While I’ve been editing, selecting and working on the many rolls of processed films from my trips this year, I’ve been listening to a lot more ambient music.

First set of scans from my recent adventures

This has partly been influenced by a friend that I’ve been sharing music with. And what has come out of this, is that I think the music I listen to, while I am editing and post-processing – going through the selection process, can have a massive influence on how things unfold and evolve during the birth of new images.

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I wouldn’t for one second assume that the music I’ve been listening to will be for everyone. But if you like ambient music – things like Brian Eno, Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, or film music from composers such as Thomas Newman, then you might like this piece of music by Stars of the Lid. I think they produce ambient-classical music :-) It has a floaty, dreamy quality to it that allows my mind to focus on what I’m doing in my digital-dark-room, while also obliterate out the real world for a few hours.

I find that listening to some kinds of music during the editing process can be a terrible distraction. I can’t for some reason listen to music with any spoken words in it. It just seems to pull me away from my own thoughts, which isn’t good – as I do believe that post editing requires a high-degree of self reflection, and inner dialog.

Highly repetitive music, as well as the floaty/dreamy music mentioned above – does seem to work for me. I think it’s because it has a hypnotic element to it – which I believe consumes the part of my conscious mind that can’t be quiet. I think repetitive music helps keep this part of my mind occupied, allowing the part of me that has zoned out, to remain in the creative flow that I’m hopefully experiencing.

I have to be aware of my thoughts, which often are only measured by my feelings. If the music is conducive to that, then it tends to help get me into the right creative zone.  We all know what that zone is like – it’s when we’re no longer aware of where we are, of how much time is passing by, and all the distractions of every day life have gone. In that sense, it is very similar to the creative zone we experience when we are out in the landscape – time passes by, thoughts float freely away, and we’re left with an empty and calm mind that is ready to be occupied by one thing: the craft of picture making.

I’m slowly working my way through my images from Lofoten, shot this past December.

Geitelva, near Fredvang, Lofoten, December

I love the process. Scanning images, allows me time to review what I shot on my light table. I take each sheet of film out and work on that, one at a time, and I don’t race. I don’t delve further down into the collection of films until I’m complete with the top sheet. It’s a very relaxing way to work. The scanner whirs and clicks away in the back ground, and while it is busy scanning the currently chosen image, I study the ones that are currently grabbing my eye.

And every now than then, the collection of scanned and edited images are reviewed. I use LightRoom – just as a catalog preview machine. It’s nice to load up all the images and rate them. Some make the grade more so than others. Take the image above of Geitelva, a mountain near Fredvang (fantastic name for a place, don’t you think?). I’m not too sure about this one. I love the mountain, but I shot this under very unsatisfactory conditions. Fading light and a severe lack of colour. It does have a mood though, so It might get through to the last selection, but somehow, I don’t think so.

This is the point really. I can’t tell until the entire edit is done. Like a story being told, it can only be understood once all the characters in it have been presented and explained. As I add new images to the collection, it feels as though it begins to steer in a new direction. ‘Ah, so it’s going to be that kind of portfolio?’ I’ll hear myself exclaim. If the images are overly light, then I can see that the whole feel of the collection is going towards a more lighter mood, but then two days later, the images I’m working on are taking a more darker mood, and that seems to steer the collection in a new direction…. and then I find that some images work better than others.

I feel that making a collection of images work together is all about the collection being ‘greater than the sum of its parts’. It should be cohesive, work together, and feel like it all belongs.

That’s why I don’t rush home to edit. It’s also why I let the images sit for a few weeks after the edit, to see how I feel. Sometimes things I didn’t see at the time of the edit start to grate. I may be aware that something feels ‘on edge’ about a particular image, and that’s often the sign that it either doesn’t fit the collection, or requires further adjustment…..

I’m off to take a break now.

I received my films back from the lab yesterday (yes, I get them processed by Peak Imaging). They are currently sitting in a cardboard box in my home studio.

I haven’t looked at them yet, because I’m waiting for the right moment when I feel ready to do so. I simply do not feel inclined to go anywhere near a camera, a piece of film or think about image editing for a while yet. I’ve just been home for under a week now, and it’s taken a while to settle back in.

Films on my desk

When I approaching editing images, scanning them and reviewing the ones I want to work on, I’ve got to feel ready to do it. The box I have is rather large – there are around 70 rolls of film processed in there – that’s quite a bit of effort.

I have two free weeks coming up soon, so I hope to use the time to get into the mode of review/scan/edit/post-review/re-edit process that I tend to get into. It has its own momentum too and I feel that having to stop mid-way, and go and do a workshop, or go away for a week – causes a sense of lost focus in what I’m doing.

I think that’s because I build up a mental picture of the whole portfolio as I go along and complete an image. I think this is very similar to how I make the initial images too. When I’m out shooting, I build up a mental image of the entire portfolio I’m shooting – it helps build up a sense of focus to what I’m doing and allow me to immerse myself fully in the process.

It should be an absorbing experience, and it is for me.

So why should the post shoot review/edit/review again/re-edit stages be any different?

I find it hard to comprehend why photographers rush home and edit images quickly. Get one in before dinner time, or during a quick five minutes break in the day…. it’s like rushing down your evening meal. There is no deep connection, nor any time to consider, reflect, apply a sense of objectivity to what it is we are creating in our work.

I’ll be waiting for those two free weeks to come up. Before then, I do not have any decent segments of free time, with which to do my picture editing justice. To rush in there, would cause me a great deal of frustration and pain. And for that reason alone, I’m content to wait.