Stephen Deligan

The click of the camera is only a first step in the artistic process, photographer Stephen Deligan believes. 

Computerized work in the “digital darkroom,” he adds, is similar in many ways to the wet darkroom of the past. Ansel Adams spent long hours in the darkroom dodging, burning and experimenting; he was a great believer that a large amount of work goes into the image well after the shutter has closed.

“In my post-processing, I strive to show the essence of a scene,” Steve writes. “I enjoy doing long exposures because of their ability to bring out the basic elements without too much distracting detail. Water and clouds become ghostly. Black and white largely does the same thing, reducing the elements of a scene to basic shapes and tones. This creates drama, movement, and emotion. The image becomes much more than a simple capture on a sensor.”