Here I have produced a series of digital photographs that represent a cycle of rebirth. This cycle naturally occurs every spring here in the Midwest, as we move out of the bleak winter months and into the vibrancy of spring. The ducks and geese are beginning to return to our ponds, and the silence of winter is breaking. Here we see this among our foliage as well.

The first scene we encounter shows us a stem that has no leaves on it, however we see the first inkling of life on the branch. The muted brown tones give us a sense that it still could be winter, and that life is trying to arrive slightly prematurely.

The second scene delivers us to the first signs of life, here seen in bright vibrant greens the leaves a rising from the earth. However the central focus of the shot still draws us to a stalk that is lifeless, it appears broken off. While life is beginning to emerge, we have not made the full transition yet.

The stem with foliage near the pond is our third scene. The foliage is taking form along the branches. Interesting for me in this shot is the pond in the background. While the leaves in the foreground seem to be the central subject, knowing that the harsh winter has finally passed is evidenced by the serene liquid surface of the pond. 

Our final shot moves into clear territory where rebirth symbolized is concerned. We see a budding dandelion nestled amongst a bed of green. There is no sign of winter present anymore. New life has once again beaten back the long cold winter and emerged victorious.

I have borrowed heavily from imagery of rebirth when describing my photographs. Barthes identification of semiotics at play allows me to tie the image of budding foliage to rebirth, and is a common theme in our culture. However, As Bordieu suggests, I have manipulated reality with my use of post production editing tools, and thereby altered reality in my endeavor. As always, no matter what I have intended, you are free to draw your own meaning from the images, or indeed no meaning at all. To limit the interpretation of my photographs to one concept, of rebirth, is too simple (Thanks, Watney).

All photographs were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, and treated to edits in Adobe Photoshop CS4, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Within Adobe Photoshop, I treated each scene to a modest Dry Brush filter, as well as cropped them. After this, each photo was given some tone, brightness, and contrast adjustments in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Rounding out the edits, I dropped in a noticeable vignette on each, and knocked the exposure down a few degrees to give a slightly darker, earthy feel to the photos.

Photography has moved a long way since Ansel Adams was taking pictures of Yellowstone National Park from the rooftop of his vehicle. The nature of capturing a scene and translating it to an audience remains the same; however the medium has seen a heavy shift with the advent of digital photography and editing. The photographer is no longer bound to darkroom techniques of burning and dodging.

The photos I have presented could be mistaken for paintings due to the appearance of the Dry Brush filter applied in the editing phase. This adds an interesting twist to Plato’s “Art imitates life.” Here, do we see art imitating life? Or rather life imitating art, imitating life? The arrival of digital photography shakes the foundations of the medium.

Finally, I have presented this as a blending of text and image on a web page, as this explores a unique facet of this new direction in this medium. One can capture, create, edit, and publish without any tangible element present. One is not forced to create any object or objects at all; everything can remain as a digital artifact.  This was simply not possible until the Internet came into widespread proliferation.

Warren, Christopher M; Dr Wandtke, T.; MED252 MWF 1100 – 1150; 24 April 2009; Visual Culture