, both have their place, indeed Eve brings a zest to the role that sparks of the Bond in the best tradition of Bond female agents through the film series. Severine is very much character in the mold of Mary Magdalene, and while she ultimately finds redemption in her death, she still has one of the best scenes in the film with Bond in a Macau casino. Severine sees in Bond her redeemer, harking back to his stature as a brittle Jesuseque figure, and while he is unable to save her life, he does provide her with redemptive closure. This overarching theme is carried right through to the end with the climax of the film seeing Bond help M find redemption for her past deeds in the blazing destruction of his childhood home.

My parting thoughts upon leaving the cinema was that Skyfall augurs well for the future of the Bond franchise, as it shows that Bond is able to remain relevant in the post Bourne landscape. It proves that good, straight forward story telling, coupled with great acting can come together in a synthesis which blends the best of the Bond traditions with the innovations of this new cultural landscape that Hollywood finds itself in. Overall I would thoroughly recommend anyone to see this film, as it completely transcends all expectations and is a highly entertaining film.

by
Rachel Saunders

In the fallow years of my youth I was raised in a British evangelical free church full of warm and friendly people who cared about each other. In those formative years I learnt the value of love thy neighbour, of having an open palm to strangers, to not judge anyone for who or what they were, and to see the world with Christlike eyes. It was a time of many question many inquiries, and many thoughts which were only squared by tautological answers which required leaps of faith that did not sit easily with.

Around 24 and 25 I dated a wonderfully challenging man who made me think about life, the universe, and everything. He introduced me to the pale blue dot, critical thinking, and Dawkins. No matter what he could say or do he never managed to budge me from the apologetics of my faith, so comfortable was I with the ideas the faith put forward. Then one morning, with the clarity of a thunder bolt, he showed me a video of Dawkins talking about his book, and the professor uttered the line: “the bible is a book of Jewish tribal myths.” In that single moment the scales fell from my eyes and I saw the bible for what it actually was, and from that point on I was a child of Christ no longer. I had been born again into total unbelief, I was a born again atheist.

I think the reasons for this road to Damascus deconversion was due to the fact I am a student of history, and when the facts are weighed against the bible they do not stack up. It took a simple phrase to jolt me out of my erring ways, and like Paul to the Gentiles I am evangelical in my opinions regarding religion and rationality. Like many adult converts I am far more willing to vocalise my opinion, like a zealot I cherish the lack of faith I have like it is the most precious gift I can receive. I am aware I am using religious phrases to describe my total lack of belief in deities, Gods, and spirits, but for me this is the best language I can use to describe how I feel inside.

For me this life is the only one I have, it is the only chance I have to be true, kind, gentle, open, giving, caring, and positive. I firmly believe that the twin reasons for life are the propagation of genes through children and leaving a legacy, for nothing can be taken with you when you die. As I cannot have children (though could adopt) I am left with carving out a legacy which will shine far beyond my passing. In light of this I want to share with others as much as I am able, to share with others the gifts I have been given, and to ensure that everyone I come in contact with is left with a positive moment.

My ultimate outlook on life is that of a nihilistic atheist, i.e. that everything has an end point. Order will become chaos, creation will evolve into entropy. Yet, oh so beautifully yet, this does not mean I, you, should ever despair. Life is so much fuller than letting it drift by. Why should knowledge of death and decay be a reason not to smile or celebrate life? The idea of the pale blue dot, as so richly described by Carl Sagen is my clarion call, my testament to the world. This is why we cannot be islands unto ourselves, this is why we are all interconnected, and this is why we should all come together as one planet in a deeper understanding of the beauty of what it is to be human. We are the universe made manifest, and surely this is the most precious gift of all. No holy book or prayer to a non-existent deity can ever surpass this most wonderous of ideas, that we were forged in a supernova, and that when we day some day we will once again be rescattered to the galactic winds when Sol flares and dies. This is a far more wonderous end in my opinion. This is my testament, this is my life, and this is my destiny.