56

B+W

A photograph doesn’t – or shouldn’t – stop at the taking. It’s the post-

processing and the printing that brings out its true value. But each step

of the way is open to interpretation. Eddie Ephraums explains...

INSPIRATION

All pictures

© Eddie Ephraums unless stated

ALL ABOUT PRINTING



I

’ve just begun shooting a

personal project that is

challenging the way I see, and

especially how I print. The

subject is a short, verdant

stretch of English chalk

stream, just down the lane from

where my parents live. Age and

troubled eyesight now make it

hard for them to enjoy this much

loved walk. But, their situation

has got me thinking: what would

it be like to see in a less visually

focused – perhaps more ‘sensing’

• way and how might this be
  conveyed in a print? What’s more,
  how could I do this in a way they
  would be able to appreciate?
  I’ve always thought
  photography should be less
  visually driven and more focused

on the connection we have for the

subject: the passion and curiosity

we feel towards it, and the people

we want to share this with. But,

how do we express this? How

much of it can be done in camera

or does it need to be effected in

post-processing? And what can

printing add, that displaying

the image on a computer screen

might not be able to convey?

By chance I looked at one of the

chalk stream images blown up to

3x2ft in Lightroom. Suddenly I

stepped into a previously unseen

world. I noticed an insect resting

on a stem, while the rest of the

largely out of focus image took on

an even greater sense of mystery

and delicacy. Seeing the picture

this size made me think about

printing larger than ever before

and sharing these prints with my

parents. Might this enlarged view

be a way of bringing something

of the outdoor world into

the more interior one they

now inhabit? As always with

photography, there is only one

way to find out – try it and see.

I

n the traditional darkroom,

printing begins with the

making of a contact sheet,

studying the images with a

THE LOCATION FOR MY CURRENT PHOTO SERIES

Human vision is sharpest at the centre of our field of view, so it seems

unnatural to throw that part of a picture out of focus, as here.

Photography is often at its best when it doesn’t make things obvious,

engaging the viewer’s imagination. Hopefully this creates a longer

lasting, more satisfying, engagement with the pictures we make.

Fuji X-E1 with 35mm f/1.4 lens, 1/600sec, ISO 200

‘I’ve always thought photography should be

less visually driven and more focused on

the connection we have for the subject.’

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