There is sometimes confusion as to what a photographer does. Because what you see of me is the tip of the proverbial iceberg, so to speak, or rather, one of the three legs on which what I do rests.

You see make taking photographs. And while this is the most visible and, to be truthful, most important part of what I do, it is only one part. The first P: Photographs.

The second P stands for processing. You might notice that the images that you see posted here are quite different from what you see coming out of your camera. That’s because the photography is only part of my vision. 

Even before the advent of digital, professional prints were frequently retouched. To get rid of acne. To increase contrast in certain areas of the photograph or to create special effects. Now in the digital darkroom, I do what is needed to finish off my vision for an image. This takes a fair bit of work, especially when working with a large number of images. Heck, it can take me the better part of a day just to sift through all the images I’ve taken at a wedding and pick out the best ones, let alone adjust them to my liking. While taking the pictures is the most important part of what I do, it is here where the flavour 

The third P is Presentation. This one is divided into a couple parts, printing and digital displays. 

While most people have inkjet printers sitting at home, There is a lot more work, a lot more voodoo involved in getting a print to look the way it is supposed to than simple hitting command-P (control-P for all you windows users). And, to be frank, I don’t trust the capabilities of a lot of printers to create an image that I’ll be happy with. As a result, I prefer to do my own printing, or work with a company that I trust to print the image. I’ve seen it all to often when a copy of one of my picture comes out and the person has purple skin and orange-coloured hair. Or when a picture has been printed on regular photocopy paper. 

As a photographer, I am biased, but I want to see pictures printed big, at the best quality they can be. I have a soft spot for large, gallery wrap canvas prints and well-designed albums. I work with some of the biggest names in the industry to create stunning wall hangings and spectacular albums and coffee-table books. 

Recently, I’ve also been moving into digital displays. Again, I want to see things big and a decent quality. I’ve played around with some digital frames that were complete garbage, but have found a couple that are at an acceptable quality.