by Julia Catherine Lee

Created on: February 14, 2009

A fellow photographer at a networking group recently posted a poignant question: what are your defining moments in your pursuit of photography?

A few responded that it was their move to digital photography as it helped shorten their learning curves considerably. For me, the defining moments came in stages and had more to do with photography techniques than equipment per se. I am old fashioned in that sense, I am always searching for the crafts of the old Masters as opposed to the latest and the newest. This craving has its roots in my passion for an unpretentious good bottle of wine - a la "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joes.

My first defining moment was when I was introduced to cross processing at the end of my first photo class, developing E6 slide film in C41 chemistry. I was shocked by the complete color shift and the rather unique end image. It was my baptism into alternative processing in a way. For weeks after class ended I poured through photography books trying to discover what else is possible in cross processing and how I could push the limits.

Part II of my journey was learning the art of seeing light in photography - by way of black and white/traditional darkroom technique - A labor of love. The black and white photography class I took was taught by an idiotic professor who rather be retired at his age and was often moody. However, because he has a wealth of knowledge, the students put up with his tantrums. All was not lost because I came away realizing photography is really about seeing the light and it has been my mantra since.

The latest would have to be HDR - High Dynamic Range photography, a recent creative endeavor I embarked on. I am simply blown away by the resulting imagery whether one pushes the envelope or not. Many argued that HDR photography is a way to better represent the color spectrum of what one tries to capture using the camera lens but can't. because of its limitation and HDR has made that possible - combining tonal spectrum to produce a very rich imagery. With HDR the line between photography and art is blur and if you push the limits, photography will transcend art. An interesting new genre and fast becoming main stream, HDR certainly opens up a whole new world for photographers and creative artists to explore and experiment. In some ways, HDR reminds me of the beautiful imagery one could get with Velvia slide film.

Finally the most important defining moment for me was doing a short study on the works of Dorothea Lange in my photo class. A "people's photographer extarordinaire", she captured pain and suffering through her camera lens in ways no other photographers could or care to. Her works such as "The Migrant Woman", "White Angel Bread line", "The Cotton Picker" and many other similarly poignant images are a constant reminder of what humanity is and what photography should really be about. Her work brought their suffering to the fore so others would not forget their souls. She has certainly set a very high standard for us all.

Learn more about this author, Julia Catherine Lee.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.